Free Creative Writing Residencies

Bundanon

Illaroo, Australia

Bundanon's Artists in Residence program, set within the cultural and natural landscape of Australia, is one of the most extensive of its kind nationally. Established by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, the program has been operational since 1997, supporting over 250 artists annually across all creative disciplines, including visual arts, writing, music, and performance. Located in a region renowned for its scenic beauty, this program not only offers a retreat for artists but also a vibrant community space for creative exploration and public engagement. The residency facilities at Bundanon include studios, rehearsal spaces, and accommodation in single and shared apartments, as well as self-contained cottages capable of hosting up to 10 people. The program is designed to encourage artistic development without the pressure of specified outcomes, allowing for experimental and exploratory approaches to art-making. This supportive environment is supplemented by various fellowships and awards, aimed at providing financial assistance and facilitating creative growth. Structured through collaborations with various arts organizations and cultural agencies, Bundanon’s residency program serves as an incubator for innovative practices and a forum for cultivating deep connections among artists from around the world. With its commitment to diversity and inclusion, the program particularly encourages applications from First Nations artists, artists with disabilities, culturally and linguistically diverse artists, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Helene Wurlitzer Foundation (HWF)

Taos, New Mexico, United States

The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation (HWF) is a private, non-profit organization that has been supporting the arts since 1954. Located on a fifteen-acre campus in Taos, New Mexico, HWF offers one of the oldest artist residency programs in the USA. The Foundation provides three months of rent-free and utility-paid housing to visual artists, literary artists, and music composers from around the world. The campus consists of eleven fully furnished casitas, each tailored to the specific needs of different types of artists. The Foundation’s mission is to support the artist and the creative process, offering a peaceful setting for artists to pursue their work without imposed expectations or quotas. Applications are reviewed by a committee of professionals in various artistic disciplines, ensuring a diverse and enriching residency experience.

Africa Centre

Cape Town, South Africa

The Africa Centre's Artists In Residency (AIR) programme, established in , partners with artist residency programs globally to fund and support African artists across all artistic disciplines. The program covers all residency costs and round-trip airfare, allowing artists at various career stages to participate in short-term residencies that enable them to consolidate their work and develop new projects.

Akademie Schloss Solitude

Stuttgart, Germany

Akademie Schloss Solitude is an international and transdisciplinary artist-in-residence program in Stuttgart, Germany, awarding 50-60 residencies every two years to artists, researchers, and cultural professionals across all disciplines. It provides space for concentrated work, interdisciplinary exchange, and networking, with fellows receiving furnished live/work studios, a monthly stipend of €1,300, and travel support for 6- or 9-month stays.

American Academy in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany

The American Academy in Berlin is a private, nonprofit institution offering semester-long residential fellowships to American scholars, artists, writers, composers, and journalists for advanced independent research and creative work in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and public policy. Fellows reside at the Hans Arnhold Center on Lake Wannsee and engage in transatlantic dialogue through public lectures, readings, performances, and discussions.

Atelier Mondial

Basel, Switzerland

Atelier Mondial is an international and interdisciplinary artist residency program in Basel, Switzerland, hosting guest artists from partner institutions worldwide in its seven studios for stays typically lasting three to six months. It provides live-in studios, stipends for living expenses, and opportunities for open studios and exhibitions at Salon Mondial. The program also offers grants to regional artists from Basel, South Baden, and Alsace for residencies abroad in fields like visual arts, literature, fashion & textiles, dance & performing arts, and curation.

Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA)

New Smyrna Beach, Florida, United States

Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA), nestled in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, stands as a beacon of interdisciplinary artistic collaboration and excellence. Established in 1977 by the visionary Doris Leeper, ACA fosters a nurturing environment where artists across multiple disciplines can converge, create, and share ideas. The center is renowned for its Mentor Artist-in-Residence Program, which pairs emerging and mid-career artists with distinguished mentors to explore new projects, experiment, and engage in rich dialogues across artistic fields. Beyond its core residency, ACA extends its creative reach through community arts and wellness initiatives, offering a broad spectrum of programs that underline the center's commitment to artistic innovation and community engagement.

The Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators is an international residential centre located in medieval Visby on Gotland, Sweden, welcoming literary professionals including authors, translators, poets, and screenwriters from all countries, with priority given to those from the Baltic Sea region and Scandinavia. The centre provides free residencies of 3-5 weeks on average, with housing, studio space, and facilities for creative work and international collaboration.

Beppu Project

Beppu City, Japan

Beppu Project is a non-profit art organization founded in April that operates artist residency programs in Beppu City, a renowned hot spring area in southern Japan. The organization hosts the KASHIMA Artist in Residence program (since ) and short-term residencies at Kiyoshima Apartment, welcoming artists across multiple disciplines to create work while engaging with the local community.

Blue Mountain Center (BMC)

Blue Mountain Lake, New York, United States

Founded in 1982, Blue Mountain Center (BMC) is located in the Adirondack wilderness on historically Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe lands. Originally a 19th-century golf resort, it now serves as a nurturing refuge dedicated to social justice for artists, activists, writers, and cultural workers. Blue Mountain Center focuses on providing a space that facilitates both the creation of transformative works and the rejuvenation of its residents. The center emphasizes the integration of its residents with the local and global communities, providing a serene environment conducive to creative and restorative practices. BMC operates on the core values of racial, economic, and environmental justice, and gender equality, welcoming a diverse group of applicants particularly those producing work that reflects social and ecological concerns. BMC offers month-long residencies from June to September each year, supporting a range of creative disciplines including writing, filmmaking, and visual arts, among others. Residents are selected by an admissions committee of accomplished authors and artists through a process that prioritizes work aimed at a general audience with a clear social conscience. The residency provides studio space, accommodation, and communal living areas, all set against the backdrop of the scenic Blue Mountain Lake. This setting not only inspires artistic endeavors but also encourages personal well-being and community interaction, free from the distractions of everyday life such as cell phones and constant internet connectivity.

The Bruny Island Residency, run by the Bruny Island Foundation for the Arts in Tasmania, Australia, offered four-week supported residencies in and for artists across disciplines like visual arts, writing, music, and film, with projects focused on Bruny Island. Residencies took place at locations such as Honeycomb Cottage in Adventure Bay and Ventnor Homestead in Lunawanna, while the Cape Bruny Residency was held at a former lighthouse keeper's cottage in South Bruny Island National Park in partnership with the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. These programs evolved into the BRUNY20 Arts Fellowship from -, providing opportunities for Australian artists to explore environmental themes.

The Collège européen des traducteurs littéraires de Seneffe is an international literary translation residency program established in 1996 that hosts translators from around the world working on Belgian Francophone literature. Located in renovated outbuildings of Seneffe Castle near Brussels, the program provides an ideal working environment for translation projects lasting from two weeks to one month, with opportunities to meet Belgian authors.

Cove Park

Helensburgh, United Kingdom

Cove Park is an international artist residency centre on a 50-acre rural site overlooking Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland, near Helensburgh, hosting national and international artists, writers, researchers, and creative practitioners across all art forms and career stages. The program supports research, experimentation, development, and production of new work in a supportive environment with communal facilities and events. Residencies vary from funded opportunities with stipends and housing to self-funded stays, typically lasting 2-4 weeks.

Creative Residency

Elizabethtown, United States

Craigardan's Creative Residency Program in the Adirondacks offers 2 weeks-3 months for interdisciplinary artists, scholars, farmers, chefs. Provides housing, studios, scholarships ($850-$1350/week), stocked kitchen, access to programs.

The Embassy of Foreign Artists (EOFA) is an international residency program based in Geneva, Switzerland, established in , that welcomes artists, researchers, and cultural actors from around the world. The program provides logistical and financial support for creative development, with a focus on bridging artistic and scientific practices around themes such as imagination in research processes.

