For over fifty years the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program has provided talented artists a year-long opportunity to focus on their creative work. The Roswell Residency is not project-based nor engagement driven, providing the artist an opportunity to look inwardly.

The program is solely dedicated to the development of the individual artist, and as a consequence the usual apparatus of prestige, status, and reputation are ignored.

While the artists that receive the RAiR Fellowship enjoy a reasonable standard of living ($1350/mo), most will have to make personal sacrifices to participate. The RAiR Program appreciates that time, distance, and isolation can come at a cost. Those artists who do immerse themselves, undertake a long process of personal discovery.

The nature of the RAiR Fellowship is informal. There are virtually no obligations on the part of the grantees except to respect the facilities and the privacy of the other artists.  There are no teaching, lecturing, or exhibition requirements for the Artist-in-Residence. Informal studio visits are occasionally conducted for visiting collectors, dealers or museum staff, but an artist may decline to participate.

The Roswell Museum generally invites fellows to exhibit their work toward the end of their stay, however, this opportunity is optional.