The Return Of CTRI Innovations
Aaaaaaahhhhh what's up everyone... long-time readers may recall that this site experiences sudden periods of prolonged downtime, when the doors are open but no one seems to be manning the front desk. This has been happening since we first opened our doors in 1999 and well it happened again. I guess that's the strength of a legendary property like this, I can be more or less quiet for 18 months and yet the structure remains-- a castle is still a castle whether it's full of merry shouts and hoisted flagons of ale, or wispy cobwebs and half-remembered lore. Well anyway I've been here this whole time, in a high tower with no visible entrance, burning candle after candle. And now I hope to return to the main rooms and show you what I've been up to. It's been nice quietly toiling while visitors pad below me unawares, but to be honest I've missed the merry shouts. OK I'm not eulogizing myself here, this is just an intro paragraph, gonna do a couple more words just to finish out the sentence (I'll throw in a parenthetical for good measure) and then we'll move on, with another sentence of additional preamble that's more to the point. This week I'm talking about an old project that I've recently unpaused-- it's an artists residency program that I manage, called CTRI Innovations.
CTRI Innovations began in 2018, took a brief pause in February 2020 for reasons I cannot quite recall, and then resumed in June of 2025. The idea is this: unlike most artists residencies that take place at an unused outbuilding on a scenic plot of land, or in some locus of specific tools like a printmaking studio, CTRI Innovations takes place in more of an abstract space-- the space of a conversation with me, over coffee or tea. It usually lasts about 90 minutes or so, more if we're really on one. I buy the beverages, but espresso-based drinks are not on offer-- it's drip coffee only. Or tea. The conversation is held without syllabus or goal, although at some point I usually say "so, what are you working on". No artwork is produced, which is honestly pretty typical for this sort of thing, but ideas do get moved forward. As of this report I have hosted 132 of these residencies.
After we're done the artist goes home and adds a line to their curriculum vitae, and I go home and write up a little report. I do these write-ups mostly so people interested in the residency can see that this is a real thing and not just a fanciful idea, and so they'll have some idea of what to expect-- just talk, not a presentation or anything. And not even a talk about art, just an open conversation that we follow with diligence where ever it may roam. For each of these little write-ups I take a picture of the artist's hand, holding a cup. That's a nice image I think, the hand of the artist grasping some type of chalice or grail.
here's the last couple reports:
Christina DiChiera
Wednesday September 3, 2025Met up with illustrator and consultant Christina DiChiera at Seven Stars at 9am. I've known Christina for many years through what I can only call "arts stuff", but we never really hung out tête-à-tête. It was a delight to finally do so! We both got hot coffee that was half decaf half caf, which was perfect because we ended up talking for a long time and if we both got full caf I bet we'd still be there til this day! We sat outside and talked about (among other things) homes, informal solutions, being a consultant, our favorite Ulysses podcast (Re:Joyce, with Frank Delaney), audiobooks, Steven King "On Writing" (audiobook), therapy, and digital drawing. The coffee was good. At one point Sara T came and said hello, and then later Cybele Collins made an apperance. We also briefly harbored a little dog named "Itsy Bitsy" while the dog's lady went inside to get a cup of coffee. This is not a service I usually offer but the dog was very well behaved and also just a little guy. No problemo.
Jesse Kaminsky
Friday August 1, 2025Hung out with sculptor and musician Jesse Kaminsky at New Harvest at 4pm. Jesse makes these wonderful sculptures that are cute and gross, reminiscent of moss and slime mold, oftentimes with glittery elements like they're growing on data crystals. I like them a lot! When he applied I thought "didn't he already do this?" but he didn't, we just frequently have conversations in which I ask "so, what are you working on?". Anyway it was a nice day, we sat outside and had a nice conversation. We talked about coffee, yerba mate, Scanners (movie), the Internet Movie Database, Alligator (movie), games you play using Wikipedia, Kolya's idea of the little guy mode of artistic creation, the castle at Fujichia, new shops in town, "gotta make calls if you want to get results", books, radio, The Roadside Picnic (book), and a whole lot more. We both got coffee, it was good. Later Jesse's partner Isabella showed up and we talked a little but I didn't write down what we talked about, which is fine because that's outside the purview of this report. The coffee was good.
