Introducing Second Shift Studio Space of Saint Paul, a nonprofit residency program and art space serving women, gender-nonconforming individuals, and others who are marginalized as a result of their gender identity.

Founded in 2019, Second Shift Studio Space of Saint Paul is an artist-led effort to provide better resources to working artists and build communities of arts appreciators.

Second Shift is a space for making, for gathering, for listening, and for experimenting. At the core of Second Shifts philosophy is the belief that what artists need more than anything else is the time, space, and energy to develop their practice, outside of the constraints of financial influence. Despite how fundamental these needs are, they often go unmet through traditional residency and fellowship models. This difficulty is compounded by the noticeable disappearance of affordable studio space in the city. To address this, Second Shift will offer free, year-long studio residencies to four artists/makers/thinkers who are marginalized as a result of their gender identity. This includes (but is not limited to) people who are gender non-conforming, trans, non-binary, two-spirit, genderqueer/fluid, cis-gender women, trans women,and transmen. Second Shift operates under the belief that helping one artist can help an entire community. When artists are provided the resources they need to fully engage their practice, they produce more relevant and challenging work, art that has the capacity to promote conversation, generosity, and engagement with the world around it.