,Mother’s Milk is a 2-6 week interdisciplinary residency, supporting three or four visual artists, sound artists, dancers/choreographers, and creative writers at a time pursuing innovative work in their field. The goal is to provide individuals or collaborative teams with the time and space to pursue creative projects alongside other residents whose different perspectives offer inspiration and interaction. Work more experimental in nature without regard to commercial viability is of special interest, a focus on process over product. Residents have studios in a 1,500 sq. ft. hay barn studio and share housing in a fully renovated 1898 farmhouse. No car is needed.

Location
Mother's Milk Residency is located in a restored former dairy farm at the edge of Newton, Kansas, tucked between farm fields, a light industrial park, and a travel hub. Our 15 acres are heavily wooded in most areas with some historic farm machinery left in place, where it has found a symbiosis with nature. The grounds offer opportunities for performance, installation, or a source of natural materials.

Nondiscrimination
Mother's Milk is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or dis/ability.

Haystack’s Open Studio Residency runs from May 25–June 5, 2026. The program fosters a dynamic exchange of ideas among peers and provides two weeks of studio time and an opportunity to work in a community of makers. The program supports approximately fifty participants—from the craft field and other creative disciplines—who have uninterrupted time to work in six studios (blacksmithing, ceramics, fiber, graphics, metals, and wood) to develop ideas and experiment in various media. Participants can choose to work in one particular studio or move among them depending on the nature of their work. All of the studios are staffed by technicians who can assist with projects.

The Haystack Fab Lab will also be open, providing an opportunity for experimentation with digital fabrication as a way for Residents to augment and complement their creative practices. In addition to open studios, there will be time for Residents to share work and discuss ideas across disciplines. Residents include established and emerging artists working in a range of visual art and craft-based materials—individuals working in craft, art, design, writing, and other creative disciplines—and who are self-directed and focused—are encouraged to apply.

The Watermill Center's longest-standing program, The International Summer Program unites a community of international artists for a creative intensive at our East End Campus each summer. It offers a unique opportunity to advance one’s artistic practice in a communal and experimental environment and work alongside established arts professionals worldwide. 

Culminating in our Annual Summer Benefit, the Summer Program provides the time and space for emerging artists to develop new works that push the boundaries of contemporary creative practice. The artists – from different disciplines, countries, and backgrounds – share meals, exchange ideas, collaborate on projects, attend workshops, and participate in the daily life of The Watermill Center. 

Artists-in-Residence are immersed in an extensive collection of resources, including; 20,000 square feet of multi-purpose interiors and outdoor stages; a theater production archive; The Watermill Center Library; The Watermill Center Collection; and ten acres of landscaped grounds and sculpture gardens.

The Mudhouse Residency is an artist residency program designed to provide a cultural immersion; with the local community of a unique Cretan mountain village, with the rich historical context of the ancient Minoan civilization, and with the isolation and inspiration the natural environment and location provides.

Contemporary artists have the opportunity to enrich their professional practice with largely forgotten labors of traditional artisans and craftspeople of Crete, combining historical methods and mediums with present day techniques and materials. Inspiration is provided by the uncommon context of the residency; in an almost abandoned mountain village the ruins play an important role in the artistic expression of the artists-in-residence. In return, the residency brings life to the village, supporting the local community and allowing for communication and collaboration.

The residency is inclusive to a variety of artistic disciplines, with the facilities to accommodate studio artists, printmakers, fiber artists, ceramicists, photographers, filmmakers, writers, choreographers and composers. We will be offering residency specific workshops in eco-friendly processes and traditional materials such as sourcing botanical inks, papermaking, creating artists’ books, printmaking, ceramics, loom weaving and traditional Cretan dances. The residency also provides artists who don’t require the use of a studio with the time and structure to focus on a non-studio based project.