NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, FOUR INSTRUMENTS (REPRISE), 2023. Nikon F4 on tripod, music stand, 1976 Fender Princeton guitar amplifier, and unopened ReoLink four-camera security system.


About

We are a design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, nonprofits, and creative businesses.

Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation




Staff

Wye Coday
Senior Researcher 
wye@nor.la


Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la



Statement of Purpose

We pride ourselves on the quality and thoroughness of the investigations we develop for artists and creative businesses who seek to grow their enterprise and repair their relationships to money, power, labor, and personal identity.

Unlike many art professionals, we encourage artists to develop fully integrated businesses that hold no illusory distinctions between artistic expression, studio practice, commercial labor, and business administration.

This means conducting audits, interrogating financial objectives, setting measurable goals, and preparing our clients to advocate for themselves — and their businesses — with confidence while also supporting the development, production, distribution, and sale of their artwork.

In our view, this integrated approach represents a movement toward transparency and financial stability in an industry that is widely disingenuous, opaque, and exploitative.

It is also an optimistic gesture that demonstrates our commitment to advocating for artists who seek to make an independent living through their creative practices.


Statement of Method

We describe ourselves as a design research studio because we use research methodologies to define and counter the structural inequity and economic disenfranchisement that plague the arts.

Our artworks extend our research practice. To date, they have taken the form of grant proposals, photographs, sculptures, catalogue essays, legal interventions, lecture performances, and recorded conversations. We also advocate for what we described as “post-institutional” business models that allow artists to diversify their sales portfolios.

Rooted in the core of our approach is our belief that artists must reconcile their relationship to money if they want to have uninterrupted time to produce their work. 


Statement of Equity


Artists with nontraditional backgrounds are encouraged to contact us for specialized consultations. We proudly work with and support neurodivergent, queer, disabled, and otherwise economically marginalized groups.


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NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, FOUR INSTRUMENTS (REPISE), 2023. Nikon F4 on tripod, music stand, 1973 Fender Princeton guitar amplifier, and unopened ReoLink four-camera security system.



About

We are design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, creatives, startups, media companies, small businesses, and nonprofits.



Staff

Wye Coday
Senior Researcher
wye@nor.la


Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la


Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation



Services 
Grants and Fundraising

Our grants have received recognition from venerated awarding bodies such as Creative Capital, The Andy Warhol Foundation, Sundance, and the California Arts Council.

We have also written application materials for residencies, fellowships, and graduate programs that have netted our clients research and travel stipends, institutional support for their creative projects, and full-ride scholarships.

- Grants, Budgets, and Proposals
- Residency and Fellowship Applications
- Fundraising Campaigns

NOR RESEARCH STUDIO, AUNTIE EVAN TAKING GILA TO SEE SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME, 2022. HUSKY TAKEN TO PEAK OF MOUNT WATERMAN IN 2015 DIESEL VOLKSWAGON GOLF PURCHASED USING FUNDS FROM THE DECAPITATION OF THE SECOND WITCH’S HEAD.