How To Land Your Artist’s Residency

Eleven Surprising Tips For Heart💚Centered Artists

By Thea Fiore-Bloom, PhD

This post was supposed to be normal.

I wanted to write you a normal article on how to land your dream artist’s residency.

But as usual in my life, something weird and eye-opening occurred instead.

It happened like this. I  started by sending out questionnaires to artists I knew who’d landed life-changing art residencies in the past.

Not weird so far, right?

But as soon as I got the questionnaires back, the weird began.

Answers to question number six made my jaw fall open.

Question number six read: 

“What gave you the courage to fill out the application for your artist’s residency in the first place?”

All of the artists I asked responded with strange things like:

“I wish I could advise other artists, but I never use applications to get residencies!”

Or, “You know, Thea, I usually apply for residencies and don’t get them. Now I get one by not applying because I tried this crazy, wonderful, other way …”

It turned out that none of the artists I’d asked ever applied.

None, none, none.

And the artists also didn’t do a bunch of other things that art biz gurus insist we do to land things like residencies.

So what the heck did all these artists do to win their residencies?

And how can you do the same?

This article tells all.

First, I’ll share three short, wild stories about artists I interviewed, and then I’ll bust out eleven tips for you to consider if you want to land or create your own dream artist’s (or writer’s) residency.

Now, are you ready to shred those applications and use them to make a killer papier-mache pinata?  

Excellent, follow me.

3 Artists, 3 Dream Residencies, Zero Applications

How Olena Ellis landed her artist’s residency at the Beatrice Wood Center For the Arts; without coming near an application

Ceramic artist and Charmed Studio subscriber Olena Ellis landed her dream residency at The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts without an application.

What’s more, she used none of the following art biz guru-recommended stuff either:

• Olena didn’t have a mega social media presence.
• Nor did she have a vast mailing list.
• She also didn’t have a “brand strategy” or a “platform.”
• Olena didn’t have some snazzy $17,000 designer website.
  
• As a matter of fact, at the time, Olena didn’t even have a website! 

And she still got the gig.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, art-biz gurus!

So what the heck did Olena do to land a residency that transformed her life and art practice?

Here are five things I can think of right off the bat: 

Five Unconventional Steps to Landing an Artist’s Residency

1. First, Olena worked diligently leading up to the residency to begin a living, breathing body of work.  
2. Second, Olena decided she wanted a residency somewhere she could shine by being her absolute, honest, authentic self. (Doesn’t that sound like something we all might want?)
3. Third, Ellis recognized The Beatrice Wood Center as a magical, vibrant place she was in alignment with, ethically and creatively. 
4. Fourth, Olena then did her homework and researched what the art center might want in an artist in residence. 
5. And fifth, Ellis did the most critical bit. She summoned the gorgeous guts to pick up the phone and talk to the director.

Picking up the Phone is Priceless

Why did Olena call instead of emailing?

“The Beatrice Wood Center for The Arts mentioned internships on their website but had nothing there about artists in residency programs,” said Olena. 

So, Olena (who lives in Alaska) just went for it. She called to ask if they would consider her for a residency. No one answered. She left a message.

The director. Kevin Wallace called her back. 

Olena then told me, “Kevin and I talked a bit. Finally, he felt comfortable enough with me to set up a more extensive phone interview the next week. After that call, Kevin asked me to email him images of my work. Before long, he wrote me to tell me I got the residency!”

Olena was over the moon, and before she knew it, she was also over the Pacific Ocean in a plane flying from Alaska to California to change her life.

Moral of the story here? If you’ve done your homework, consider being brave and calling.

Homework 

What do I mean by homework? When Olena picked up the phone that day, she already knew a lot about the Beatrice Wood Center. And she knew even more about Wood’s life and work.

You see, Beatrice was an art hero of Olena’s from way back.

This brings me to a big question I have for you.

The Big Kahuna Question To Ask Yourself if You Want to Land Your Dream Artist’s Residency

Who is your biggest art hero?  

Whose shows do you never miss? 

Have you devoured biographies of a particular artist or writer from the past?  

Why?

Now, if you want to dramatically increase your odds of landing your dream residency, ask yourself:

Does your artist or writer hero have a home museum or library?

Where is it? 

Do you already know someone who worked at that center, that historic site, or that park, who can give you the lay of the land? 

Now on to a fun question…

Can You Imagine Yourself Creating Art at Your Dream Residency?

Imagine you at your residency (cue harp music).

What will it look like and feel like to be there?

