Monday, December 8

Tuesday, December 9

Conference Plenary: Future Memory: Creative Practices for Building the Legacies We Envision 
La Fonda – Lumpkins Ballroom
Artist residencies can play a powerful role in how they approach the data collection, documentation, and archiving of the work of the artists in their care. In a moment when we are all thinking about how to protect art and artists, and navigating the laws and policies that impact our decision-making, we have an opportunity to think expansively about the information we maintain, the stories we tell, and the archival materials we protect. How can residency operators, funding partners, and artists approach these questions to ensure that we leave policies, practices, and material archives that tell the stories of our living artists with integrity and care?

Kibra A. Yohannes (Moderator) | Senior Program Associate, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (New York, NY); Board Co-Chair, Artist Communities Alliance
Solana Chehtman | Director of Artist Programs, Joan Mitchell Foundation (New York, NY)
Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo | Rapper, Producer, and David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music, Brown University (Providence, RI)
Katie Sonnenborn | Co-Director, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (Madison, ME)

1) Wisdom Well: Practical Tools for Stronger Organizations
La Fonda – Lumpkins Ballroom
Insurance, workplace culture, artist safety, and budgeting: topics that are central to sustaining our organizations and realizing our missions in support of artists. Choose three interactive roundtables to join, all facilitated by subject-matter experts. Each 25-minute conversation is a chance to draw from a collective well of knowledge, tapping into shared wisdom, swapping insights, and gathering practical tools to bring back into your work.

Practices for Protection 
What strategies can be used to protect artists, staff, and audiences? Explore approaches for preparing staff to engage with federal agents and learn how communities are building collective safety.
Joel Garcia | Co-Founder and Director, Meztli Projects (Montebello, CA)

HR 101 for Healthy Workplaces in the Arts
Recruitment, retention, and building positive workplace culture—troubleshoot challenges and strengthen practice alongside an HR expert with two decades of experience. 
Kimba D. King | Senior Director of Human Resources, Adrienne Arsht Center (Miami, FL)

Building Capacity in Financial Management
Turn your dreams into reality with efficient budgeting processes, transparent financial reporting, and forecasting strategies for uncertain times.
Antonio Necuze | Managing Director of Finance and Operations, Artist Communities Alliance; President, A&M Business Consultants (Miami, FL) 

Agghh! Why is Insurance so Confusing!
Liability coverage, claims, and everything else you need to know, demystified in under 30 minutes.
Jennifer Stein | Team Leader/Account Executive, Commercial Lines, Risk Strategies (New York, NY)
Sharon Ullman | Strategy and Execution Specialist (New York, NY)
Emily Weiss Schaffer | Vice President and Team Leader, Fine Arts Practice, Risk Strategies (New York, NY)

Access in Practice: Building Inclusive Spaces
What does it take to reimagine your residency with accessibility at its core? Hear how one leader transformed an existing facility into accessible live/work spaces—and how the partnerships, planning, and process reshaped their organization.
Lesley Williamson | Executive Director, Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts (Ithaca, NY)

2) Residency Feud™: Survey Says... It’s Time to Rethink Everything
Eldorado – Zia A
This high-energy session blends a Family Feud–style game show with a collaborative, movement-based design lab. Inspired by the 5Rhythms (Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness), each round is anchored by a different rhythm, shaping both activity style and group energy. Teams—dubbed “Residency Families”—will compete, reflect, and co-create by alternating movement, discussion, and rapid prototyping. This movement workshop invites participants to remix artist residencies through play, movement, and satire. Ideal for artists, administrators, and anyone passionate about bold change, the session encourages collaboration, experimentation, and rethinking creative support structures in fun and unexpected ways.

Guy Thorne | Arts Residency Programs Coordinator, Division of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)

3) What We Count Matters: Community-Driven Data for Artist-Centered Ecosystems
Eldorado – Zia B
What wisdom is lost when artists don’t help shape the metrics that define their ecosystems? Drawing on the Chicago Art Census—a grassroots, artist-led data project involving over 2,000 artists and cultural workers—this session explores how community-driven approaches to data can inform residencies and artist-centered spaces. Rather than positioning data as neutral, the Census frames it as a deeply relational practice that resists flattening the lived experience of creative labor into institutionally convenient metrics. Panelists will share the Census’s methods, findings, and lessons learned, highlighting the political stakes of what is counted and by whom, and the ways participatory design can foster trust and hold space for nuance. Ideal for anyone thinking critically about evaluation, community engagement, or program development, this session will leave attendees with practical prompts for transforming how the residency field listens, learns, and responds.

