As writers and educators ourselves, at Tiny Spoon we understand the importance of having opportunities to practice and expand your professional experience. That is why starting in 2022, we founded our Tiny Residency, a remote opportunity to fine tune your writing workshop leadership skills and be featured by Tiny Spoon so your work can reach a wider audience.
What is the residency?
We will select two residents per year in the Spring and Fall, who will each conduct a workshop on a topic of their choice, and will have opportunities for promotion and publishing online. You will also receive payment based on workshop sign-up funds.
What are the responsibilities of the resident?
The resident will be in charge of planning the curriculum of a weekend virtual live workshop, either May 20 & 21 or October 14 & 15. Their main focus will be preparing for the workshops through lesson planning, gathering sources, creating writing exercises, promotional materials, etc. Tiny Spoon is here to help with questions and ensuring the workshop runs smoothly, but the overall content and format of the workshop is at the discretion of the resident.
While Tiny Spoon will serve as the platform for the workshop, additional marketing materials will be requested to help promote the workshop and tease its contents. This may include a page on our website to showcase you and your workshop; a brief blog post further teasing the workshop; an artist statement or feature blog post to introduce yourself; and additional videos, quotes, samples of work to be used in promotional content. Specifics of this will be discussed upon acceptance into the residency.
What does a workshop entail?
Tiny Spoon will handle sign up logistics, but you will be in charge of leading the actual workshop from start to finish. This means it can be anything you imagine! You might think about what writing workshops have inspired you in the past and how you want to balance inspirational content and examples with time for writing and sharing.
Upon acceptance, Tiny Spoon will have a brainstorming talk with you to solidify your ideas for the workshop, but you might consider in advance: What is the central theme of my workshop? What samples of writing, art, or otherwise might I introduce for inspiration? Will I lecture or perform to introduce new ideas? What writing or creative prompts will I provide? How will I pace information with creation time? Will it be centered on writing, or other art or performative media?
If you haven’t attended many workshops or led them yourself, you can still apply to the residency! Reflect upon the above questions, and the editors of Tiny Spoon can help guide you build its weekend curriculum.
What are the perks of being a resident?
The residency is all about you. Within our modest time and date parameters, the workshop can take whatever content and form you desire. We’ll not only promote your workshop, but your work in general. We’ll spotlight you on our social media, website, and blog and connect to any social media and website that gives further information for your work. The residency is all about exposure and experience. Tiny Spoon will do all it can to ensure your name and creative practice is highlighted.
Tiny Spoon will handle the logistics of the workshop, from the sign ups, emails, and Zoom meetings. You will be able to focus on creative content and lesson planning, while we prepare the behind-the-scenes of the event.
You will also receive half of the funds from workshop sign-ups. This will vary on the amount of people who register.
What are we looking for in candidates?
For this particular residency, we are looking for burgeoning writers. As many professional opportunities, such as teaching jobs, writing programs, or other residencies, often ask for similar experiences, we want this to be a space where you can experiment, practice, and grow in your early career. We will prioritize those who exemplify our experimental spirit and show potential through their energetic, rising profession. We will not obsess over credentials, but rather, the promise you present where you are in the moment.
When is the residency?
We will have a Spring and Fall Tiny Resident, with the following workshop dates:
May 20th (Saturday) and 21st (Sunday) for the Spring Resident
October 14th (Saturday) and 15th (Sunday) for the Fall Resident
On the application, you will be asked to indicate preference for spring, fall, or both/either. You must be available on the above dates for the respective Spring/Fall Residency you select; we can be mildly flexible with the workshop time itself. We recommend workshops that are 2-3 hours per day.
The application
Applications are open! Please fill out the form if you’re interested in applying.
To prepare, the application will ask you for information about yourself, your creative practice, and ideas for your workshop. At this time, we do not expect you to provide us with an extensive lesson plan (unless that’s your style), but it should be detailed enough to give us an understanding of its intentions if you are chosen for the resident.
The applications are due by February 28. Those in by early February will receive priority for the Spring Residency position.
So finances are not an obstacle, we do not charge to apply for the residency. That said, a great deal of time and care will go into the selection process, and we want our residents to get all they can out of the program. If you are able to contribute, we recommend adding $5 or $10 into the Tip Jar, but any amount is welcome. All funds will go toward the residency program.
Decisions
Decisions for the Spring Residency will be announced early March; Decisions for the Fall Residency will be determined by May.