Artist Retreats: NEW ENGLAND
CONNECTICUT
Austin Arts Center, 300 Summit St., Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106-3100 (865) 436-5860. Hosts artists-in-residence in fine arts, theater, music, and dance. (visual and performing arts)Center for Contemporary Printmaking, 299 West Ave., Mathews Park, Norwalk, CT 06850 (203) 899-7999. Etching, intaglio, lithography, and Vandercook presses, acid room, silkscreen equipment, paper mill, computer lab, and darkroom. Housing provided but no meals; cooking facilities available; 1-2 artists at a time. (visual arts)
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 234 W 44th St., Suite 901, New York, NY 10036-3909 (212) 382-2790. Playwrights only; residency in Waterford, CT and performance of play at annual conference; 10-15 writers work with a dramaturg or story editor and master designer (literary arts)
Griffis Art Center, 18 Bristol St., New London, CT 06320 (860) 447-3431. Located near downtown of a small city on the Thames River. 2 international artists selected twice a year for the Gemfire Residency Program, a 5-month residency in a furnished apartment in a turn-of-the-century mansion, utilities, local phone and cable, plus a working studio next door. Open studio/exhibition near completion of residency and invitations to other functions. Artist must donate one artwork completed during residency. (visual arts)
I-Park, PO Box 124, E. Haddam, CT 06423. (860) 873-2468 or (877) 276-1306. Four to five residents at a time, for 4-5 weeks' length in a rural 450 acre natural park setting. No fees. Accommodations and studio space. Favors figurative over conceptual in the visual arts; tonal/melodic over minimalist in music composition. Some digital equipment and kiln available. Some site installations permitted. (visual, literary, performing arts and architecture, landscape and garden design)
James Merrill House Writer-in-Residence Program, PO Box 18, Stonington, CT 06378. Writers live and work in Merrill's apartment rent-free for 6 month or 11 month terms. (literary arts).
Soul Mountain Retreat, PO Box 1071, Old Lyme, CT 06371. Located in East Haddam on 6 acres of woods and meadows near the Eight Mile River. Founded by Marilyn Nelson, supported by the University of Connecticut College of Arts & Sciences. 3-8 week residencies for 6 poets at a time. Private rooms, shared kitchen, library, exercise room, wireless internet. Spring, Summer, and Fall residencies; Summer residencies reserved for African-American poets who are graduates of the Cave Canem poetry program. Room and board; no fees.
Weir Farm, AIR Program, 735 Nod Hill Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 (203) 761-9945. Former summer home of J. Alden Weir, American Impressionist painter. The only National Park Service site dedicated to an American painter. Year round, 1 artist at a time, residencies of 2 weeks to 1 month, stipend. Open to 2D visual artists including printmakers and painters, photographers, sculptors, video/filmmakers. (visual, media arts).
Wisdom House, 229 E. Litchfield Rd., Litchfield, CT 06759 (860) 567-3163. Interfaith center for women and men who value seeking and learning in a contemplative environment. Residency program and conference center on 54 acres, gardens, wooded areas in the foothills of the Berkshires. Fee-based; daily and weekly rates; competitive admissions.
MAINE
Acadia National Park, AIR Program, PO Box 177, Eagle Lake Rd., Bar Harbor, ME 04609 (207) 288-5459. 3-week residencies in Spring and Fall. One-bedroom apartment near park headquarters with kitchen and laundry facilities. Artists asked to donate a piece of work and share an offering with the public (demonstration, talk, exploratory hike, or performance). "With its dramatic cliffs stretching to the sea, its balsam scented forests, and spring warbler serenades, the area offers artists the age-old inspiration of nature." Open to 2D visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, composers (visual, literary, performing arts).Carina House, William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, PO Box 466, Rockland, ME 04841 (207) 596-6457. Visual artists who are at least 25 years old and legal residents of the state of Maine; 2 artists are awarded a 5-week residency on Monhegan Island and $500 stipend. Open to painters, drawers, printmakers, sculptors, photographers. (visual arts)
Eastern Frontier Society, 342 Pine Brook Rd., Bedford, NY 10506. Summer residency with 2 sessions on Norton Island for writers, painters, and composers. Located 50 miles up the coast from Bar Harbor on the western side of Mossebec Reach. Individual log cabins on 150 acres surrounded by 4 miles of coastline. Daily trips to the mainland available. No fees (literary, visual, performing arts)
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME 04627. Scholarship grants available, for craft artists. Workshops and residencies. (visual arts)
Magic Pond Wildlife Sanctuary and Guest House, Linda Griffith and Kay Johnson, PO Box 174, Blaine, ME 04734. (207) 429-8787 or (215) 947-2240. 75-acre wooded refuge with pond, streams, and fields. Open year-round. Registered guide service and photography coaching available. For "artists seeking renewal and solitude." Weekly fees.