Kate Bowen | Executive Director, ACRE (Steuben, WI / Chicago, IL)
Alden Burke | Lead Organizer, Chicago Arts Census (Chicago, IL)
Anthony Stepter | Program Director, ACRE (Chicago, IL)
Adia Sykes | Lead Organizer, Chicago Arts Census (Chicago, IL)

4) Public/Private Partnerships in Creative Residency Models for Social Practice Artists
Eldorado – Zia C
Bringing together voices from city, state, and private nonprofit sectors, this panel will provide a candid framework to address the challenges, obstacles, and opportunities of building a collaborative artist residency model for social-practice artists. Through storytelling and preliminary project documentation, Naomi Natale will discuss her large-scale, community-engaged project Of Grief and Dreams, highlighting her practice, the residency’s early impacts, and the broader circles of social and community engagement it generates. Panelists will reflect on the paths of funding and resources—from underwriting materials and physical space to artist mentorship, salary, and community collaborations—while addressing the artist’s role as an active partner in securing support. Six months into the residency, we will share our learnings to date and invite a broader dialogue with attendees, encouraging questions, feedback, and collaborative exchange on how to sustain innovative, cross-sector residency models.

Shira Greenberg | Founder and Artistic Director, Keshet Dance Company and Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)
Elsa Menendez | Deputy Director, City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture (Albuquerque, NM)
Naomi Natale | Artist (Albuquerque, NM)
Dr. Shelle Sanchez | Director, City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture (Albuquerque, NM)

5) The Whole Picture: Bringing the Science of Data to the World of Art
Eldorado – DeVargas
Arts and culture sectors often struggle to access the kinds of data and shared metrics that more dominant industries use to advocate for sustained investment. This interactive session will explore how communities can gather and use economic impact data—alongside other forms of data—to elevate the value of arts and culture as core to economic, civic, and community life. Drawing from a recent regional impact study conducted with a Michigan university, presenters will share how findings are informing a comprehensive arts and culture plan in Grand Rapids. They will also unpack the opportunities and challenges of such studies—what they reveal, what they miss, and how they can be paired with community engagement, participation, and equity indicators to tell a fuller story. Together, we’ll map existing data and infrastructure, surface shared barriers, and offer real-time guidance for building localized strategies that reflect communities’ unique strengths and needs.

Lauren Conrad | Senior Consultant, ConnectUS (Grand Rapids, MI)
Steff Rosalez | CEO, Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities (Grand Rapids, MI)
Mark Woltman | Managing Director, ConnectUS (Grand Rapids, MI)

6) Pieces of Place: A Textile and Storytelling Workshop at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
One of the most significant artists of the 20th century, Georgia O’Keeffe was devoted to creating imagery that expressed “the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it.” Engage with O’Keeffe’s unique approach to light and landscape through this hands-on textile workshop led by Kieran Sequoia, the current Mobile Artist in Residence. Participants will design a small cloth artwork—“piece of place”—that reflects their own meaningful landscape, symbols, or memories. Then, step into the museum’s Mobile Studio to record a three-minute story in response to the prompt: “What is your most powerful place?”
Limited capacity. Meet at La Fonda Mezzanine, 2nd floor by 1:40pm to be escorted to the Museum.

Kieran Sequoia | Mobile Artist in Residence, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe, NM)

1) All Ships Rise: Fundraising in Uncertain Times
La Fonda – Lumpkins Ballroom
Fundraising for artist residencies and arts organizations requires both responsiveness and foresight, especially in periods of rapid change. In this session, residency leaders share where they’re holding the line and where they’re pivoting, sharing short- and long-term tactics to maintain relationships, cultivate transparency, and build capacity. Participants will hear concrete examples of strategies that support sustainability while responding to evolving community and field needs. Whether you’re responsible for development, administration, or leadership, this session offers suggestions to keep all parts of your organization moving forward when the landscape is shifting.

