Socially Engaged Art Residencies in United States

Art MSU and University Health and Wellbeing Artist-in-Residence

East Lansing, United States

Artist-in-Residence at Olin Health Center promoting wellness and inclusivity through community-engaged art. Selected artist collaborates with students and staff to design and execute a mural within the student health clinic over 8 months.

Boston Center for the Arts

Boston, United States

The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) offers multiple artist residency programs, including the BCA Studio Residency, which provides selected artists with affordable, work-only studio space in Boston's South End for up to three years, supporting experimentation in fields like photography, sculpture, painting, video, digital media, performance, and public art. Additional programs include the seven-day ACTivate Residency for site-responsive performative or visual work in the historic Cyclorama and the Public Art Residency for interactive temporary installations on BCA's campus. These residencies foster a diverse arts community through networking, exhibitions, curatorial visits, and professional development opportunities.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

Homer, Alaska, United States

Bunnell Street Arts Center’s “Alaska AIR” Artist-in-Residence program invites international, US, and Alaskan artists to engage with the local community through artistic practice and dialogue. Located in Homer, Alaska, the residency provides artists with the opportunity to create new work while fostering connections within the community. Artists across visual, literary, performing, and interdisciplinary fields are encouraged to apply, with an emphasis on community engagement around themes such as inclusion, sustainability, and accessibility. The residency includes a $2,000 stipend, lodging, and a travel allowance of up to $1,000. Artists are also provided with a studio in the gallery space of the center, as well as access to equipment such as a piano, sound system, and video projector. In exchange, artists are expected to offer a public artist talk and a workshop or outreach event to further engage with the community. The residency is open to artists globally, and the application period runs from September 1 to October 31 annually.

The Cedars Union Incubator Cohort VI is an 18‑month residency in Dallas offering micro‑studios and peer community for emerging artists.

Ecotones Arts at Field Stations and Marine Labs

Cambridge, United States

Ecotones is a consortium of biological field stations and marine labs hosting artist residencies and arts activities at the intersection of art, science, and environment. Varies by site: 1 day-1 year; check individual programs for details.

Elsewhere Studios

Paonia, United States

Elsewhere Studios is an artist residency program in Paonia, Colorado, hosting 4-6 artists at a time from around the world in a supportive environment that encourages focused work, community engagement, and experimentation. Residencies typically last one month, with options to extend up to three or six months, and include shared living/studio spaces, public open studios, and special programs for underrepresented artists like parents, Indigenous poets, and BIPOC/LGBTQIA2S+ creatives. The program emphasizes social and environmental justice, with subsidized fees and no standard stipend, though some funded residencies provide support.

Emmanuel College

Boston, United States

The Emmanuel College Artist-in-Residence Program (ECAR) offers a six-week summer residency to four artists annually, one each in Ceramics, Photography, Printmaking, and Social Practice. It provides studio space, housing, a stipend, and access to college facilities, while artists engage with the community through lectures, workshops, and donate a work to the college's collection.

Flux Factory Artist-in Residency

Long Island City, United States

Since 1994, Flux Factory has offered an informal, artist-run, and collective residency program comprised of a changing community of creative collaborators including artists, musicians, curators, community organizers, urban agriculturalists, educators, builders, and game designers. The program provides workspace, studio facilities, and direct exhibition and programmatic opportunities within a socially engaged and immersive environment in Long Island City, Queens.

Found Sound Nation

Ridgewood, United States

Found Sound Nation is an NYC-based nonprofit that designs spaces for co-creation and creative exchange between artists and communities, using collaborative music-making to bridge cultural divides and drive social change. The organization facilitates understanding and positive change through collaborative music-making and deep listening, with immersive residencies, tours, workshops and installations across over 160 cities in 38 countries.

Grand Central Art Center

Santa Ana, United States

The Grand Central Art Center Artist-in-Residence program in Santa Ana provides dedicated apartments, studios, and support for creative individuals, with a current focus on artists working in social practice and community-engaged projects. Residencies emphasize discovery, collaboration, and relationships rather than fixed outcomes, with durations varying from weeks to years based on project needs, and may include housing, stipends, and budgets through specific grants. Past residents have developed community-based works like oral histories and garden projects involving Santa Ana's diverse populations.

Granite Falls City Artist-in-Residence

Granite Falls, United States

The Granite Falls City Artist-in-Residence (CAIR) program is a pioneering small-town initiative in Granite Falls, Minnesota, where artists embed in the community for 6-12 months to design and implement arts and cultural strategies aimed at boosting civic participation and engagement. Hosted by the Granite Area Arts Council, it emphasizes collaboration with locals, includes support staff, and produces a replicable resource guide for other communities. The program intersects civic, social, and artistic work, marking it as the first of its kind in the country.

KODA Utopia Artist Residency

New York, New York, United States

The KODA Utopia Artist Residency is a social practice program on Governors Island in New York for two mid-career, female-identifying and/or non-binary artists creating conceptual and socially engaged work, themed around Utopia for Fall 2026 (August 1-October 31). It provides studio space, an honorarium, optional exhibition, studio visits, public engagement opportunities, and professional development support.

