What is an art Residency?

(420 words, appx. 3-minute read)

First, let's define "artist:" 

In our minds, an artist is someone who is creative and enjoys the creative process. You may identify as an artist, but some people don't. You write or design things or draw or dance or crochet or craft or dabble or sketch or make "serious" work or light work. You share it or you don't. To keep things simple here today, we're going to call you an artist.

Next, artists need a place to create. A lot of creating gets done at the kitchen table. Some are lucky enough to have a designated space for making things. And a residency is a place that is reserved specifically for artists to make what they make. 

Then, we add time. A residency is when you take time out of your life to go to somewhere else so that you can do your creative thing.

There are HUNDREDS of art residencies in the world! (Below is a list of resources for finding one for you.) Every residency has its own personality or flavor. Some are collaborative. Many are solo. Some offer programming, food, overnight accommodation, or community. Some actually pay you, others ask you to invest. Some residencies are remote, while others are in urban settings. 

You get the idea. There are as many kinds of residencies as there are the people who run them. 

Benefits of a residency, regardless of which one you participate in:

- Unplug from your regular life and focus on your work

- Make stuff

- Explore new ideas

- Learn about yourself

- Move old ideas forward, or retire them for good

- Rest

- Think

- Practice new techniques

- Play with new supplies or materials

- Develop goals and dreams

- Sometimes, opportunities for collaboration

In a culture in which an artist's work legitimacy is often called into question, a residency makes artists feel like what they do is important. Interestingly, if you do a residency, others around you tend to shift their attitudes and language about your work. 

Finally, we get asked a lot what the difference is between a "residency" and a "retreat." We are open to you calling it either one. They are more or less the same thing, with small differences depending on where you go, your background, and who owns or runs the residency or retreat. Generally, a residency is considered to be more for Artists, or more professional. But really, we think all retreats could be called residencies. 

That is: Time and space for you to make something. 

Residency Resources:

• Heather Matthews (art coach & art residency expert), Kestrel Fields Studio & Art Residency, Fort Collins, Colorado
• List of Colorado Art Residencies
• Artist Communities Alliance
• Piney Wood Atlas - for smaller, often unlisted residency opportunities
• Google - "Art Residency ______" (insert a location or a medium (i.e. fiber, painting, writing))