Molasses Pond Writers' Retreat and Workshop, R.R. 1, Box 85c, Milbridge, ME 04658 (207) 546-2506. Structured retreat for writers of novels, short stories, feature articles, and essays (no poetry or children's lit.) for a week in June. Mornings reserved for writing, afternoons for classes in technique and manuscript criticism led by Martha Barron Barrett and Sue Wheeler (published writers who teach at Univ. of NH); up to 9 writers; Fees charged for room, workshops, and evening meals; scholarships avail. for Maine residents (literary arts)
Robert M. MacNamara Foundation, 241 East Shore Rd., Westport, ME 04578 (207) 882-1254. Residencies of 6 weeks; housing, studio, travel, and food provided. Equipment includes ceramics facilities, and a digital media center. (visual, media, and literary arts)
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 200 Park Ave. South, Suite 1116, New York, NY 10003 (212) 529-0505. Open to advanced visual artists and art students in painting, sculpture, fresco, installation, performance, video, photography, mixed media who are at least 19 years of age. Residencies for 9 weeks, mid-June through mid-August. Located in the heavily forested lake district of central Maine. The summer intensive allows 65 artists to produce new work in a communal, rural environment. No structured classes, but critical assistance (in the form of weekly one-on-one sessions) scheduled with a faculty or resident and visiting artists. Shared living facilities in dormitory, sculpture shop, darkroom. Fees charged; some fellowships offered. (visual arts)
Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, 19 Brick Hill Rd., Newcastle, ME 04553 (207) 882-6075. Various jobs for studio and stipend; ceramics only; dorm room accommodations. 2-week sessions during summer months and 9-month residencies from Sept.-May. On 32 rural acres with gently rolling hills in a former brick factory. Some residencies fully funded, some partially funded. Equipment on-site includes a variety of kilns, potters' wheels, clay mixer, pug mill. (visual arts)
MASSACHUSETTS
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 271 Main St., Suite 3, Great Barrington, MA 01230-1606. (800) 969-2823. Amy Clampitt Residency: AIR program for single writer, stipend, housing in Clapitt's former cottage in Stockbridge, MA for one year or 6 months. Open to emerging poets or literary scholars. (literary arts)The Berwick Research Institute, Artist in Research Residency Program, 14 Palmer St., PO Box 190087, Boston, MA 02119 (617) 442-4200. Located in the Dudley Square, a developing inner-city Boston neighborhood, in a former whoopie pie factory. Open to emerging artists in experimental and new genre performing and media arts, such as electronics, sound, installation, performance art, film, video, and robotics. Shared studio space, access to tools and equipment, presentation opportunities, critical feedback on work in progress, publication, and career advising. Artists can also participate in lectures, school tours, and other outreach. Two month residencies include modest stipend. Housing not included. (performing, visual, and media arts)
Boston National Historical Park, AIR Program, Institute of Contemporary Art, 955 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02115 (617) 927-6615. Residencies of 2 to 12 months from Spetember through June. Open to 2D artists, photographers, sculptors, video/filmakers, craft artists. (visual, media arts)
The Cleaveland House B&B, PO Box 3041, West Tisbury, MA 02575 (508) 693-9352. On Martha's Vineyard; caters to poets and writers, but welcomes all guests; On Wednesday afternoons, Dionis Coffin Riggs holds a poetry workshop; fees charged. (literary arts)
Contemporary Artists Center, The Historic Beaver Mill, 189 Beaver St., North Adams, MA 01247 (413) 663-9555. In the Berkshires of western MA, 3 hours from NYC, on a 27-acre wooded site adjoining Natural Bridge State Park. Residencies of 1 week to 2 months; fees charged. Facilities include wood shop, darkroom, printmaking facilties, industrial tools, airbrush equipment. (visual, performing, conceptual and interdisciplinary arts)
C-Scape Dune Shack, Provincetown Community Compact, Inc., PO Box 819, Provincetown, MA 02657 (508) 487-3684. AIR Program for Art and Healing. Residencies of 1 week to 3 months, year round on Cape Cod National Seashore. Fees charged, although "no artist will be turned away due to inability to pay." The shack, an historic structure built in the 1940s, overlooks the ocean. No running water or electricity; outdoor chemical toilet, propane stove and refrigerator. Access by foot or 4-wheel drive vehicle only. Limited interaction with park visitors expected during weekly ranger-led tours. Open to 2D visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, video/filmmakers; preference for landscape painters. (visual, literary, performing, media arts)
Cummington Community for the Arts, RR 1, Box 145, Cummington, MA 01026 (413) 634-2172. Located in the Berkshires in Western MA, 3 hours from Boston and NYC. Artists of all disciplines receive private living space and studio. Apply at least 2 mos. in advance of desired dates. Children can be accomodated during summer months. Groups, such as performance ensembles, may apply. (visual, literary, performing arts)