William Belcher | Chief of Advancement, Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT)
Ellen Lake | Co-Executive Director, Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA)
Brandi Turner | Co-Founder, Sipp Culture (Utica, MS)

2) Risk Preparedness: From Insurance to Artist Handbooks
Eldorado – Zia A
As dynamic hubs for artists, audiences, and staff, artist residencies must be prepared to respond to a range of situations. How can residencies and other arts organizations prepare for the unexpected? From financial shocks to natural disasters, risk preparedness is an essential part of sustaining artist-centered spaces. Learn how to address vulnerabilities and close gaps in policy and process before situations arise. Join residency leadership and experts in insurance and organizational practice for a lively conversation about everything from insurance policies to artist handbooks—tools that can turn risk planning into resilience.

Jennifer Stein | Team Leader/Account Executive, Commercial Lines, Risk Strategies (New York, NY)
Sharon Ullman | Strategy and Execution Specialist (New York, NY)
Jenni Wu | Chief of Staff, MacDowell (Peterborough, NH)

3) From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: Reimagining Artist Residencies for Collective Transformation
Eldorado – Zia B
As the field of artist residencies evolves, the familiar language of “safe spaces” is being reexamined—especially as the safety of these environments faces new challenges. While providing safety is foundational, brave spaces go further—cultivating trust, encouraging vulnerability, and enabling truth-telling and transformation. This session will lead to a conversation to explore how residency programs can transition from offering safety alone to embracing the deeper work of becoming sites for brave, co-created futures. Drawing from the publication Hello, Goodbye, Hello, this panel will highlight grounded, field-tested artistic practices that drive transformation. Featuring the work of Related Tactics and Christine Wong Yap—artists who center dialogue, equity, and complexity—panelists from the Lucas Artists Residency Program (LAP) at Montalvo Arts Center and Kala Art Institute will share their experiences working with these artists and reflect on how these engagements have shaped their institutional work.

Michelle Carlson | Artist, Culture Worker, and Co-founder, Related Tactics (San Francisco, CA)
Mayumi Hamanaka | Co-Executive Director, Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA)
Kelly Sicat | Director, Lucas Artists Programs, Montalvo Arts Center (Saratoga, CA)
Weston Teruya | Artist, Culture Worker, and Co-founder, Related Tactics (Washington, DC)
Christine Wong Yap | Visual Artist and Social Practitioner (San Francisco, CA)

4) Practices of Place: Creative Responses to Plants and Landscapes
Eldorado – Zia C
This session brings together artists and arts administrators to explore how artists engage with and respond to land. Many artist residencies are located on ecologically sensitive landscapes—places that can inspire creative work but also require specialized knowledge and care to avoid harming the more-than-human world. These landscapes often carry complex histories shaped by intertwined human and ecological processes. In this session, speakers will share how their work and programs engage with land and place through creative, curatorial, and community-based approaches. Through their diverse perspectives, panelists will explore how artists and cultural leaders engage with land as both material and metaphor, examining its ecological complexity, historical depth, and the urgent realities of climate change. The session will conclude with a Q&A.

Danielle Eady | Programs Director, Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Upperville, VA)
James Ojascastro, PhD | Field Botany Program Manager, Atlanta Botanical Gardens (Atlanta, GA)
Mary Anne Redding | Senior Curator, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian University (Boone, NC)
Suzanne Sbarge | Artist (Albuquerque, NM) 

5) Curatorial Residencies: Residency Models to Support Curatorial Practice and Build Artistic Networks
Eldorado – DeVargas
This session explores residency models that extend support beyond artists to include the professional and creative development of curators and writers. Founded in 2018, The Prospectus Residency Program at Brew House Arts has served over ten Pittsburgh-based emerging curators, helping them launch careers and develop and present new exhibitions. The program works with two curators each season. Established in 2022, Pedantic brings together three creatives specializing in visual art, curating, and writing. Prioritizing immersion in new creative communities through exploration, connections, and cross-disciplinary exchange over production, Pedantic hosts two four-week residency terms annually. In this session, panelists will explore how these curatorial-focused residencies have built networks for artists and curators alike, creating opportunities for new voices in the field to grow.

