Artist Residency Reviews

This residency is for the adventurous and the solitary individual only, not the faint of heart. If you are willing to break away from technology, live off-grid, commune with nature, and are comfortable alone 20 miles into the undeveloped Nevada desert landscape, this residency is for you. You are provided with a simple cabin with an attached studio for two weeks. The experience will challenge every sense of yourself and your relationship to the world. It's a detox from civilization and a place to commune solely with your work and nature. No cell service, no internet, no people. This place will stimulate your sensory perception, and you will come out enriched and strong...that is, if being in your own head for two weeks doesn't break you.

I had the immense pleasure of being a 2023 Visual Arts Fellow at Millay Arts. My spacious studio in the main house, friendly and gifted fellow residents, delicious chef-prepared dinners and gorgeous country setting all paved the way for a successful month! Inspired, I was able to realize a new project that I had been thinking about for some time!

The residency is not very selective and you can find fellow artists of different levels. However, the staff is friendly and the city is beautiful. The studio spaces are amazing. It's a good residency if you manage to find funding and if you are proactive in contacting the local galleries.

There are both advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side, it provides a great experience to meet other artists and live in the city of Leipzig for three months. However, it can be quite costly if funding cannot be obtained. Additionally, there are many other residencies available in Europe with lower fees or funding. Therefore, it may be beneficial to explore other options.

If you need transportation of material, bring your car if possible. Ask about the tools you need ahead of your stay. They may not have it. Most valuable was the connection to other artists from very different cultures!

As a local artist, there are no costs. For internationals, there is a fee.

The land and space are beautiful, especially picturesque. The beds are not the best quality and sink in a lot, so be careful. There are no COVID protocols in place and the directors ignored any of my concerns regarding COVID safety even though the space boasts being the first ADA residency. The private cook isn't very approachable and it's very judgmental to residents, which dampened our stay. I loved my windows in the studio and scenery; access to nature is a priority here. The residency lodging director is not very diligent with paperwork and coordination and at times could be kinder. The cohorts run small with 7-8 people, which can make deep bonds with other AIRs. There aren't any locks on the bedrooms, which is very weird, or they were fob-based and not used yet. Unlike MacDowell, Millay's library is very limited and not even fully accessible since some of it is in the director's office. I wish they had more media and library space to research. Studio furniture needs updating and quality is not the same studio to studio. Overall, my cohort made my residency amazing and we loved campfires, cooking together, sharing outdoor space with walks and hikes. The assessment process after residency at Millay is not online, digital, or anonymous, so that needs to be updated for AIR support. There are two dogs who visit and are just adorable company, which is an additional perk.

Enjoy your life in Naxos, very beautiful and unique. My advice is to do lightweight pieces. :) The cost of living there is very pleasant, much cheaper than in Mykonos. And the materials can be collected by yourself or purchased in nearby towns.

The greatest strength of the residency is the shared studio, large, bright and with the right amount of privacy. In my opinion the cost is too high - it includes the studio, various organized activities and the final exhibition, but no living arrangements. Good participation of local people in the open studios and the exhibition, very little contact with external galleries or curators.

SÍM residency is run by a group of extremely dedicated and supportive individuals. I was sharing living spaces with a group of about 10 artists from all around the world. As part of the residency program we frequently engaged in pre-programmed (as well as spontaneous) excursions, presentations and artist talks. For the period of a month I felt like I was taken in by a new, small artist family, in which everyone supported and collaborated with each other. I made new friends, I had incredible experiences. SÍM gave advice, support and guidelines on networking, finding the appropriate art materials, traveling in Iceland, and helped in every possible way to keep us comfortable, creative and happy. Would recommend this residency program 100% and would love to go back in the future.

The costs are high, because the island is expensive. You need grants from your country.

