u/nomi-maloney

I have 5 years experience applying to artist residencies for (and have attended 3), and I acknowledge that a fair amount of them use SlideRoom for the application process.

It's straightforward, but the part that trips me up each time is how they collect references. I need to enter my references's contact info, and they send a separate email to the person to get the reference.

I hate this process because:

1. I already have reference letters from these people that I can send

2. I don't want to pester my references repeatedly if I'm applying to 5+ residencies who are going to reach out to them each time. The more distinguished reference I have already told me he will charge me for 30 minutes of his time for each future one he is asked to do.

Does anyone else find this system frustrating? Is it reasonable to try emailing the residency separately with my letters of reference? This is the #1 thing that keeps gatekeeping my applications.