Fine Arts Work Center, 24 Pearl St., Box 565, Provincetown, MA 02657 (508) 487-9960. 7-month session runs Oct. 1 through May 1; 20 fellows annually provided live-in studio and stipend, plus materials allowance. Located on the tip of Cape Cod, near national seashore beaches and miles of dunes. Facilities include woodshop, printshop with etching press and darkroom. (visual, literary arts)
Footpaths to Creativity, 8 Rideout Lane, Stoughton, MA 02072. (617) 549-2452. Residency on Flores Island in the Azores Archipelago off the coast of Portugal, from 1 week to 1 year. Fees charged on sliding scale based on ability to pay. (Visual, literary, performing arts)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, AIR Program, 2 Palace Road, Boston MA 02115 (617) 566-1401. Housing, stipend, 150 square foot studio, opportunities to perform or exhibit. Open to all artistic disciplines. Artists participate in the Museum's school partnership program, which helps connect younger people with art. Residencies of one year. (visual, literary, performing arts)
Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and School, PO Box 287, Lee, MA 02138 (413) 637-1322. In the Berkshire Mountains; clusters of heated cabins, each with common bath; artists purchase own food and prepare own meals; no fees. (dance, performance)
Margo-Gelb Shack, OCARC, 22 Nelson Ave. Provincetown, MA 02657. 2-week residencies from mid-May to mid-October on Cape Cod National Seashore. Operated by the Outer Cape Artists Residency Coalition, membership fee plus residency fees charged. No running water or electricity; outdoor toilet and hand pump; kerosene lamps. Artists give one public presentation during their stay. Open to 2D visual artists, photographers, sculptors, writers, video/filmakers. (visual, literary, media arts)
Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, 23 Wauwinet Rd, Box 958, Nantucket, MA 02554 (508) 228-9248. Year-round; fees charged; Open to artists in painting, sculpture, photography, fiber art, mixed media, new media, literature, music, interdisciplinary. 8 cottages. Spouses, partners, friends and/or collaborators allowed. Facilities include ceramics studio, darkrooms, library (visual, literary, performing arts)
Norman Mailer Writers Colony, 627 Commercial St., Provincetown, MA 02657. Administrative offices: 5430 Oakdale Ave., Woodland Hills, VA 91364 (800) 835-7853. Month-long residencies on Cape Cod for fiction and nonfiction writers. Summer residents receive a fellowship stipend and work with two mentoring writers three times a week. Fall, Winter, and Spring senior fellowships open to mid-career and distinguished writers who wish to work independently. Can accomodate up to 7 writers at a time. (literary arts)
Peace Abbey, 2 N. Mason St., Sherborn, MA 01770. (508) 650-3659. Retreat center 17 miles west of Boston. Also a conference center, pacifist memorial, vegapeace animal sanctuary, multi-faith chapel. Vegetarian food servied, fees charged. (visual, literary, performing arts)
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Radcliffe College, 34 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 495-8212. 1 yr. Residency for women artists at least 2 years out of graduate school; fellows receive studio space, stipend; 40 fellowships annually. (visual and literary arts, critics)
Rocky Neck Art Colony, Residency Program, c/o Ruth Mordecai, 4 Terrace Lane, Gloucester, MA 01930 (978) 282-0917. Located 40 miles north of Boston. Accomodates one artist at a time for three one-month residencies from late May through early October. Provides studio and living space, press coverage, and sales opportunities in the gallery. All artists must give a public slide lecture in their first week, an informal studio talk at the end of their residency, and keep an open studio for 12 hours a week. Open to visual artists working in painting, sculpture, mixed media, and photography. (visual arts)
Sea Change Residencies/Gaea Foundation, 1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-2304. Residency in Provincetown MA, on Cape Cod. Supports artists "whose work is creating fundamental shifts in public perceptions of reality and possibility, and activists who employ creative and artistic tools in the struggle for change." Housing, workspace, stipend provided; artists provide own meals. Application by nomination only. (visual, literary, performing arts)
Wellspring House, PO Box 2006, Ashfield, MA 01330. Retreat center in Massachusetts hills, 35 minutes from Northampton/Amherst, sheltered by towering spruce, secluded but in town. Private rooms, communal kitchen in renovated carriage house. Accomodates up to 7 residents at a time. Wireless internet, library, meditation room. Fees charged; some partial scholarships. (literary, visual arts)
The Yard, Inc., PO Box 405, Chilmark, MA 02535, (508) 645-9662. Winter address: 890 Broadway, NYC 10003 212-228-0911. On the island of Martha's Vineyard; modest stipends; 5-week residencies; teaching and performance duties. Open to choreographers and dancers. (performing arts)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
