Hub City Writers Project and Chapman Cultural Center Launch Southern Studies Fellowship

Hub City Writers Project is pleased to announce our re-imagined writer-in-residence program: the Southern Studies Fellowship in Arts and Letters! In partnership with the Chapman Cultural Center and made possible by grant funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, this nine-month residency program will provide one artist and one writer each year for three years with an opportunity to delve into the Spartanburg community, and the South at large, while creating personal work and collaborating on a project that challenges the monolithic view of modern Southern culture.

This first-of-its kind program will bring one early-career artist and one early-career writer to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for a nine-month residency of research, creativity, teaching, and travel, culminating in a collaborative project informed by the region. This program is geared toward artists and writers who are interested in immersing themselves in the culture of the American South. Fellows will travel throughout the Southeast to conduct research at cultural and educational institutions as they develop ideas for a collaborative project that expands the understanding of the modern South. 

Learn more, view guidelines, requirements, and eligibility, and apply at www.southernstudiesfellowship.org, starting this coming Monday.

Over the three-year period of the grant, each Southern Studies Fellow will be provided with a furnished apartment with paid utilities in downtown Spartanburg and a monthly stipend. Applications for the program will be available online in early 2021, and the first fellows will come to Spartanburg September 2021 to May 2022. It is open to residents of the United States. The initiative replaces existing residency programs by Chapman and Hub City.

 In addition to focusing on their own creative projects, the Southern Studies Fellows will have opportunities and requirements for educational community service in Spartanburg County; these will include regular college and high school classroom visits/lectures, readings, open studios, workshops, and projects affiliated with the host organizations. The fellows will be expected to contribute up to 20 hours per week in the following areas: community service, artist-writer collaboration, and out-of-town travel for project research.

A key component of this unique fellowship is the opportunity to interact with leading scholars, artists, and writers throughout the South. Each fellow will have opportunities to travel in the Southern region to conduct research at cultural and educational institutions, which will inform their work and will be critical in the development of their ideas for a collaborative project that expands the understanding of the modern South.

Made possible by The Watson Brown Foundation
Named for Thomas E. Watson and J.J. Brown, the Watson Brown Foundation invests in education and historical preservation, annually awarding more than $2.4 million in merit and need-based college scholarships to students from an eighteen-county region of Georgia and South Carolina. The foundation, based in Thomson, GA, also operates a grant program that encourages responsible scholarship on the South and supports historic preservation. Additionally, it owns and operates three historic sites in Georgia.