Kala's residency program serves over 150 artists annually. International, national, and local artists producing innovative work in printmaking, photography, digital media, film and video, sound, animation, media art installation, and book arts are encouraged to apply. Artists-in-Residence share space, equipment, techniques, and ideas and are a vital part of the Kala community. Artists receive 24/7 access to a shared 8,000-square-foot Print Studio, equipment, digital lab, black and white darkroom, and 3 individual artist project spaces (150-400 sq feet available to visiting artists). Kala offers subsidized contract residency rates for different working needs and artist experiences!

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.

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.

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. 

Storyknife offers writing residencies for two and four week periods. Each accepted woman writer will have her own cabin where she can write and reflect, sleep and dream. Storyknife's onsite chef will provide all meals. Breakfast is prepared by the writers from ingredients in the main house’s kitchen. Our chef manager will bring a nutritious lunch to each cabin, and in the evening, the writers will gather at the main house for a shared meal. Each woman will establish her own writing schedule and projects, and together, they will be able to form the kind of supportive writing friendships that last a lifetime.

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.