Millay Arts was a very healing artist residency. I spent my time there at the end of summer, so the weather was perfect, and the landscape was stunning. I enjoyed that we were a small group of 7 artists from different art disciplines. As a painter, the studio space was the best I've ever had; it was huge, so much wall space, and it was ventilated. It was so convenient that my bedroom was in front of my studio too. Our chef-prepared meals were delicious, and we had a great time making each other dinners on the weekends. Also, our campfires were so fun! I thought I would hate being stuck in the middle of the forest for a month, but it was so nurturing. The poetry trail and the walk to the meadow and hidden meadow were lovely when you needed a little break from your work. I would recommend it as a place to heal, research, and make work. An important thing to consider is to apply to the Core Residency (the free one) and not the Steepletop (paid). I made the mistake of applying to the Steepletop residency instead when the Core Residency provides the same thing for free! I later discovered that I was the only person from my cohort paying for the program, and we all received the same services. That was a disappointing and hard lesson to learn. It would have been a perfect experience if they had been more transparent. It was an expensive fee for just one month; I'm not sure if I would recommend it as a paid residency unless you already have a grant.

Pilotenkueche is excellent for having a shared studio space to meet international artists in a new environment. I loved being in the studio and getting inspired by such diverse practices. I believe the work I created to be some of my strongest works, and I was lucky to have one of the large studio spaces. I think that was the aspect I cherished the most: the studio space and the people I met! However, I wish the program offered more professional advancement to our practices. Our program days were not focused on meeting people from the Leipzig art community or facilitating many studio visits or introductions. Since we were unfamiliar with this art scene, having that would have been beneficial. Our consultations felt more technical based on our open studios and final group exhibitions. Instead, I was expecting more mentorship and critique; this was listed in their services. (But considering that this is also an emerging curator program, this could change for each round.) Our final exhibition was underwhelming, with a very small turnout. I'm used to group exhibitions always being very successful, at least having one important person attending, and being filled with art professionals to network with. However, it seemed that there were primarily friends and family and not many people to engage in discussions about my work. I would recommend this residency if you're an artist looking for inspiration and making new international connections. I wouldn't recommend it as an artist residency to propel your career forward.

Les coûts: Frais du voyage + alimentaire. Les gains un belle espace de travail et des rencontres. The costs: Travel expenses + food. The gains: a beautiful workspace and meetings.

The place is perfect for any creative process, as it is located above the city, but still a part of it. So you can catch both—the vibe of solitude and energetic vibe of the island with all habitats and tourists. The host is very hospitable, thoughtful, with great taste and understanding of the process.

The location is great, close to the center of Berlin. The staff and curator are nice; they care about artists’ situations and work environments. They promote the residency events well, so artists can showcase their works to many viewers.

A big group of team to make an amazing 3-months-experience! 10 international artists, 2 local artists, 4 interns, 2 invited curators, and 2 organizers (Julianne and Maeshelle). I really loved getting lots of feedbacks and input from these wonderful and diverse group of professionals and they documented the whole growth journey of artists really well with in-depth interview, which is published on their blog, and photos. Potluck lunches on every Friday gives a home-like warm feeling and you get to share your culinary culture with the group. Weekly activities were fun and engaging also. It could be a bit of hassle to find an accommodation that is affordable and close enough to the studio, but the studio space is humongous and interesting with the industrial and artistic vibe. I really loved my stay for 3 months and the organizing team is so sweet and helpful. Leipzig is a very interesting city also. Definitely recommend to come and explore! You get a free entrance ticket to some big museums and galleries as a PK (Pilotenkueche) resident too.

PADA is located in Barreiro which is 40 minutes away from Lisbon and fairly cheaper place from Lisbon. There are a lot of shops around for food and art supplies. The industrial site offers a lot of waste materials for projects. It is very inspiring. I believe the best month to go to PADA is September due to the weather in Portugal.

I was generally satisfied with the programme, mentors I had were mostly friendly and available, and so were the guest lecturers and other participants in the programme. I do wish there were more opportunities to focus on practical work with art materials and on starting/developing new research pre-production, also on getting feedback on works we were doing. Approach to theoretical side of things was more oriented to benefit people doing curatorial/art-history practices, and sometimes this approach could get a bit too dry for me, but the topics weren't uninteresting. I also wish there was more opportunities to network with other people in the programme and get to know them and their practices better, but the programme was fully online when I participated so this might be the reason why. We had a stipend of 600eur per month during my participation, and the programme lasted for 3 months.

The living and studio spaces are of high quality. The center charges approximately €500-750 per month for a room. It is a very good price considering Iceland. The residence does not offer any financial support for foreign artists. But you will receive an invitation letter, which is often necessary if you apply for a grant in your home country.