Yuko Oda

And I had a tenured position in New York City before that at the New York Institute of Technology.

So I had done the whole tenure track, climbing the mountain and getting it.

So I know the process, but I think that was in 2013.

And now in 2024,

it was happening again in Boston.

But I felt like I would never have that opportunity.

It just wasn't something I was expecting.

The thing is, I was making art and trying to show and trying to get those opportunities along the way, even though the institution wasn't regarding it as something that they were giving me credit for, just because I'm an artist and I will always do that.

But because they were like, okay, this is your new position now.

I was like, oh my God, I actually, I can do this and I'm actually going to do it better this time.

It's not going to be just to get tenure.

It's going to be to advance myself as an artist.

So I was super excited.

But that first half of the year, I just applied to, I remember like eight grants and residencies and I was still doing all the other teaching.

And I was like,

okay, I'm going to make more work, like scaled up everything.

And that was mid-year 2024.

And at the end of the year, I joined Network.

But I think it was brewing that whole time.

Okay, I have some opportunities coming up.