Olena told me,” My first three days at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts were spent alone in Beato’s studio.  “I say I spent three days “alone” there, but anyone who’s been in that studio can tell you, you’re never alone there. Because Beatrice Wood’s presence is all around you.”

Olena sat at Beatrice Wood’s desk; she fired her work in Wood’s kiln. And she placed a vase of sunflowers on the little altar permanently present in the studio for Beatrice. (See the above photo.)

I asked Olena why she thought Kevin Wallace chose her even though she didn’t have all the bells and whistles art biz gurus tell us we must be chosen.

Olena replied, “Only Kevin knows for sure, but I think he recognized that my intentions were genuine, that I wanted to land the residency to transform my art, not my resume. Do you know he even helped me set up my website during the residency? I think he understood I cared deeply about Beatrice Wood. Kevin knew I wanted to add to Wood’s legacy if I could, not take advantage of it.” 

Olena was mentored by Kevin and other great Center staff members, and she in turn mentored others. 

Residencies involve both mentorships and collaboration.

Why Apply if You Can Collaborate?

Feather artist and Charmed Studio subscriber Chris Maynard opened my mind further to the notion of application-free collaborative art residencies.

An admirer of his work invited Chris to do a five-week residency in the fertile mountains of Costa Rica on a biological reserve where bird-loving tourists were guided on beautiful hikes.

“I’ve never applied for any of my art residencies,” said Maynard. “I’ve brainstormed, collaborated, and arranged them all through existing contacts I had with artists, museum staff, naturalists, and collectors I’ve met along the way.”

In the Costa Rican residency, Maynard spent half his time getting to know the forest and half his time working with local school art programs and a local woman’s art collective.

“Interestingly, said Chris, we collaborated and decided I wouldn’t be working with the women’s art collective on how to make the art but on the business of art.” 

Chris is great at business. It was a win-win.

Five weeks in Costa Rica. Sigh. Dreamy, exotic, right? 

However, I learned from my interviews that as far as art residencies are concerned, small and local can be just as meaningful as big and far away.

How About a Lovely LOCAL Art Residency 

Your first dream residency doesn’t have to occur in another country or even another state.

You may find a magical opportunity in your backyard.

That’s what happened to Virginia painter and Charmed Studio subscriber Barbara Powderly.

Powderly had applied for a competitive art residency at Shenandoah National Park. She, like a thousand other artists, didn’t land the coveted position and was a bit disheartened.

However, later in the year, Powderly had the bright idea to try for a residency closer to home.

Through her local networking group, she easily got the director’s email address of the Lake Anna State Park. It’s a lovely park. Powderly had been Plein air painting for years in her home county. 

Barbara told the director she was looking for an artist’s residency in a park. He emailed his park’s communication director right away. They loved her work.

And together, they all created Barbara’s first artist’s residency!

You don’t need to apply.

Barbara told me, “I’ve always been a person who waited for permission and stood in line. And it never occurred to me that I could start something on my own. It’s so freeing. I encourage other artists to get creative and not apply either!”

Okay, we’ve covered a lot of ground here.

Let’s bring it all home and conclude with a summary of eleven dos and don’ts for landing your dream residency. 

Eleven Dos and Don’ts To Land Your Dream Artist’s Residency

1. Do some personal reflection. Journal on a few places you’d want a residency. Don’t forget to write about what you might bring to the table in return.
2. Don’t worry about selecting a place that will serve your art career. Pick a place that will serve your art practice instead.
3. Do research places dedicated to your art heroes. 
4. But only pick a place dedicated to your art hero if that place insists you leap through bureaucratic rings of fire and send in giant, snore-inducing resumes.
5. If you hit a snag, please Don’t give up. Instead, pick the next hero on your list and research them.

   

6. Don’t forget to consider tiny museums, art centers, or libraries you love. Small is beautiful too.
7. If possible, Do physically visit the place and say nothing. Observe if these are the people YOU want to help and be helped by. 
8.  Be like Olena, and DO pick up the phone when you are ready. Be your beautiful, curious, authentic self. If no one answers, leave a message.
9. Yes, that’s terrifying! Yes, you may get rejected.  Do it anyway. Because as a mentor of mine, Steve Chandler says, “Yes, lives in the land of No.” 
10.  You have seen three examples today of artists who employed creativity and courage to create notable residencies. So do use your giant imagination, and you’ll be next.
11. Exotic and far off is excellent, but as Nigerian poet Ben Okri wrote: Don’t neglect the gold in your own backyard.”