Henry J. Simonds | Founder, Pedantic Arts Residency (Pittsburgh, PA) 
Natalie Sweet | Executive Director, Brew House Arts (Pittsburgh, PA)
Hannah Turpin | Program Manager, Pedantic Arts Residency (Pittsburgh, PA)

6) Private Curator Tour: Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
Join Bess Murphy, Luce Curator of Art + Social Practice, for a one-hour tour of “Tewa Nangeh/Tewa Country”, an exhibition that re-situates Georgia O’Keeffe’s legacy within the living histories of the six Tewa Pueblos. Attendees will gain deeper insight into the collaborative curatorial process and the artworks that honor Tewa culture, identity, and place.
Limited capacity. Meet at La Fonda Mezzanine, 2nd floor by 3:40pm to be escorted to the Museum.

Bess Murphy | Luce Curator of Art and Social Practice, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (Santa Fe, NM)

Dinner on your own / Evening Meet-Ups
Join with colleagues for informal gatherings at either of the hotel lounges. Our hosts will have recommendations for exploring Santa Fe through its amazing restaurant options. Start out at either spot to meet new friends and make a dinner plan together.

• La Fiesta Lounge at La Fonda on the Plaza offers an authentic Santa Fe dining experience, and comes alive each evening with talented local musicians.
• CAVA Santa Fe at Eldorado Hotel features craft cocktails, live entertainment and serves as Santa Fe’s community living room. 

Wednesday, December 10

Conference Plenary: Meeting the Moment: Residencies as Leadership Incubators
La Fonda – Lumpkins Ballroom
At a moment when traditional models of leadership are failing, we look to artists to not only illustrate our condition but to lead. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized the essential role of creativity in advocating for justice. How can creative practitioners meet this moment of white nationalism and rampant xenophobia—supporting those affected while also creating space for positive social change? And how can artist residencies and other spaces act as incubators for this kind of leadership, fostering innovation, resilience, and community impact?

Sanjit Sethi (Moderator) | Artist and Cultural Academic Leader (Bali, Indonesia)
Joseph Kunkel | Principal and Director, Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab, MASS Design Group (Boston, MA)
Roger Montoya | Creative Director and Co-Founder, Moving Arts Espanola (Ohkay Owingeh, NM)
Chrissie Orr | Artist and Co-Founder, SeedBroadcast Collective (Anton Chico, NM)

1) Fostering Deep Relationships in Residency
La Fonda – La Terrazza
This session explores Sitka’s evolving strategies for fostering long-term, reciprocal relationships with practitioners through community and ecological engagement, an alumni advisory council, and a new fellowship program for returning artists. Participants will learn how these initiatives—alongside place-based programs connecting residents with local schools, Tribal culture bearers, and ecological stewards—inform best practices for place-based or community-embedded residencies. By combining a case study presentation with a facilitated peer exchange, this session will invite attendees to reflect on their own contexts, share strategies, and surface questions or tensions they are navigating. Our goal is to create space for honest peer learning and generate a shared resource of practical approaches for building deeper relationships with artists.

Alison Dennis | Executive Director, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)
Maria Elting | Program Manager, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)
Adam Swanson |  Literary Arts Fellow, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (Otis, OR)

2) The Art of the Residency: Finding Your Place to Grow
La Fonda – New Mexico Room
Artist residencies provide immeasurable opportunities for creative growth and development at every stage of a practitioner’s career. This session will explore how artists identify residency opportunities that best align with their creative and professional goals. In this discussion, panelists will outline varying formats—from large-scale centers offering rich programming and exchange to self-directed residencies suited for contemplative focus—and reflect on their own experiences in residence. Through casual conversation with creative practitioners across disciplines, this session provides insight for artists as well as the organizations that support them. It emphasizes the vital role of artist communities in nurturing creative practice, fostering longstanding collaborations, and advancing social, environmental, and cultural impact.

