Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture and Department of Transportation are seeking writers to take part in an unusual artist's residency in the northwest tower of the city's Fremont Bridge. The selected writer will receive US$10,000 to work in the space for three months.
Fremont Bridge opened in 1917 and serves as a link between the Fremont neighborhood, Queen Anne, and Westlake communities. It's a very busy bridge and rises for river-based traffic an average of 35 times a day.
The bridge has something of an artistic past and has previously hosted art projects by Rodman Miller in the 1990s, and Daniel Mihalyo and Kristen Ramirez in 2005 and 2009, respectively. The Fremont Troll sculpture is also located nearby.
Fremont Bridge sports four control towers, with the southeast featuring an operator. The northwest tower will serve as the artist's residence. It's a snug space, measuring just 13 x 8 ft (4 x 2.4 m), with 10 ft (3 m)-high ceilings, and is furnished with a desk, chair, and air-con unit.
The guidelines state that applicants must be "a practicing, published poet, fiction, or creative non-fiction writer," and must live within 100 miles (160 km) of Seattle. The residency will run June through August 2016, and the writer will be expected to create a work related to their time at the bridge.
Though not explicitly prohibited in the guidelines, hassling passing families of goats would probably be frowned upon.
The deadline for applications closes February 16.
Source: Seattle Office of Arts & Culture