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown

Provincetown, United States

The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown is one of the world's leading artist residency programs, offering 20 seven-month residencies annually to emerging visual artists, fiction writers, and poets. Since its founding in 1968, the Work Center has provided time, space, and creative connections to artists and writers, with each Fellow receiving an apartment, studio space, monthly stipend, and opportunities for public readings and exhibitions.

Fogo Island Arts

Fogo Island, Canada

Fogo Island Arts is an international residency program founded in 2008 that invites professional contemporary artists, curators, writers, filmmakers, musicians, designers, and thinkers to live and work on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada, fostering creation, research, and connections around themes of sustainability, ecology, economy, and belonging. Residents stay in saltbox houses within local communities, with access to individual studios in scenic locations, and are expected to engage publicly through presentations or workshops. The program, part of the Shorefast Foundation, supports a range of disciplines and has specific opportunities like the fully funded 6-8 week Newfoundland and Labrador Artist Residency.

Fondation Jan Michalski

Montricher . 1147, Switzerland

The Fondation Jan Michalski in Montricher, Switzerland, offers residencies for writers and translators, prioritizing literary creation in all languages and disciplines, with some dedicated to nature writing. Residents stay in one of seven private cabins for 2 weeks to 3 months, receiving covered travel costs, a weekly stipend of 400 CHF, breakfast, and lunch.

Graves Mill Farm Writers and Artists Residency

Madison, United States

The Graves Mill Farm Writers and Artists Residency is a fully funded one-week retreat for writers and visual artists at all career stages, held on a 2,000-acre farm in Madison, VA. It emphasizes inspiration from nature, balancing private work time with communal meals and interactions, culminating in a studio night sharing. Participants explore the property and forests, with dedicated studios and housing provided.

Greenhut Artist Residency

Harvard, United States

Five-week artist residency providing time, space, community, and support to emerging artists, writers, and scholars in rural New England with funding, housing, multidisciplinary studios, and nature access.

Hidden Creek Arts Centre

Nelson, Canada

The Hidden Creek Arts Centre, also known as The Narrows Artist Residency, offers retreat-style residencies at a sustainable eco-centre near Grohman Creek, a short boat ride from Nelson, BC, primarily for local artists in visual arts, creative writing, and music composition, though open to all career stages. Residencies typically last one week, providing shared housing, food allowances in some cases, boat transport, and access to a dedicated straw bale studio, with past recipients spanning visual arts, literary arts, performing arts, and theatre. The program emphasizes solitude and artistic development in a natural setting.

International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR China

The International Writers’ Workshop (IWW) at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), founded in , is a self-funded, non-profit program that invites international writers for a four-week residency each spring, culminating in a themed Literary Festival. It has hosted over 150 writers from more than 55 countries, fostering cultural exchange through activities with students, local writers, and the community. Eligible writers must have at least one published book, reside outside Hong Kong, and command English or Chinese.

Kulturstiftung Schloss Wiepersdorf

Niederer Fläming, Germany

The Kulturstiftung Schloss Wiepersdorf offers an international and interdisciplinary residency program for individual artists, writers, scholars, and groups at Schloss Wiepersdorf, a castle in rural Brandenburg, Germany, about 75 km south of Berlin. Fellows receive free room and board, a monthly stipend of €1200, and a €480 material grant, with stays typically lasting 1-3 months (often three months in spring, summer, or fall periods). The program supports fields like literature, visual arts, composition, and research, providing studios, ateliers, conference rooms, and opportunities for presentations and networking.

Künstlerhof Schreyahn

Wustrow (Wendland), Germany

The Künstlerhof Schreyahn is a stipend program in Schreyahn, Wustrow (Wendland), Germany, offering writers and composers 3-, 6-, or 9-month residencies in renovated farm buildings with free ateliers including living space, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Residents receive a monthly stipend of 1400 Euro from the state of Lower Saxony and are expected to engage locally through readings, concerts, or other cultural activities. The facility features a protected Low German hall house used as a cultural center for events, with dedicated ateliers for literature and composition.

