Mission

The Wassaic Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses art and arts education to foster positive social change. We nurture connections between our artists and our neighbors facilitating a mutual broadening of perspectives and respect across economic and cultural boundaries.

Vision

The Wassaic Project envisions a community in the Hamlet of Wassaic and its surrounding region that is socially inclusive, generous, cooperative, and economically vibrant.  

We engage in a collaborative effort with members of our community to develop programs that are creative, experimental, and accessible across the economic spectrum.

We strive to be actively anti-racist and to have diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as an integral part of our programs and initiatives. We will continually evaluate, solicit feedback, and evolve our efforts to ensure their effectiveness.

We build local pride and community vitality by an informed sense of the past and a clear, contemporary, innovative, and compassionate look toward the future.

We foster the youth in our community and help them realize their full potential.  

We aim to be financially stable with a creative staff and multiple partners — nonprofit, public, and private.

It is our hope that the work that we do in Wassaic will be shared nationwide and serve as a toolkit for community revitalization through the arts and the spirit of generosity. Above all else, we honor and respect our community.

The annual Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency was established in 2002 to provide working artists with little or no printmaking experience the opportunity to explore a new creative medium with guidance, instruction and technical assistance from a professional etching printer, Julia D'Amario. 

Master Printer Julia D'Amario, worked at Pace Editions in New York City for seventeen years, before moving to rural California in 2006. D'Amario first came to the Sitka Center as a resident artist in 1997. She developed a deep connection to Sitka and the Oregon coast and enthusiastically agreed to become involved in developing the print program. Jordan Schnitzer, one of Portland's most prominent print collectors, generously pledged his support for the project and has been funding it since its inception.

Members of the Oregon Coast Recorder Society have raised $103,000 to establish a recorder residency at Sitka, beginning in 2003.

To be eligible for the residency, applicants are required to earn part of their income from recorder performance or recorder instrument composition. This is to indicate that applicants should have a degree of professionalism, and people at the beginning of a career are as welcome as mature artists.

Residencies are 2 – 6 weeks in length, and living space and a studio are provided. Past residents have taught  workshops  and given concerts in the community. New in 2022: An anonymous donor is supporting a $500/week honorarium in support of this residency. The honorarium can be used in any way the resident chooses.

The Emerging-Artist-in-Residence (EAiR) Program serves promising younger artists who have had previous experience working with glass. Six artists are selected from applicants worldwide. They receive a $2,000 stipend, lodging, and access to studios for two months each fall. Participants are self-motivated and eager for the chance to focus on their work and exchange ideas with one another. Emerging Artists in Residence use their residencies to create a body of work or to pursue new projects or methods, often pushing the medium of glass.

Purpose: The “Miss Sarah” Fellowship for Black Women Writers aims to provide Black women writers a restful environment conducive to reflection and writing. It also offers uninterrupted time to plant the seed of an idea for a new writing project or to develop or complete a project underway. 

VCCA’s artist residency program at Mt. San Angelo in Amherst, Virginia, hosts up to 360 writers, visual artists, and composers each year in residencies of varying lengths with flexible scheduling (up to six weeks with no minimum length of stay). Applications are accepted three times a year for three distinct scheduling periods.

A residency at Mt. San Angelo includes a private bedroom with private en-suite bath, a private individual studio, three prepared meals each day, and access to a community of more than 20 other artists in residence at a time. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Mt. San Angelo is surrounded by natural wonders and hiking trails. 

The solitary time artists receive at VCCA allows them to focus on their work without interruptions. Away from the constraints of “the real world” and in an accepting environment of talented peers, one can dream and create with the feeling that anything is possible. All opportunities to engage with other residents and the wider community through readings, open studios, etc., are entirely optional. 

The Hambidge Creative Residency Program nurtures exceptional creative talents within the arts and sciences at their 600-acre creative sanctuary in the Blue Ridge Mountains, providing the space and time needed for visionary works to be conceived and developed. A spectrum of artistic disciplines is accepted – Arts & Culture Administration, Ceramics, Culinary, Dance, Music, Science, Visual Arts, Writing – as well as multidisciplinary and collaborative proposals. Nine individuals from around the globe are in residence at any given time – each has private accommodations and studio space, and shares communal dinners prepared by the Hambidge chef. ADA compliant studios are available and Hambidge is family friendly.

Thanks to a grant from the Ford Family Foundation, the Sitka Center will be able to offer a special residency opportunity to practicing, mid-career, Oregon artists. This program is for 2-4 weeks based on the artists availability.  This residency includes a stipend of $500 per week. This stipend is designed to make taking the time for a residency more feasible. All visual artists who meet the guidelines below are welcome to apply.