Leslie Hirst (Moderator) | Visual Artist; Professor of Experimental and Foundation Studies, Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI)
Xan Burley | Choreographer; Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance, University of Florida (Gainsville, FL)
Lily Cox-Richard | Visual artist; Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)
Eugene Gloria | Poet; Chair of English Department and Professor of Creative Writing, DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)
Alex Springer | Choreographer; Assistant Professor of Contemporary Dance, University of Florida (Gainsville, FL)

3) San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery: Stitching Stories in Rural Colorado
Eldorado – Zia A
This panel explores in depth the unique artform of San Luis Valley colcha embroidery, a textile practice brought to Colorado from Northern New Mexico in the 19th century and shaped by revival movements into a pictorial narrative art that illustrates memories, local landscapes, community traditions, and folklore. The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project, a program of the nonprofit NOON Organization, supports artists to teach, nurture community connections, and celebrate cultural traditions. Panelists will discuss intergenerational and intercommunity relationship building in rural communities. Project coordinators Adrienne Garbini and Trent Segura will provide historical context in conversation with artist Aurora Martinez. Topics include regional identity, restoration of missing artworks as cultural repair, economic and community impacts of art initiatives, and the field of folk art textiles in the U.S. and globally.

Adrienne Garbini | Coordinator, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Saguache, CO)
Aurora Martinez | Teaching Artist, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Monte Vista, CO)
Trent Segura | Coordinator, San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project (Denver, CO)

4) Perspectives on Practice
Eldorado – Zia B
This session brings together leaders from diverse arts institutions to explore how artistic practice can be supported across its entire lifecycle—from initial inspiration to sustained engagement. Panelists will share how their organizations create ecosystems of support that honor artists, audiences, and communities. From Vermont Studio Center’s emphasis on inclusivity and cross-disciplinary collaboration, to the Institute of American Indian Arts’ integration of Indigenous knowledge systems, to Zane Bennett Contemporary Art’s platforms for artists at all career stages, to Stuart Chase’s four decades of museum leadership guiding public engagement and collection legacies, to The Paseo Project’s immersive, place-based model activating community, culture, and landscape—this conversation highlights both the challenges and opportunities of fostering meaningful, lasting engagement across the arts ecosystem.

Mario Caro, PhD | Director, MFA in Studio Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts (Santa Fe, NM)
Stuart Chase | Principal, S.A. Chase & Associates (Chimayo, NM)
Carina Evangelista | Director, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art (Santa Fe, NM)
Hope Sullivan | Executive Director, Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT)
J. Matthew Thomas | Executive Director, The Paseo Project (Taos, NM)

1) Artist Residency Wellness: Caring for Artists and Staff
La Fonda – La Terrazza
Residencies are places of growth, experimentation, and connection—but they can also bring challenges around balance, care, and expectations. In this hybrid session, residency associates and managers who are both administrators and artists will lead an open conversation on what it means to support the well-being of visiting artists and the staff who care for them. Together, we’ll share resources, strategies, and questions around wellness in residency life, touching on mental health, accessibility, responsiveness, boundaries, and evolving expectations. Participants will leave with practical ideas for cultivating healthier, more sustainable residency environments, with a sense of solidarity in this ongoing work. Everyone is invited to join the dialogue!

yrécha gay Jheneall | Artist-Centered Program Associate, Joan Mitchell Center  (New Orleans, LA)
Deanna M. Miera | Residency Manager, Ragdale (Lake Forest, IL)
Carolina Porras Monroy | Senior Manager, Studios at MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)

2) Art in Context: Holistically Uniting Art, Artists, and Archives
La Fonda – New Mexico Room
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is the only college in the world dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts. The IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts serves as a hub for students, scholars, artists, and the community through reference, research support, workshops, internships, fellowships, artist residencies, exhibitions, and curriculum development. In this session, we will discuss the intersecting activities of the Research Center, specifically focusing on the Artist in Residence Program, and artist legacy work, and offer insights and perspectives from our experiences.

Mary Deleary | Director, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)
Maia Filippi | AiR Program Manager, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)
Ryan S. Flahive | Archivist, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)
Stella Greendeer | AiR Program Assistant, IAIA Research Center for Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM)

3) The Creative Process Behind Organizational Collaboration
Eldorado – Zia A
With a focus on aggregating resources, disrupting systems, and embracing experimentation, this panel will highlight key interaction points, navigating “good friction,” and reflecting on the timeline and decision-making thresholds leading up to the residency activity. Derived from a three-way partnership developed throughout 2024 for the technical residency of After the Last Red Sky by the Palestine-American choreographic duo Body Watani, this session will include a breakdown of the final budget, showing how the national network was activated to reallocate organizational resources for artists. A technical overview of the facilities will illustrate the minimum readiness to take on this kind of work. Speakers include representatives from Body Watani (Minneapolis, MN), NCCAkron (Akron, OH), and Keshet Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM).