Jules Kang Sharpe
Saturday July 19, 2025Hung out with cartooníste and publisher Jules Sharpe at New Harvest on Sims Ave at 11:30am. All the shady spots outside were taken so we were going to sit inside, but then inside was too spooky, it was all people on headphones with laptops. That's a really bad vibe. We went outside and sat on the ground under a tree, which was actually the best seat in the place, nice and cool, with distant conversation bouncing off the low pavement in a way that could only be described as nostalgic. We talked about frozen pizza, flossing, drawing backgrounds for a cartoon show, art fairs, international arts funding jealousy, catwalk posture, job time, and remote work. CTRI alums Tycho Horan and Dana Heng both made appearances. I got hot coffee, Jules got iced. The coffee was good.
Donna Oblongata
Thursday July 17, 2025Met up with playright, actor, and impresario Donna Oblongata, at Seven Stars on Broadway. I first met Donna 18 years, 1 month, and 2 days ago, on June 18 2007, when I saw her 2 person theatrical troupe The Missoula Oblongata and afterwards was SEIZED by the NEED to MEET and BEFRIEND both of them. Since then I've seen nearly every play, and she also cast me in a production of Julius Caesar, in which I did an extremely good job. And we did in fact become friends, immediately if I recall. Donna was in town because she performed her new play about Vincent Van Gogh the night before, at Lost Bag. We both got coffee-- Donna got iced and I got hot. And boy did we really get into it, as only old friends can. We talked about "why are you doing this", jamming econo, kids today, apocalypticism, signifiers, doing promo, new forms of theatre, Russian Tsarlag and the art of the Bleach Party, Kurt Cobain, attention, crowd work, sip n' paint, and the Backwards Business Model. Wow I had such a nice time! I accidentally booked this residency during a time I was supposed to work, so I called out sick! Which was 100% the right move.
If you would like to take part in this residency program you are welcome to apply. The application is easy but sincere. That is to say, you really do have to apply, you can't just call me up and say "let's get coffee". Or, I mean, obviously you can, and I would probably enjoy that, but if you want to do the residency then you have to submit an application. It's customary. I have engineered the application so it's a teeny tiny bit stressful, which is also customary. You don't have to upload any jpgs but you do have to try and do a good job. If you've never tried to try and do a good job before, you are invited to try (to try to try). You don't have to be my friend to do this, this is also available to total strangers, pleasant acquaintances, relationship unclear (don't think we've met / unsure if even say hi), and saw this on my friend's instagram.
Also, I should warn you, please don't be shocked, the residency... costs $250. But there is a full scholarship available immediately with a 100% success rate, which brings the realized cost to the artist down to guaranteed zero. The fee is mostly there because I thought people would get more out of it if it cost kind of a lot of money. I mean we all know that the value is immeasurable, but at the same time, I think it dignifies both parties to put a 3 figure price tag on it. You get to pad out your résumé with not only "residency" but "full scholarship". And for me, I get to truthfully say that we are giving out $25,000 in scholarships this year. Or maybe it sounds better to say "we are on track to give out over $100,000 in scholarships by 2028". Which sounds better? I post stuff like that on LinkedIn, they love that kind of thing over there. If anyone can tell me a concrete way to turn this type of advanced value management into true iceberg lettuce please write to me immediately.
to read more about CTRI Innovations, and to hopefully apply (hopefully as in me hoping), see [rf5.org/residency].
to read an interview I did about this for ARTNews (with JUICEBOXX!), click here: [artnews.com]
Thank you for reading, I'm trying to get back on regular writing here. More next week! Questions / comments / suggestions? email jacob@fujichia.com, subject: READER MAIL
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