Yale-China Artist Residency

In collaboration with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, and the David Geffen School of Drama (DGSD), the Yale-China Arts Residency supports collaborative, culturally relevant art in New Haven. The Residency aims to premiere innovative cross-cultural theater, facilitate collaboration across sectors in New Haven, and build international artist networks. Resident Artists, in tandem with Yale-China and the Festival, will work to facilitate cross-cultural, multi-generational learning by producing new art during a six-month period.

What is the Yale-China Artist Residency? 

The Yale-China Arts Residency is a unique opportunity for emerging professional artists at Yale's David Geffen School of Drama to create original work exploring Chinese culture. 
The residency seeks to support the creation of new intercultural work that – in process and presentation – brings together students, artists, and audiences from New Haven, Yale, and the world.  

What does a Resident Artist do? 

Selected applicants receive a commission of $18,000 and mentorship support to develop and produce an original project for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas (IFAI) in New Haven in June 2025. Lead Artists are responsible for the full execution of their projects, including renting space and hiring necessary production staff, designers, and performers. IFAI will support with marketing and publicity.  

The residency also includes multi-generational mentorship. Lead artists receive mentorship support from Yale-China and IFAI Staff throughout the development of their work as well as mentor high school students in the festival’s Fellowship Program who volunteer their time at key points during production. 

What kind of projects are you looking for? 

We are looking for proposals for the creation of original performance that explores Chinese culture in a global context. This could include engaging with Chinese languages, histories, ritual practices, art forms, and more. Chinese culture is diverse, vast, and diasporic and means different things to different people.    

In your project proposal, we will invite you to share what aspect(s) of Chinese culture you wish to explore in your work and what experiences your team will bring to the investigation. As an organization devoted to cross-cultural exchange and collaboration, we will be eager to hear how your project – in process and presentation – may bring together individuals from varied backgrounds and cultural experiences. We welcome proposals of any genre or discipline as long as they center a live, in-person audience experience in New Haven that can be integrated into festival programming.

Who is eligible to apply?  

All students currently enrolled in the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale are welcome to apply. Each proposal must be spearheaded by 1-3 Lead Artists. Lead Artists can only be a part of one proposal per cycle.  

What is the application process? 

The Yale-China Team will host virtual and in-person Info Sessions in late November and early December to share information about the opportunity and answer questions.

Attendance is optional but highly encouraged.

Written applications are due on Friday, December 20, 2024 at midnight. Finalists will be invited to an online panel interview in January, and the selected project will be announced by the end of January 2025. 

Sponsored by Mask Academy Network, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Yale University David Geffen School of Drama, Yale-China, and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.

Jinling Duan 段珒苓 (Co-Creator/Sound Designer)

Jinling Duan (段珒苓) is a sound designer and composer from Guangdong, China. She holds a BFA in Sound Design from the Central Academy of Drama and is currently pursuing her MFA in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Jinling specializes in using sound as a narrative tool to craft immersive and emotionally resonant experiences. Her recent sound design credits include Witch (Yale Cabaret), while her work as a sound engineer includes Notes on Killing (Yale Repertory Theatre) and Metamorphoses (Yale School of Drama).

Aaron Frongillo (Project Manager)

Aaron Frongillo is a theatre maker originally from Franklin, MA. He is a current MFA candidate studying Technical Design & Production at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He is also a graduate of Wagner College where he completed a double major of Theatre Performance and Design, Technology, & Management. He hopes you enjoy the exhibition!

Qier Luo 罗绮儿 (Co-Creator/Lighting Designer)

Qier Luo (罗绮儿) is a lighting designer and researcher originally from Zhejiang, China. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Languages and Culture from Bryn Mawr College. She is currently pursuing her second MFA in Lighting Design at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Recent lighting design credit includes Coriolanus (Yale), Apologiae 4 & 5 (Yale Cabaret); China Based design: Sanctuary (Shenzhen), A Statue of a Woman Doing Chores (Shanghai), Midnight Movie (Aranya), To Be Buried (Shanghai and Guangzhou); New York-based design: Rooftop Somnambulism (Brooklyn), Venus (Waterwall Productions), The Tenants (NYWF). Philadelphia-based design: Ship (Azuka Theatre), King Lear (Hepburn Theater), Fear Babies (Headlong Institute), Milky Way (The Fidget Space). Bloomington-based design credits include Wonderful Town, The Heiress, Julius Caesar, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, and Prospect Hill. 

Yaya Zhang 张文瑾 (Co-Creator/Visual Designer)

Yaya Zhang (张文瑾) is a set designer from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, born and raised in Nanjing, China. Her journey began with a deep love for drawing and a fascination with how space holds memory and emotion. She is drawn to stories that live between cultures—where language falters and feeling begins. At Yale, she seeks to unlearn limits and reframe Chinese aesthetics through fresh forms and gestures. She believes in theater as a collaborative act of empathy—an art of listening, shaping, and trusting. Her work searches for quiet clarity in complexity and connection across distance.

Arts Residency Partners