Christy Bolingbroke (Moderator) | Executive/Artistic Director, National Center for Choreography-Akron (Akron, OH)
Leila Awadallah | Co-Artistic Director, Body Watani (Minneapolis, MN)
Noelle Awadallah | Co-Artistic Director, Body Watani (Minneapolis, MN)
Edward Carrion | Theater and Facilities Director, Keshet Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)
Ana Lopes Arechiga | Director of Programming and Engagement, Keshet Center for the Arts (Albuquerque, NM)

4) Guilding & Commoning—Building Sustainable and Equitable Artist Communities and Support Systems
Eldorado – Zia B
Artists have always been at the forefront of building community and solidarity, driven by both creative motives and the desire for stability and support for their work. Collective action and collaboration are endemic to creativity, shaping how artists have organized—from early guilds to more contemporary cooperatives and commoning models. Today, artists face unprecedented income inequality and other social challenges that threaten their work and role in civil society. In response, we are seeing a return to cooperative, commoning, and guild-based structures, both private and nonprofit. Join us for a table-setting presentation and discussion exploring what these structures share and how they can resist forces of marginalization, commerciality, and extraction. By returning to time-tested ideas, we can look beyond the horizon of scarcity and envision a world of abundance for artists and their communities.

Thaddeus Squire | Chief Commons Steward, Social Impact Commons (Philadelphia, PA)

5) An Impact-Oriented Residency Program: A Framework From Gate 27
Eldorado – DeVargas
This session shares how Gate 27 adapted Social Value International’s methodology to measure and communicate the social impact of artist residencies, offering a replicable framework for small-scale arts institutions. Rooted in qualitative and transformative outcomes rather than economic outputs, this approach captures professional growth, behavioral shifts, motivation, confidence, name recognition, and artistic development. This session will highlight how Gate 27’s interdisciplinary collaborations foster long-term, sustainable change. Attendees will gain insights into applying scalable models that strengthen advocacy, accountability, and sustainability across small-scale arts institutions, while also exploring strategies for building partnerships, reporting meaningful outcomes, and aligning programs with broader values of equity and sustainability.

Burak Mert Çiloğlugil | Director, Gate 27 (Istanbul, Turkey)

1) Supporting Parent Artists
La Fonda – La Terrazza
Artists who are parents face structural barriers to career and creative advancement. This panel highlights four programs that are pioneering solutions to support artist-caregivers, offering practical strategies that residencies and organizations can adapt to improve equity in the arts. Panelists will address pressing questions: How can residencies reshape models—whether through small adjustments or larger programmatic shifts—to increase access for parents? How can organizations balance artistic excellence with accessibility, or partner with one another to strengthen support across an artist’s career? Drawing on examples such as Interlude’s track record of individualized, funded programming, panelists will demonstrate how equity-centered approaches benefit entire arts communities. With space for Q&A and shared reflection, attendees will leave with concrete tools, inspiration, and a network of colleagues working to build more inclusive and sustainable artist-support systems.

Elsie Kagan | Founder and Director, Interlude Artist Residency (Hudson, NY)
Meaghan Ritchey | Co-Founder and Director, Parts and Labor San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
Carlie Waganer | Residency Program Manager, Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE)
Elly Weisenberg Kelly | Manager of Public Programs and Residencies, The Pocantico Center (Tarrytown, NY)

2) Building Artistic Community Beyond the Residency
La Fonda – New Mexico Room
This roundtable brings together two multi-media visual artists and one curator-art writer to consider how the artist residency fosters creative synergies resulting in new artistic relationships, practices, and exhibitions. Inspired by the collaborators’ own crossover projects, including activation of archival materials, the discussion will be anchored by the experiences of New Mexico residency projects that extend into new forms of collaboration. Several examples interconnect these artists and sites, including: Wo/Manhouse 2022 and Through the Flower Art Space, UNM-Valencia’s Judy Chicago archives, the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program, and Santa Fe Art Institute. These interconnections act as launch points to explore how artist residencies inspire projects and relationships “beyond the residency.” Together, panelists will consider: What factors help support extended projects and collaborations? And how might formal residency programs foster more sustainable and relational projects? 

