The Residency x AWITA
Co-Founders Georgia Powell and Liza Shapiro
Ahead of our “Women Who Run Residencies” event, in collaboration with CURA Art, we spoke with co-founders Georgia Powell and Liza Shapiro about their unique approach to running their residency platform (The Residency) . By connecting artists directly with influential patrons, they foster a supportive ecosystem that offers both mentorship and community, serving as a catalyst for meaningful change.
Patrons included Tiffiny Lendrum founder of Lendrum Fine Art, Ferren Gipson, art historian, writer, and presenter, Stephanie Manasseh, Cultural Consultant & Strategist in the Arts, Nish McCree Tetteh-Kujorjie is the Founder of The COWRIE culture, Christina Makris, writer, lecturer and consultant and Katy Wickremesinghe is the Founder and Creator of The Wick and KTW London.
What motivated you to expand CURA Art and launch The Residency?
We launched The Residency to directly support artists in a meaningful way but also to promote the importance of patronage and what an incredible impact that can make on an artist’s life and career. The goal is to create an accessible and international platform that nurtures artists and encourages a relationship with those that champion their work. The platform extends CURA Art’s mission of promoting collecting with care.
What advice would you give to individuals looking to launch their own platform?
The biggest advice we can give is to be passionate about what you do and why you are doing it. Launching a platform can take a lot of time and energy; it’s rewarding when you love what you are doing and can reflect on why you are pursuing it.
CURA Art promotes collecting with purpose. How do you encourage deeper connections between artists and your patrons?
The Residency has been an incredible tool that helps to nourish relationships between artists and patrons. At CURA Art, we encourage our patrons to connect to the artists they want to support and equally for artists to be interested in where their work ends up, these connections often lead to meaningful and fulfilling friendships.
What has been a notable moment for you that shaped the direction of The Residency?
Preparing for our exhibition at Christie’s London that features all the artists that have come through The Residency thus far is exciting; it highlights not only the program, but the inspiring group of artists, patrons, friends and supporters. This community will actively play a role in shaping the years ahead.
What empowers you to do what you do?
We really love and care about what we do, it is empowering to get to know each artist but also see how their practice develops and shifts with time. The Residency is currently focused on championing underrepresented women artists, in response to the inequality in the art world; we hope to make a small difference in shifting this statistic.