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Seven for Seven Experimental Performance

Residency​

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Seven Mirrors | Oakland, CA Deadline: September 15, 2026

Start of Residency 1: October 15, 2026

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Seven Mirrors invites applications for the Seven for Seven Experimental Performance Residency, a program supporting seven Bay Area artists, duos, or collectives working in experimental performance and interdisciplinary live practice.

Over 12 months, beginning October 2026, each selected artist will receive an individual four-week residency at Seven Mirrors, with studio space for rehearsal, gathering, experimentation, and public engagement. No housing is provided.

This residency is intended for artists developing new work, or work that has never before been performed.

 

About Seven Mirrors

Seven Mirrors is located in Old Town Oakland. Founded by artist and curator Stacey Goodman, Seven Mirrors opened in March 2024 as a place for performance, magic, and community engagement. Its mission is to curate experimental performance for an East Bay audience in an artful, intimate setting.

The Seven for Seven residency is designed to keep the space actively in use by artists, strengthen Seven Mirrors as a public-facing site for the arts, and support the development of live work that is searching, open-ended, rigorous, and alive.

 

What This Residency Is

Seven for Seven is a hybrid development and presentation residency, designed to support artists at different points in the life of a project in areas such as research, experimentation, rehearsal, work-in-process, public testing, or live presentation.

This residency values process, discovery, and transformation. We believe experimental art needs room to be unfinished, emergent, and in motion.

Each artist will shape their residency in dialogue with Seven Mirrors. Public engagement is part of the residency, but its form is up to the artists to determine, and can be anything from performance, artist talk, or open rehearsal, to public experiment or another public-facing format.

 

What We're Looking For

We welcome applications from artists working in and across:

  • Experimental performance

  • Movement-based practice

  • Performance art

  • Sound performance

  • Interdisciplinary theater

  • Live art

  • Video performance

  • Expanded cinema

  • Lecture-performance

  • Socially engaged performance

  • Site-responsive or public-facing interventions

  • Hybrid practices combining media, installation, and live presence

​​We're especially interested in artists whose work feels aligned with Seven Mirrors’ experimental, interdisciplinary, and open-ended spirit.  We also want to support artists whose work carries a socially conscious dimension or a desire to address urgent issues in thoughtful and inventive ways.

 

Residency Structure

The residency supports seven artists over 12 months. Each selected artist, duo, or collective will receive an individual four-week residency, scheduled within the program cycle beginning October 2026.

Residents will have access to Seven Mirrors during their residency period, with the understanding that:

  • Some dates, scheduled in cooperation with the artist in residence, may be reserved for gallery events, but residency use takes priority.

  • Basement storage is available for props and materials.

  • The space includes installed visual art, so there will be some limitations on how it can be altered.

  • Seven Mirrors may occasionally coordinate with the artist to bring guests by to see the space and/or meet the artist.

All seven residents will become part of a shared cohort, with opportunities for collective gatherings and dinners over the course of the year.

 

What Residents Receive

  • A four-week residency at Seven Mirrors

  • Substantial access to the space during their residency period

  • Curatorial and creative support from Seven Mirrors

  • At least one public-facing opportunity, shaped in dialogue with the artist

  • Promotional support through Seven Mirrors' social media, newsletter, and other platforms

  • Documentation support, as available

  • Access to existing space resources, including seating, two projectors, microphone, speakers, and installation help

  • Group events and dinners with the cohort over the course of the year

Stipends are currently aspirational and not yet guaranteed.

 

The Space

Seven Mirrors is located at 481 9th Street, Oakland, California.

  • 616 square feet of floor space

  • One large blank back wall

  • A side area for storage and props

  • one installed projector

  • Basement storage

  • Seating (35 folding chairs, stored on site)

  • Microphone and speakers

  • A large front window with curtains for privacy

The residency can support projects intended for the interior space, as well as projects that extend into public space or public intervention.

 

Who Should Apply

This residency is open to Bay Area artists only for this first cycle. Individual artists, duos, and collectives are all welcome to apply, at any stage of career.

This residency may be a good fit for artists who:

  • Are developing a new live work, or a work that has never before been performed

  • Would benefit from focused time and space for experimentation and development

  • Are excited by interdisciplinary and process-based approaches

  • Want to engage audiences through performance, conversation, or public activation

  • Feel aligned with Seven Mirrors as a space for experimentation, openness, and transformation

Queer and BIPOC artists are strongly encouraged to apply.

 

Selection Criteria

Applications will be reviewed based on:

  • Fit with the spirit and mission of Seven Mirrors

  • Strength of artistic vision

  • Clarity of the proposed inquiry, experiment, or development process

  • Alignment with the residency's experimental and interdisciplinary focus

  • Interest in public engagement or socially conscious practice

  • Feasibility within the space and residency structure

 

Information Session

A Zoom and in-person information session will be held two weeks before the application deadline, for artists who want to learn more about the residency and ask questions about the space, structure, or application process.

 

Apply here

Deadline: September 15, 2026

 

Access and Inclusion

Seven Mirrors welcomes artists from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and practices. We encourage applications from artists and groups who have been historically excluded from institutional support, and from those working outside conventional disciplinary boundaries.

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Applicants are welcome to share any accessibility needs or support considerations that would help make the residency more workable.

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Seven Mirrors is committed to creating a living space for experimental art: a place where work can be researched, tested, shared, and transformed in public. We look forward to hearing from artists who are pushing at the edges of performance and imagining new ways of being together through live practice.

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