Tressa Berman, PhD | Principal Consultant-Curator, Institute for Inter-Cultural Practice (Santa Fe, NM)
Stephanie Lerma | Artist (Albuquerque, NM)
Kate Turner | Artist and Educator, Eastern New Mexico University (Roswell, NM) 

3) Aligning the Constellation: Co-Creating Sustainable Funding Models
Eldorado – Zia A
Artist residencies are vital spaces for sustained learning, practice development, and community building across disciplines—yet they remain among the most precariously funded arts programs in the country. This is not just a frustrating or inconvenient reality; rather, the financial insecurity faced by so many programs means that our field’s work is not meeting its potential or serving and robustly supporting as many artists as equitably or in as broad a geography as it should be. This session reframes the residency-funder relationship away from hierarchy and toward co-creation, exploring how shared missions can drive more resilient and equitable funding approaches. Funders will discuss the current funding landscape—including public, private, and individual support—and share dynamic strategies for complementing or transforming traditional models.

Kimberleigh Costanzo | Senior Director of Grants and Operations, Howard Gilman Foundation (New York, NY) 
Meg Leary | Founder, ArtsFIRST Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Megha Ralapati | Independent Curator (Chicago, IL)

4) Parachutes and Grassroots: Supporting Local Arts and Culture Ecosystems Through Resident Artists
Eldorado – Zia B
This workshop explores methods for centering visiting artists as co-curators in community programming. At Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas, we are accustomed to “parachute” residencies, where high-profile artists arrive, share their work, and leave, often leaving little lasting impact. In response, BMI seeks to elevate voices from near and far alongside local artists, readers, performers, and culture workers. In collaboration with our resident writers, whose residencies range from several days to several years, we have developed approaches that connect programming to local interests and conversations, maximizing impact for both the city and the residents’ own networks. In this session, we will share what we’ve learned and invite attendees to reflect individually and collaboratively on approaches for meaningful, community-centered residencies.

Colette LaBouff | Executive Director, Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)
Charlotte Wyatt | Associate Director of Programs, Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)

Thursday, December 11

Optional Sound Healing Activity
La Fonda – La Terrazza
Using a collection of exotic instruments from many traditions such as singing bowls, flutes, percussion, didgeridoo, harmonium, tuning forks and overtone voice, participants are led through a deeply relaxing, gentle yet powerful listening experience, sometimes including simple breathing and vocalizing exercises. A powerful antidote to stress and anxiety and an aid to better sleep and physical wellbeing. Limited to 50 attendees, first come first serve. 

Billy White | Musician, The Heart is Awake (Albuquerque, NM)

Conference Plenary: Organizations as Organizers: Transforming the Public Sphere
La Fonda – Lumpkins Ballroom
The stories we tell about our organizations—what we are capable of and what we are limited by—can have a profound impact on how we think about our work in the arts ecosystem. While historically arts organizations may have tended toward “staying in our lane,” we know that social transformation is only possible when we are all working together, with intention and care toward shared goals. How can our organizations better tell the stories of how we build and sustain meaningful relationships across our sector and beyond? What lessons can we share from the arts sector to model leadership development, bridging despite difference, and building equitable capacity?

Lisa Funderburke (Facilitator) | President and CEO, Artist Communities Alliance (Oakland, CA)
Roberto Bedoya | Cultural Strategist (Oakland, CA)
Brandon Gryde | Former Director Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Artist Communities, and Challenge America at National Endowment for the Arts (Washington DC)
Asa Jackson | President and CEO, McColl Center (Charlotte, NC) 
Eleanor Savage | President and CEO, Jerome Foundation (St Paul, MN) 
Toccarra Thomas | Executive Director, Santa Fe Art Institute (Santa Fe, NM)

Do you have your hotel booked? 

Book at Eldorado here.
Special Rate: $227/ night + tax, ($189 + amenity and resort fees). Book by November 14 with group discount code: 1225REIMAGINE.

Book at La Fonda here.
Special Rate: $179/ night + taxes. Book by November 7 with group discount code ARTISTALL. (Almost sold out)