Landis & Gyr Stiftung

Zug, Switzerland

The Landis & Gyr Foundation's Zug residency offers Swiss writers and literary translators a quiet space to live and work in converted apartments of a former convent. Residents receive free accommodation and a monthly stipend of CHF 3,600, with residencies lasting one to three months annually.

Les Récollets

Paris, France

Les Récollets is an 80-unit furnished international residence in Paris's 10th arrondissement dedicated to hosting established researchers, scientists, and artists from around the world. The center provides accommodation with hotel-like services and fosters interdisciplinary creative exchange among residents from diverse fields. It serves as a space for artists and researchers to develop specific projects while engaging with Paris's cultural institutions and community.

Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs

Saint-Nazaire cedex, France

The Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs (MEET) in Saint-Nazaire, France, has hosted foreign writers and translators for over 20 years, providing them with an 8-week residency in a large apartment overlooking the port and shipyards. Residents receive a €1000 monthly stipend and housing, with optional public engagements, and must cover travel and living expenses. It selects 6 laureates annually, primarily writers but including 1-2 translators, who are published abroad and reside outside France.

Marble House Project

Dorset, Vermont, United States

Marble House Project is an expansive, multi-disciplinary artist residency program situated in Dorset, Vermont. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, sustainability, and community engagement by offering artists from a wide array of disciplines a place to live and work harmoniously. Focusing on conservation and organic food production, it invites artists to integrate with the natural surroundings and local community, aiming to foster both individual artistic growth and communal enrichment. With sessions running from mid-April through October, the program curates a diverse mix of approximately 60 artists annually, both from the United States and abroad, across all creative fields including visual arts, writing, choreography, music composition, performance, and culinary arts.

Next Page Foundation

Sofia, Bulgaria

Next Page Foundation in Sofia runs a residency programme that connects international writers and literary translators to the Bulgarian literary and publishing field. The foundation offers three types of fellowships (Translation in Motion, Next Page, and Traduki) with residencies lasting 3-6 weeks, providing accommodation, working facilities, and monthly grants.

NGO TRANSLATORIUM

Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine

NGO TRANSLATORIUM runs the BAZHAN residency program in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, for poets and poetry translators, offering two-week stays in a cozy apartment in the old town to work on poetry projects, collections, translations, or performances. The program provides coverage of travel, accommodation, per diem, curator support, and opportunities to share work publicly, with priority for writers from war-affected regions. Launched in , it is financed by the Creative Europe Programme in cooperation with Versopolis.

Pro Helvetia

Zürich, Switzerland

Pro Helvetia's residency programme enables artists from Switzerland and regions covered by its liaison offices to spend up to three months immersed in a different daily context, offering possibilities for artistic exchange, reflection, and the emergence of new work, collaborations, and ideas.

Rimbun Dahan

Kuang, Malaysia

Rimbun Dahan is a private arboretum and arts centre in Kuang, Malaysia, established in 1994, offering residencies primarily for visual artists, choreographers, writers, and researchers from Southeast Asia to develop their work in a serene garden setting. It provides various programs including the Southeast Asian Arts Residency for ASEAN artists (2 months, with accommodation, studio, stipend, and limited travel support) and paid options for non-ASEAN artists longer than one month. The centre hosts 16-20 artists at a time across 5 studios, focusing on Malaysian and regional creators while welcoming international engagement.

Rock Street Artist Residency

Marquette, Michigan, United States

Rock Street Artist Residency (RSAR) is a transformative artist residency located in a historic 1887 Victorian home in Marquette, Michigan, offering a unique creative space set against the inspiring backdrop of the Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior's shores. The residency hosts two artists per session in a peaceful, distraction-free environment with fully equipped studio spaces, gourmet meals featuring locally sourced ingredients, and opportunities for community engagement.

