The Nicholson Project is an artist residency program coupled with a neighborhood garden that works to support artists and serve as a creative and innovative cultural hub. We aim to become a community anchor that celebrates the community’s authentic identity while infusing new vibrancy into Southeast DC. Our Residency Program provides the time, space, and support needed for artists to work on their studio practice and produce onsite activations.

The Nicholson Project was founded in with a deep commitment to providing artists with space and support to create and further their practice. We want you to feel 100% supported during your time at Nicholson and beyond. As part of your acceptance, you will receive the following:

• 10-week Artist Residency at The Nicholson Project (2310 Nicholson St. SE)
• $5,000 artist stipend
• Time and space to create
• Private access to the Residency Suite that includes an artist studio and apartment with a fully furnished bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom
• One-on-one support from our Managing Director and our Programs Manager
• Studio visits and consultation with a guest curator throughout your residency
• Introductions to other artists, curators, and others you would like to meet for research related to your practice
• Promotional support (press releases for residency, social media promotion, etc)
• Professional documentation of your work and headshots
• Up to $2,000 and staff support optional residency projects

Mesa Refuge welcomes a diverse group of writers, filmmakers, audio journalists and other creatives—both emerging and established—who are defining and/or offering solutions to the pressing issues of our time. Particularly, it is our priority to support writers focusing on “ideas at the edge” in the areas of environment, social justice and economic equity. We invite you to apply for our residency. Our spring and fall residencies are two-weeks long and there is no residency fee (though you are responsible for your own travel, transportation and food).

The Santa Fe Art Institute Thematic Residency Program supports dynamic creative practices that engage complex social issues, inspire individual transformation, and inform collective action. SFAI welcomes local, national, and international applicants of all backgrounds.

From the start, SFAI’s programming was developed and informed by artists, who worked to bring awareness to the shifting relationship between art and society, and to redefine and disrupt the traditional gatekeeping roles of art institutions, including outdated labels such as “master” artist.

While our programming, language, and focus has naturally shifted over the years, our mission has remained the same: to foster and explore the interconnections of contemporary art and society, to enliven public discourse on art, and to support and nurture artists at all phases of their careers.

Applications are accepted once a year for our annual theme, which includes our Family Residency Month in July.

Our residencies are free-of-charge, apart from an application fee (which is currently being reconsidered for 2024) and a refundable $150 security deposit.

Starting in 2023, SFAI will be offering $500 stipends to up to 28 regional BIPOC artists and creative practitioners who are awarded a residency. SFAI does not offer any other stipend or financial aid, nor does it act as a fiscal sponsor to residents. We suggest incoming residents apply for grants or crowdfunding to support their financial needs. Open call: Jan - April.

Our Writers in Residence Program supports free-to-writers residencies for selected women-identified writers at the retreat each year. Up to 7 writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in a handcrafted cottage. They spend their days in solitude – writing, reading, taking walks in the woods on the property or on nearby Double Bluff beach. In the evenings, “The Gathering” is a social time for residents to connect and share over their freshly prepared meals.

Writers must be women, 18 and older, which is inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals. Because gender inequity still occurs in all spaces including literary ones, it is part of our explicit mission to support and promote women’s voices. Residents must be willing to adhere to a specific set of health and safety protocols we have implemented to keep writers, staff, and surrounding communities safer. 

Our application and adjudication processes are genre-specific. Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, TV/Screenwriters, Playwrights, and Songwriters are all encouraged to apply. Applications are read by jurors who are proficient to read in each genre. 

ACRE’s Residency Program takes place every summer in the Driftless region of Wisconsin. Set on 1,000 acres of wetland, hills, and farmland, the residency hosts artists who live and work in a communal setting that includes expansive work spaces, kitchen serving three meals per day, performance stage, wood shop, art and tech facility, and sound, fiber, screenprinting, metalwork, and ceramics studios. Residents are encouraged to balance their time between producing work, contemplating their practice, and engaging with the community. The Visiting Artist program invites established artists to conduct studio visits and present lectures and other experimental programs. Studio staff also offer demos and in-depth workshops to residents. Each year ACRE welcomes approximately 60 emerging, often underrepresented, artists of all disciplines to attend one of three 14-day residency sessions. Residents are selected through a rigorous review process by respected panelists who work in the visual arts from Chicago and across the country.

ACRE practices a participatory leadership structure that enriches our operations and programs, by inviting participants to become key decision-makers for the organization, facilitating community-centered evaluation, soliciting feedback, and practicing a shared dedication to making iterative improvements. Every artist who has participated in the residency is invited to return as staff, serve on a committee, and ultimately direct the future of the organization.

Ucross is a vital and relevant resource for artists of all backgrounds and disciplines, who come from all over the United States and the world. The uninterrupted time and space offered is increasingly rare, and the connections built within the community are of great importance to artists. The Ucross residency program is known for offering a majestic experience of the High Plains, thanks to its location on a 20,000-acre ranch in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains of northern Wyoming.

The artist residency program strives to provide a respectful, comfortable, and productive environment, freeing artists from the pressures and distractions of daily life. Ucross provides each artist with living accommodations, meals, private work space, and uninterrupted time, so the artists can focus on their creative process. Lunch and dinners are prepared Monday through Friday by a professional chef, with access to a world-class kitchen and ample provisions on hand for breakfasts and weekends. Lunches are delivered to individual studios; group dinners take place at 6 p.m. Towels and linens are provided, as is weekly housekeeping for bedrooms. Residents are responsible for providing their own working materials. There is no residency charge, and Ucross offers a $1,500 stipend to defray travel costs.

Penland’s Winter Residency program is a short-term residency opportunity for artists seeking to work independently in one of our 16 media specific studios during Penland’s quiet season. Practicing artists of all backgrounds and at any stage of their career are encouraged to apply for a 2-week or 4-week session. Shared studio access is provided to a small number of artists each session; we invite enough people to encourage conversation and creative camaraderie, but not so many that focused time in the studio is compromised. Residents’ time is their own; there are no workshops, critiques, or required activities. Our goal is to support creative experimentation by offering artists the time, space, and equipment they need to advance professional development.

Penland Winter Residencies are for:

• Artists needing access to facilities for research and development that can be supported by Penland’s well-equipped studios
• Art educators and administrators who are seeking focused studio time during a winter break or sabbatical
• Collaborating artists who want to work on a specific project or simply alongside one another in order to share technical expertise and/or creative inspiration
• Art professionals who need time away from daily responsibilities and distractions to focus on a creative project

Our Visual Arts Residency supports artists in experimenting with their craft and developing their focus or testing new ideas, while also engaging in vital public dialogue. The work of BCA Visual Artist Residents has taken a broad range of forms, including dance and movement-based practices, theatre and writing-based practices, and artists engaged in installation, sound, and other innovative media.

Resources for the program include access to studio space, and additional professional and creative support.

The Visual Arts Residency puts special emphasis on supporting projects that involve direct engagement with the community – whether through collaborative activities, participatory public installations, performance, intervention or other imaginative activation. We seek proposed projects that have public interaction and participation as significant elements.