Monson Arts is an artists' residency and arts center in Monson, Maine. The goal of the residency program is to provide time and space for artists and writers to devote to their creative practices. Residencies are two or four weeks long and come with studio space, a private bedroom in shared housing, all meals and a stipend of $250 or $500. Located at the edge of Maine's North Woods near the Appalachian Trail, the town is surrounded by areas of stunning natural beauty.

Artists’ studios are outfitted to accommodate a variety of artistic practices with access to a woodshop and metal shop facilities for any fabrication needs. Writers’ studios are comfortably furnished with work tables and reading chairs. All residents live in newly renovated historic homes in town that have shared kitchens and bathrooms. Houses and studios have high speed wifi internet access.

Application for this program is open to artists and writers at all stages in their careers working in all media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, and audio production.

We regularly accept online applications at three deadlines throughout the year- Jan. 15, May 15, and Sept. 15. A live link to the application is available on our website 6 weeks before each deadline. Visit monsonarts.org for more information and to sign up for updates by email.

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.

Informed by Indigenous cultures and worldviews, we offer programs in all disciplines for emerging to established Indigenous artists. Our programs are highly transformative, situate rigour and exploration at their centre, and are inspired by ‘power of place’ here in Treaty 7 territory.

Through outstanding performances, concerts, residencies, presentations, workshops, talks, and exhibitions, Indigenous Arts contributes to strong and vibrant Indigenous arts communities in Canada and around the globe.

Learn more about Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre.

Banff Centre’s Literary Arts programs provide an inspiring space and focused time for emerging and established writers to push the boundaries of their talent and realize their potential. Our programs prepare writers in all genres for literary success on a national and international scale.

Since the first summer playwriting program was offered in 1937, Banff Centre has provided writers with exceptional opportunities for artistic development within a community of supportive peers. Today, our year-round roster of intensive thematic residencies involves many of Canada’s most celebrated writers.

Learn more about Literary Arts here.

Visual Arts at Banff Centre offers exceptional programs for professional artists, curators, and art critics and researchers, as well as practicum opportunities for emerging practitioners. Visual Arts also supports, develops, and presents contemporary art through the Walter Phillips Gallery.

Our residency programs provide the time, studio space, facilities, feedback, and engagement with peers and faculty to hone your artistic development. Our thematic and self-directed programs encourage experimentation and exploration of ideas, theory, and process.

Our practicum programs offer practical hands-on training, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities for aspiring artists, curators, and museum and gallery practitioners.

The Walter Phillips Gallery is committed to the production, presentation, collection, and analysis of contemporary art. The gallery houses the Banff International Curatorial Institute which focuses on programming and publications exploring curatorial research, pedagogy and practice, visual art criticism and writing.

Learn more about Visual Arts here.

In the face of global ecological concerns such as climate change, rising sea levels, deforestation, human overpopulation and species extinction, the mission of the Ecology Residency is to provide ecologists, environmental journalists, filmmakers, inventors, educators, architects and others working on the creative edge of these issues time and space to advance their work and amplify their impact. The Ecology Residency aims to foster a supportive environment for independent work and reflection, and to encourage creative problem solving, collaboration and innovation free from the constraints of academic and institutional settings.

One or more Ecology Residents will be selected each year. Special attention will be given to projects that will directly benefit from proximity to the Oregon coast, the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area, the Salmon River Estuary and/or United States Forest Service Experimental Forest lands. Ecology-inspired and interdisciplinary collaborations will also be considered.

No laboratory or other equipment is provided, but scientists are invited to bring their own equipment if it can be accommodated. There is the possibility to partner with the Hatfield Marine Science Center as part of the Oregon State University's Marine Studies Initiative, and to tap into other academic, scientific and research resources in the region.

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.

Sitka residencies provide time and space for self-paced work and reflection in an inspiring natural setting. Residents from a broad range of art, writing, performance and science-based practices come to Sitka to create and explore away from the familiar contexts and constraints of daily routines, and free from external expectations. Located within the unique ecosystems of Cascade Head and the Salmon River Estuary on Oregon's central coast, Sitka is a place where natural curiosity is sparked and creativity is unleashed.

Since our founding, we have hosted hundreds of visual artists, photographers, writers, journalists, musicians, composers, filmmakers, educators and a broad range of natural scientists and interdisciplinary creatives. We currently invite 14-30 practitioners to stay at Sitka each year. Some are emerging voices while others are practicing professionals, and our residents represent a diversity of geographies and cultural backgrounds. A range of personal and shared experiences are possible at Sitka, from sanctuary and solitude to cross-pollination and community.