Sacatar Foundation

Itaparica, Brazil

Instituto Sacatar is the longest continuously-operating artist residency in Brazil, founded in 2001 on the island of Itaparica across the bay from Salvador, Bahia. The residency provides fully-funded fellowships to artists of all disciplines from around the world, hosting up to eight artists at a time across five annual sessions. Since its inception, Sacatar has awarded residencies to over 550 artists from more than 75 countries.

Stuttgarter Schriftstellerhaus

Stuttgart, Germany

The Stuttgarter Schriftstellerhaus in Stuttgart, Germany, is a cultural institution and meeting point for authors, translators, and literature enthusiasts, hosting events, workshops, and annually awarding up to four 3-month residency stipends to German-speaking writers in prose, drama, and poetry. Stipendiaten receive housing and a stipend (4,000–5,000 EUR), with a presence obligation including public presentations and contributions to house activities.

The Edward F. Albee Foundation

Montauk, United States

The Edward F. Albee Foundation operates The Barn, a year-round residency program in Montauk, New York, designed to support writers and visual artists by providing private studios, bedrooms, and communal spaces for focused creative work. Founded in 1967 by playwright Edward Albee, the foundation accepts four artists per month based on talent and need, with no application fees and newly renovated facilities completed in .

The Frost Place

Franconia, NH 03580, United States

The Frost Place is a nonprofit educational center for poetry and the arts based at Robert Frost's former farmhouse in Franconia, New Hampshire. Since 1977, it has hosted a resident poet during the summer who lives and writes in Frost's home, with the Dartmouth Poet-in-Residence program beginning in offering a month-long residency with a $2,000 stipend and opportunities for public readings across the region.

The National Centre for Writing

Norwich, United Kingdom

The National Centre for Writing in Norwich offers in-person and virtual residencies for creative writers and literary translators from the UK and internationally. Based at the historic Dragon Hall, the program provides dedicated time and space to work on writing and translation projects, with support from UK-based mentors and opportunities to engage with the local literary community.

Tusen Takk Foundation

Leland, United States

The Tusen Takk Foundation Artist Residency in Leland, Michigan, provides solo or collaborative stays of 3-8 weeks for emerging and established visual artists, creative writers, and music composers, offering solitude in architecturally inspiring studios amid forested Lake Michigan dunes. Residents receive housing in a guesthouse, 24/7 studio access, a weekly honorarium of $625, and opportunities to engage locally while focusing on new ideas. Note that the open-call program ended on December 31, .

The Jan van Eyck Academie is a multidisciplinary post-academic institute in Maastricht, Netherlands, offering an 11-month residency program that welcomes 30-42 participants annually from around the world. The residency supports artists, designers, architects, curators, writers, and other creative practitioners to develop, materialize, and disseminate their research through access to studios, specialized labs, and a collaborative community.

Villa Decius

Kraków, Poland

The Villa Decius Institute for Culture in Kraków, Poland, operates the Artists' Residencies Centre, hosting multiple residency programs for writers, translators, visual artists, scriptwriters, playwrights, and persecuted creators from around the world. Each program provides housing in comfortable rooms at the historic Łaski's House within the Renaissance palace-park complex, along with monthly scholarships, travel reimbursements, and opportunities for professional development and cultural engagement. Specific initiatives include the Krakow UNESCO Residency, ICORN for at-risk artists, Artistic Scholarship for visual artists focused on Polish heritage, and others like Arts in Exile for literature, visual arts, and music.

Villa Medici

Roma, Italy

Villa Medici, home to the French Academy in Rome since 1803, is a prestigious artist residency on Rome's Pincian Hill that welcomes nearly 70 artists, writers, researchers, and craftspeople annually for stays ranging from two weeks to one year. The program provides fully funded residencies with accommodation, studio space, and support across diverse disciplines including visual arts, music, literature, architecture, and crafts, maintaining a legacy of artistic patronage dating back to 1666.

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

EUREKA SPRINGS, United States

The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow is a nonprofit residency retreat in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, offering uninterrupted time for writers of all genres, artists, and composers to work on their craft. The colony provides eight private writing suites with amenities including chef-prepared dinners, and residencies range from three days to three months.