AIRs might be as short as a few days, a week, or a month, and they may last as long as an academic year.

We hope to have artists visiting Columbia from all over United States and the world. Insight and expertise from creative minds living elsewhere will strengthen the experiences of MU students, faculty, and the Columbia community.

We hope to have AIRs that are both established artists as well as those whose careers are emerging. Artistic excellence, no matter the years worked, is what matters most to us. We value demonstrable professional accomplishment as well as unique and exceptional promise.

Our AIRs may be individual artists, but they may also be companies/troupes and collaborations of artists.

We want AIRs to reach as many students as possible, regardless of their chosen major.  In fact, we are interested in AIRs who can serve those populations that do not self-identify as arts-interested. AIRs will absolutely serve MU students in the areas of music, theatre, visual studies, and literary arts, but AIRs will not be limited to interactions with those student populations only.

Above all, MU's AIR exists to increase opportunities for students to have access to and interaction with great artists and their art, so all AIRs will impact the student population. That interaction will take many forms, however, engaging students both in and outside the classroom. We are also interested in connecting our AIRs to the communities beyond campus, especially the Columbia-area population. In other words, AIR activities will not reside solely within campus boundaries.

A general response is the best we can do on this one. AIRs vary in so many ways -- in length of time, use of facilities, materials, required housing and transportation, if it is an individual artist who will visit or a group, etc. A short visit, perhaps a week, might be paid $1,500 + travel, while a longer, more involved residency might be paid $40,000 or more + travel. It is important to note that persons already employed by MU may not be compensated with AIR funds.

We want our artists' time at MU to be the best and most productive it can be. However, there are currently no designated work or living spaces for AIRs on campus. Instead, we will work to connect our AIRs with supportive faculty who have interest in working with AIRs to help explore facilities available. And we can direct artists to sources for finding housing. We will also provide communications support (e.g., posting events on our website and MU events calendars, promoting events through email, and making introductions/connections with the arts community).