George Bennet Fellowship Program, Philips Exeter Academy, 20 Main St., Exeter, NH 03833 (603) 772-4311. Year-long writer-in-residence; stipend and housing; no teaching, but writers expected to give one public program and must make themselves available to interested students. (literary arts)Great Rivers Arts Institute, PO Box 639, Walpole, NH 03608 (603) 758-3638. Residencies in Patzcuaro, Mexico at Casa Don Miguel, a 250-year-old monastery. Private rooms, separate studios for visual artists; 2 meals a day included. Fees charged; partial fellowships available. (visual, literary arts)
MacDowell Colony, Inc., 100 High St., Peterborough, NH 03458 (603) 924-3886. On 450 acres of woodlands and fields near Mt. Monadnock; 33 studios; residencies of no more than 8 weeks; 31 artists in residence in the summer and 22 in winter; fees are voluntary; darkrooms, 16mm editing suite, printmaking equipment available. (visual, literary, performing arts, architecture and design)
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, AIR Program, RR 3, Box 73, Cornish, NH 03603. (603) 675-2175. One residency of 12 to 24 weeks, June to October. Housing in nearby apartment; workspace in historic Ravine Studio, on park grounds. Tools and materials, and insurance provided. Artist expected to keep regular hours, in which tourists can watch you work, and to conduct workshops. No work donation expected and no percentage on sales taken. Open to sculptors who do figurative or representational work suited to the lost wax casting techniques employed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. (visual arts)
RHODE ISLAND
AS220, 115 Empire St., Providence, RI 02903 (401) 831-9327. 3-6 mo. residencies. AS220 is a 22,000 sq. ft. blg. that includes a cafe and performance space, computer lab, darkroom, screenprinting studio, video editing suite, 10 working studios, 4 galleries, 12 living/working studios. (performing, visual, literary arts)Woonsocket Neigborhood Development Corporation (401) 762-0993. Year-long residencies fora single community-friendly professional artist (and family) with free rent in spacious 3-bedroom apartment, in exchange for 5/hours per week working with local kids. Woonsocket is a former mill city located in the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, 20 minutes from Providence. All media welcome: visual arts, film, video, theater, computer art, storytelling, dance, poetry or other writers, folk arts, crafts. "We believe in the importance and transformative power of the arts as part of a comprehensive community revitalization effort," says Executive Director Joe Garlick.
VERMONT
The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, Inc., PO Box 495, Marble Street, West Rutland, VT 05777 (802) 438-2097. Rehabilitated, extinct marble quarry in the Green Mountains in Central Vermont; no fees; artists purchase and prepare own food; 2-month residencies for artists working in stone carving; 2 artists at a time; year-round. (visual arts)Dorset Colony House, PO Box 519, Dorset, VT 05251 (802) 867-2223. Up to 8 writers at a time; residencies from 1 week to several months; fees charged; writers cook own meals and provide own food. Near the Green Mountains in Southern Vermont. (literary, performing, visual arts)
The Hall Farm Center for Arts and Education, 392 Hall Dr., Townshend, VT 05353 (802) 365-4483. 200-year old former farm on 221 acres in the southeastern corner of the state. Residencies of one week to one month; room and board, two sessions: June 10- July 17 and July 29 - Sept. 18. Open to fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, playwrights, painters, performers, composers, photographers, sculptors, and other artists. (literary, performing, visual arts)Kokoro Studio Retreat Center, RR 1, Box 192, Castleton, VT 05735. (802) 273-2278. Facilities include: studios, Japanese bath, steam, sauna, massage, pond, waterfall, extensive stone yard. Resident artists, supportive critiques, small groups, or retreat options available. Lodging options vary from tent, tepee, lodge, or private cabins. Fees charged; residencies from 1 day to 1 month. (visual, literary arts)
Vermont Carving Studio, PO Box 613, Proctor, VT 06765 (617) 894-9173. Studio spaces for sculptors working in marble, other stones, and wood. (visual arts)
Vermont Music and Arts Center, Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT 05851 (802) 626-9371. Residencies and workshops for serious amateur chamber musicians to "take a vacation with music." (performing arts)
Vermont Studio Center, PO Box 613, Johnson, VT 05656 (802) 635-2727. 4-12 week residencies; fees charged, some financial support; up to 50 artists and writers per month. Other services include library, slide showings, readings, art supply store, visiting artist series, fitness activities. Located in the heart of the Green Mtns. Access to all facilities at nearby Johnson State College include sport, library, computer lab privleges. (visual and literary arts)The Writers Retreat, Boz 193, 3141 Beebe Rd., Beebe Plain, VT 05823 (819) 876-2065. No application required, first reserved basis; any length of stay; fees charged. Programs offered: complimentary critique and editing, private consulation, literary agent, workshops in all genres. Residencies in several locations: Southern Quebec, Prince Edwarwd Island, British Columbia, Colorado, California,South Carolina, Costa Rica, and Mexico. (literary arts)