Annual Artist & Writer Residency

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond (VisArts) invites visual artists and writers to apply for the organization’s 11-month residency, funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Windgate Foundation, CultureWorks, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the Allen and Margot Blank Foundation.

Three visual artists and one writer will be invited to spend the year at VisArts (September 1-July 31) making new work which will be included in a group exhibition and reading at VisArts midway through the residency.

VisArts provides Annual Residents with:

  • 24/7 access to private studio space
  • Access to VisArts’ 17 professional art studios
  • $5,000 honorarium
  • Professional studio headshots and documentation of work
  • Other benefits intended to enhance creative practices, such as studio training, free VisArts classes, private lessons, and the opportunity to work in a community of makers

This residency is open to artists in all stages of their careers. VisArts will prioritize artists who have a demonstrated creative practice and are either emerging in their field or exploring new ideas or media. When submitting an application to be considered, we highly encourage applicants to provide a description of the work they hope to accomplish while in residency, expand on any specific project outlines and how they will creatively use the studios at VisArts, as well as discuss how this opportunity impacts your professional goals.

All artists are welcome to apply, but in an effort to address systemic inequalities, we will prioritize applications from BIPOC artists and those that come from groups that have been historically underrepresented due to age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or socioeconomic status.

ACCESSIBILITY
Our facility is ADA compliant with the exception of one of our drawing and painting studios. Our letterpress studio requires individuals in a wheelchair to enter through an exterior door. We will work to support the individual needs of each resident.

Accepted residents may work independently in the studio(s) for which they have been approved, excluding the woodshop, flameworking and the fab lab studios which have only monitored studio time. Any accepted residents that are unfamiliar with a studio, process, piece of equipment or a tool will be required to participate in an official training.

HOW TO APPLY
All applications are accepted via the link below and there is no fee to apply, just make an account on SlideRoom..

APPLICATIONS OPEN SOON

2025-2026 Annual Residency 

Residency Dates: September 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026
Application opens: February 3, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.
Application deadline: March 31, 2025 at 7:59 p.m. 

We will notify all applicants by June 13, 2025.
Please e-mail [email protected] if you have any questions.