CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: IBBY Canada’s Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence Program

(Application deadline June 15)

IBBY Canada invites published Canadian children’s book illustrators to apply for the annual Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence program, to be held in October 2023.  The program will be primarily online, with in-person elementary school workshops held at the Toronto Public Library North York Central Branch. Illustrators who have applied in previous years are welcome to apply. The application deadline is Thursday June 15.

ILLUSTRATOR ELIGIBILITY

• Has illustrated a minimum of five traditionally published children’s books, including one in the past three years
• Has experience with in-person and online presentations for children, high school students, and adults
• Is available for 12–15 hours per week in October (daytime and evening programming; no weekends)
• Is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• Has current vulnerable sector screening police clearance

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

• The illustrator develops and presents content for all program elements:
• Art workshops for Grade 2 to 6 students (in-person at the library and online)
• Presentations for art students at high schools and colleges (online)
• Illustration career sessions for adults (online on TPL’s platform)
• One-to-one portfolio reviews with artists and art students (online)
• Exhibit of original artwork in library’s art gallery
• IBBY Canada’s coordinator handles outreach to schools and scheduling.
• The illustrator creates/provides a marketing image for use on websites, email, social media, etc.
• The illustrator is paid $5,000, with 50% remitted at the start of the program and 50% at the end.
• The program may cover technical expenses such as teleconferencing and/or internet costs, webcam, lighting, etc. For illustrators travelling to Toronto, travel and accommodation may be covered.

APPLICATIONS

• Applications are a single Word or PDF document with:
  • CV or resume with list of published books (include publisher and year)
  • Experience in online presentations and art activities; if available, include link to recording of online presentation, or attach MP4 file
  • Program ideas for online sessions for students and adults (please see this year’s programming guidelines)
  • Two (or more) reference letters about previous/recent online presentations
• Send applications by June 15, 2023 to illustrator@ibby-canada.org
• A jury will evaluate the applications and select the top candidate.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The annual Joanne Fitzgerald Illustrator in Residence Program offers a published Canadian children’s book illustrator a month-long residency at a public library, with art activities for Grade 2 to 6 students, presentations to high school and college art students, evening sessions for adults, and individual portfolio reviews. The program launched in 2013 to honour illustrator/author Joanne Fitzgerald (1956–2011), and is a joint project of IBBY Canada, Toronto Public Library, the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, and Joanne Fitzgerald’s family Robert Young and Laura Young. Past illustrators in residence include Martha Newbigging, Patricia Storms, John Martz, Dianna Bonder, Ashley Barron, Nahid Kazemi, Diego Herrera (Yayo), Soyeon Kim, and Sandra Dumais.