The Search Party Residency

This residency was such a generous offering, and so nourishing, replenishing, and wonderful. I came tired, moving slow, verging on burnout. The first night I sat down to write, and nothing came. Instead I put on the kettle, and rested. Over my week there, the ideas bloomed slowly. I put on music, and made food, and drank tea, and mused. A dear friend came to visit, and we co-worked, and hot-tubbed, and chatted and chatted and chatted . My grandma came for a day, my parents came  for an overnight; we walked and breathed the mountain air and jammed and delighted together.  My spirit was tended to, and every day, my well was filled. By the end of the week, I was singing again, and dancing, and writing, and sketching out narrative structures in my notebook. 

 

An art practice is not constant output. Time to be slow, time to notice what you notice, time to let your curiosity lead you, time to listen to your body, time to be in community with dear ones… This residency was a gift, and an oasis. Thank you dearly.

— Kelsi James

As a writer who works multiple jobs to sustain her writing, I can find it hard to carve out time for my practice and work. The Artists’ Residency offered by The Search Party served as a much need retreat and refresh that helped spark my creativity again. Being in the stillness and quiet of the nature that surrounds Whistler allowed me to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and tap into my thoughts and inspiration. I am forever grateful to The Search Party and Mindy Parfitt for this incredible opportunity.

— Kimberly Sunder

I was so incredibly grateful for the residency opportunity that The Search Party granted me. As an emerging writer who holds a day job, it can be hard to find time to dedicate to and focus on my art, and I have a number of friends who are in similar positions. As such I chose to use the residency as an artist’s retreat and invited a number of friends who are writers/artists so we could all spend a week away from the normal stresses of our day-to-day lives, and give our full attention to some of our more neglected projects. Throughout the week we each dedicated large portions of the day to work, interspersed with beautiful nature walks through Whistler, and communal cooking as we each took turns cooking a meal for the others. We also engaged in a couple of group creative exercises, including a collage/zine night, and a group game of “spindlewheel” which is a collaborative storytelling game. For the zine night, we each ended up producing our own mini zines, some more heavily text-based, and some more image-based. For many of the people there, it was their first time making a zine, or collage art, and as the facilitator it was really special having the space to lead that workshop. I personally was able to make a large amount of progress on a play that I’ve been stalled out on for over a year, and I left feeling like the end is in sight for a final draft of the piece. It was such a privilege to have a week where concerns about appointments, deadlines, or social engagements melted away, and the only thing on our minds was “What do I want to create next?”

— Nicola Wanless