Fergus Falls is a regional hub of arts and culture in West Central Minnesota, with a variety of organizations and spaces dedicated to visual arts, dance, performance, and artistic development. For the last 15 years, Springboard for the Arts’ rural headquarters in Fergus Falls has supported local artists in developing their careers, while building a national network of relationships and advocacy about the importance of the arts and artists in rural places. Springboard has brought together over 1,500 rural artists to Fergus Falls through programs like the Rural Regenerator Fellowship, the Rural Futures Summit, and more. 

In partnership with organizations and businesses, the Falls Community Arts Exchange invites artists to Fergus Falls who are interested in growing their own practice in a supportive environment or completing a collaborative local project. Visiting artists reside in a beautiful one-bedroom apartment in downtown Fergus Falls, and have access to support from Springboard staff, connections to local artists and leaders, and more. 

A coalition of local host partners play a key role in the Falls Exchange by sharing their own place-based processes and strategies with visiting artists, connecting artists to local community goals, and providing a supportive network for the artists to engage with local residents.  

We’re delighted to partner with the Fergus Falls Public Library, Outstate Brewing, and Victor Lundeen Company for our 2026-27 Exchange. 

APPLICATIONS ARE REVIEWED ON A ROLLING BASIS

APPLY for periods between 01 May - 31 October annually

The outcome of your application will be communicated within one week.

An Individual Residency provides uninterrupted periods of time in the beautiful environment of Collemacchia in Italy’s Molise region, home to Tracy’s Italian family for centuries. The community is situated in the outstanding National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, a protected area of exceptional significance and beauty.

There is no expectation of a final outcome of the residency. Whether you wish simply to be up close to your practice, allow nature to suffuse your thinking and feeling, produce new work or complete a project, at The Museum of Loss and Renewal the utmost will be done to ensure that you can achieve what you set out to do.

Residents receive support and informal mentoring from Tracy and Associates during the residency period, and ongoing support after the residency.

FOCAL POINTS

Time: to produce, reflect, explore, focus

No expectation of a final outcome

Individual practice

International peer-group of fellow residents

Interdisciplinarity

Sharing ideas; feedback

Curator / Associate meeting

Excellent studio / working space

Excellent accommodation; private bedroom for single residents

Library: art, design, architecture, curating, collecting, (art)writing, publishing, walking 

Natural environment of exceptional significance, accessible from the doorstep

Local amenities within walking distance

Fri 9th – Fri 16th Oct 2026

The Group Residency is devised around the relationships of ‘place, people and time’ and residents will be welcomed to Collemacchia, in Italy’s Apennine Mountains and the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.

ART and FOOD has been devised by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal in partnership with artist Carla Smith (she/her). Tracy’s family is from Collemacchia, where the Group Residency is centred, while Carla’s family comes from nearby Santa Maria Oliveto.

ART and FOOD will be led by Tracy and Carla who share a passion for bringing people together over food, to explore what it means to be creative, to gather, collect and share ingredients, materials and matter, and ways of making. Between us we activate a range of skills and expertise when we curate situations and groups of people. Additional subject-specific sessions will be delivered by a range of experts.

We are driven by our Italian heritages to explore the relationships between art and culture and food. Current considerations include how the production of food is changing due to shifting labour patterns, new co-operative production methods, the importance of capturing and passing on local knowledge of land care, growing methods, cultivation, foraging, harvesting, sustainability and meal preparation. The impact of (return)migration is a key focus.

Thurs 1st – Thurs 8th Oct 2026

APPLY BY 01 May 2026

This Group Residency has been devised by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal in partnership with writer Elizabeth K Reeder and writer and artist Amanda Thomson.

WRITING with PLACE will be led by Tracy, Elizabeth and Amanda who share a passion for writing, and the design, production, publishing and dissemination of printed matter and digital publications. Between us we activate diverse skills and expertise when we employ text, language, writing, publishing and performative modes of working to investigate place(making), (un)belonging, loss, renewal, memory, (personal)narratives and imaginary futures.

The aim of the Group Residency is to develop ‘writing’ and approaches to ‘writing’ that are experimental, inventive in their form, and that respond to place, in a specific environment. Bringing together residents from a range of areas of practice and research, the potential to create an international network is made possible.

‘Writing’ is understood as creative and critical, and situated writing as an area of practice in its most expanded sense. In other words, writing that is experimental, inventive in its form, and responds to place.

The Water & Rock artist residency invites creatives and writers in the traditional and picturesque village of Kazaviti on the island of Thassos. The village is nestled in the mountains, surrounded by forest and natural springs, bursting with history.

Nature is at the center of everything we do at Water & Rock, we want to bring awareness to the beauty and importance of the fauna and flora of the island in an aim to build a greater sense of interdependence, for now and for future generations, human and non-human. 

We invite you to spend some time here and soak up the beauty and energy the landscape has to offer. There is no doubt that the scenery, wildlife and history will inspire you to create something beautiful. The island will be generous to you, and your gift back to her will be your creativity which in turn will inspire others to look at nature differently and cherish the richness, beauty and life that it brings.