Pike School of Art - Mississippi

Summit, United States

Pike School of Art – Mississippi (PSA-MS) is a contemporary art center near McComb, Mississippi that offers artist and writer residencies in the Deep South. The residency program invites creative professionals to engage with the region's culture and history while providing studio space, accommodations, and opportunities for public presentations and community engagement.

Public Art Residency

Boston, United States

Boston Artists-in-Residence (AIR) program embeds local artists in city government departments for year-long terms to advance arts, civic practice, and social justice. Offers $30k stipend + $10k materials.

SFW Residency at Kent Cultural Alliance

CHESTERTOWN, United States

6-week live-in, work-in artist residency at historic Raimond Cultural Center. Artists embed with community organizations, create works for exhibition, lead school workshops, and engage public through open studios and presentations.

Shandaken: Storm King is a free, process-focused artist residency established in as a collaboration between Shandaken Projects and Storm King Art Center. The program provides artists with exclusive use of a four-bedroom farmhouse and private studio space on Storm King's grounds, supporting experimentation and research without production requirements.

Skidmore College

Saratoga Springs, New York, United States

The Work + Space Residency is hosted by the Department of Art at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, offering an immersive experience for emerging artists. Designed to foster artistic creation, exhibition, and student engagement, the residency provides a dedicated studio, lodging, meals, and a stipend. Artists in residence present their work in a solo exhibition at the Schick Gallery, typically scheduled at the end of their stay. The program emphasizes diversity and inclusion, welcoming applicants with recent MFAs, non-traditional backgrounds, or underrepresented identities. Residents are encouraged to contribute to the academic community through workshops, lectures, or student studio visits. Access to specialized tools and facilities is available upon approval and is project-dependent. The residency prioritizes contemporary practices across all visual and interdisciplinary art fields. Through this short-term but intensive format, Skidmore College aims to integrate professional artists into its liberal arts environment for mutual inspiration and growth.

Springboard for the Arts

Fergus Falls, United States

Springboard for the Arts is an artist-centered economic and community development organization founded in 1991, with offices in Saint Paul and Fergus Falls, Minnesota, dedicated to equipping artists with tools to make a living and a life while building equitable communities. In Fergus Falls, it maintains an office at 201 West Lincoln Avenue, supported by the Lake Region Arts Council, providing regional artists access to services like career consultations, business workshops, and community-building initiatives such as the Rural Futures Summit. The organization focuses on connecting artists with resources, fostering reciprocal relationships between artists and communities, and piloting solutions to local needs across urban and rural areas.

Terrain Exhibitions

​Springfield, United States

The Terrain Residency, hosted by the Springfield Art Association (SAA) Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists, is located in Springfield, Illinois, and invites artists to live and work in a duplex for four to six weeks every summer to develop public projects such as art installations, architectural interventions, performances, social practice, and community programs. Residents have access to specialized Visual Arts studio facilities at the University of Illinois Springfield, receive a $600 stipend, though a $50/week fee applies, and can utilize the historic neighborhood for site-based works.

The Luminary's Residency

St. Louis, United States

A nationally recognized, research-driven residency supporting emerging and mid-career artists, curators, and critics in developing new work through focused inquiry and engagement with St. Louis's cultural landscape.

The Paseo Project

Taos, United States

The Paseo Project offers two artist residency programs in Taos, New Mexico: the Paseo Project AIR Fellowship, a 2-4 week project-based residency with community engagement and stipend support, and the Paseo @ Hotel Willa Artist in Residence, a four-week self-structured residency for independent creative work. Both programs provide housing, studio space, and opportunities for artists across all disciplines to work within Taos's vibrant cultural and natural landscape.

The Residency Project

Pasadena, United States

The Residency Project (TRP) @ 880 in Pasadena, California, offers 3-week artist residencies in a Craftsman bungalow, providing private rooms, shared studio space, a $300 stipend, and support for creative research and experimentation without requiring a finished product. It emphasizes amplifying underrepresented artists including women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, artists with disabilities, and parents, while encouraging sustainable practices and collaborative cohabitation. Residents have access to a fully stocked kitchen, peer mentoring, and Pasadena's vibrant arts scene.

Unlisted Projects

Austin, United States

Unlisted Projects is an arts and culture residency program based in Austin, TX, supporting local, national, and international artists through interdisciplinary collaborations, community engagement, and public presentations of new work. Operating since at the Museum of Human Achievement (MoHA), it offers various residencies including one-month international exchanges like CopenhAustin and a 24-hour Lock-In for marginalized Central Texas artists facing barriers. The program fosters transborder connections, provides on-site housing in a renovated trailer, and leverages a community of 35 in-house creatives.

Walker Art Center

MINNEAPOLIS, United States

The Walker Art Center offers artist-in-residence programs that engage artists in community-based projects, including collaborations with local youth and organizations. The residencies support artists in creating public artworks and installations while working with Minneapolis communities.

Wildacres Environmental Artist-In-Residence

Little Switzerland, United States

The Wildacres Environmental Artist-in-Residence Program, launched in at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC, welcomes artists, scientists, and professionals focused on global environmental issues like climate change, extinction, and habitat loss, selecting candidates for their intellectual rigor and activism. Residencies last 1-2 weeks from April to October, providing secluded cabins for focused creative work in a natural mountain setting. The program supports disciplines including art, social practice, writing, research, and environmental science, with no cost to participants.