Each residency will be themed in line with the cycles of nature of that month.

We will be offering many creative outdoor activities including hikes, nature guided walks, outdoor art days, social gatherings, teachings and more.

Your host Leah Heming is a passionate nature guide, artist and people lover. She has over 10 years’ experience in the commercial art gallery business, 20 years in the publishing and animation business, and 5 years of living a simpler life on the island of Thassos. Leah can't wait to get creative with you and show you around the island!

Sat 27 June – Sat 04 July 2026

SOUNDINGS and SURROUNDINGS has been devised around the relationships of ‘Air, Sea and Soil’, encompassing the Orkney Islands’ remarkable natural environment. Residents will be welcomed to the Birsay area of Orkney, where the bespoke programme will take place in 5-star self-catering accommodation (single rooms) and studio facilities, and through visits to Neolithic Orkney’s World Heritage Sites.

The Group Residency will be led by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal and facilitated by Tracy and programme contributors. Subject-specific contributions will be delivered by a range of multidisciplinary Orkney-based experts who have in common site-specific, participatory and socially engaged practices revolving around sound and environment. Their diverse skills, expertise and modes of working are activated to investigate lost futures, intersectional histories, ecological and personal landscapes, experimental identities, ruin memory, trauma mapping, site recording, material and immaterial realms, deep time, marginalised communities and hidden lives.

The Group Residency is offered for creative practitioners working in all creative disciplines and for those who have a strong interest in the investigation of the Group Residency themes in relation to space, sound and visuals. The group will comprise of approx. eight international participants.

Sat 20 June – Sat 27 June 2026

MICRO-MACRO has been devised around the relationships of ‘Air, Sea and Soil’, encompassing the Orkney Islands’ remarkable natural environment.

The Group Residency will be lead by Tracy Mackenna, Curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal and facilitated by Tracy and programme contributors. A range of multidisciplinary Orkney-based discipline experts who hold precious knowledge of archaeological sites, spatial and local history past and present, and collecting and presenting, will contribute to bespoke sessions.

Welcome to all creative practitioners and researchers interested in making, thinking and being in experimental ways. This Group Residency will take you out and about in Orkney, introduce you to the impact of climate crisis, to vast skies and the archipelago that has long been shaped by the sea.

The aim of the Group Residency is to develop approaches to place that are experimental, inventive in their form, and that respond to place by paying attention to the intersections and collisions between art, culture, materiality, technologies and place. Opportunities are created for creative practitioners and researchers to share and establish a bank of knowledge and creative strategies, both globally interconnected and hyper local, digital and analogue, for imagining new responses to places and the multiple, layered and contested histories they hold.

Sat 29th August – Sat 5th Sept 2026 

WANDERING ROCKS and EARTHY MATTERS has been devised around the relationships of ‘Air, Sea and Soil’, encompassing the Orkney Islands’ remarkable natural environment. Residents will be welcomed to the ancient Birsay area of Orkney, where the bespoke programme will take place through visits to Neolithic Orkney’s World Heritage Sites, and will include 5-star accommodation and work facilities.

The Group Residency will be lead by Tracy Mackenna (she/her), artist, educator and curator of The Museum of Loss and Renewal and facilitated by Tracy and artist Mary Bourne. A range of multidisciplinary Orkney-based discipline experts who hold precious, lived knowledge of how matter and materials act in Orkney will contribute to bespoke programme sessions, sharing their understandings of the relationships between rock, water and soil, people and time, the natural and built environment, creative expression and well-being.

This Group Residency will take you out and about in Orkney, allow you to focus, introduce you to the impact of climate crisis, to vast skies, open vistas and the archipelago that has long been shaped by the sea. You will get up close to places, matter and materials and ideas, and step back to consider your position in the universe.

Application Deadline: Sun 01 March 202

Apply via the easy online form here: https://tracy.mackenna.studio/the-museum-of-loss-and-renewal-residencies/group-residency-programme-orkney/application-information/ 

Our non-profit, volunteer-run association in Martim Moniz, Lisbon, is welcoming new residents for 1–3 month stays. Since 2019, we’ve collaborated with hundreds of artists and built a lively underground creative hub where people connect, experiment, and grow.

At Prisma, you’ll join workshops, events, and weekly conversations, meet local and international creatives, and receive friendly guidance whenever needed. In your final week, you will have full freedom to use the space in whatever format suits your practice: a solo or group exhibition, open studio, workshop, talk, performance, showcase, screening, or any kind of event you want to create.

What we offer:

• Private room in a shared, furnished apartment (bi-weekly cleaning)
• 70m² shared atelier
• One-to-one support and group sessions
• Free or discounted access to events
• Work presentation/exhibition or event of your choice in the final week

Fees: 900€/month (residency) or 350€ (studio only)

Invitation letters provided for mobility funding applications.

Who we’re looking for:

Community-minded, self-directed artists, organisers, researchers, curators, and critics eager to immerse themselves in an active creative environment.