This list represents a selection of retreats and colonies around the US for artists and writers that welcome people with disabilities to apply. Their inclusion here is not meant to be an endorsement or a recommendation but to give an idea of the programs available for artists nationwide. They are included here because their materials explicitly address accommodation of people with disabilities. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to inquire directly about those accommodations.
The Millay Colony for the Arts, 454 East Hill Road, PO Box 3, Austerlitz, NY12017, 518-392-3103, apply@millaycolony.org. The Millay Colony offers one-month residencies to visual artists, composers and writers between the months of April and November. Resident artists get private rooms, studios and all meals during their stay at our pastoral campus. The Colony sits on a seven-acre campus bordered by Edna St. Vincent Millay’s former house and gardens and the beautiful Harvey Mountain State Forest in New York’s Columbia County. Resident artists enjoy walks through trails and meadows fragrant with wild thyme, flowers and blueberries. The Main Building was designed with a team of artists with physical disabilities to offer universal access. Completed in 1997, the Main Building has the Colony’s kitchen, dining and living areas, music room, dark room and other public rooms.
The MacDowell Colony, 100 High Street, Peterborough, NH 03458, 603-924-3886, info@macdowellcolony.org. Founded in 1896 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife Marian, the MacDowell Colony nurtures the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination. At its founding, the Colony was an experiment with no precedent. It stands now having provided crucial time and space to more than 6,000 artists, including such notable names as Leonard Bernstein, Thornton Wilder, Aaron Copland, Milton Avery, James Baldwin, Spalding Gray, and more recently Alice Walker, Alice Sebold, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Suzan-Lori Parks, Meredith Monk, Kenny Fries and many more. The main building, residence halls, and some studios are handicapped accessible.
Spiro Arts, PO Box 682625, Park City, UT 84068. 435649-6258, www.spiroarts.org. In a historic mine site at 6,999 feet among mountains, aspens, sub-alpine meadows, lakes, and streams. Open to emerging and established artists worldwide; residents do some community outreach. Housing, studio and stipend. Two residency terms (April and May) with 3-5 residents per term. Open to collaborative teams, and artists can arrange to come with guests, family members or even pets. Residents responsible for own meals. One Type-A accessible unit available to people with disabilities. Wireless internet and printer, laundry facilities, available for communal use. Open to visual artists, writers, composers, singer/songwriters, researchers, experimental and mixed media artists, and others. (Visual, literary, performing, and media arts.)
Santa Fe Art Institute, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505, 505-424 5050, info@sfai.org. Residencies of 1-3 months. Fees charged; partial residency fee waivers available on a need-based jury process. SFAI’s facility meets all ADA requirements with complete accessibility for wheelchairs to studio and living spaces. Two resident rooms are equipped with bathroom facilities for wheelchair access, and since SFAI’s complex is one level, there are no stairs or barriers. All signage is presented in large clear type (English and Spanish) and in Braille. (Visual, literary arts.)
Sustainable Arts Society at Blue Ridge, PO Box 1, Blue Ridge, GA 30513, 706-838-4727, www.sustainable-arts.org. The Sustainable Arts Society at Blue Ridge provides an artist residency program as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization offering artists the opportunity for quiet contemplation and intellectual productivity in a rural Appalachian setting. Residencies allow the artist to live and work through a self-directed program, in solitude and in community with like-spirited individuals away from the cares and turmoil of the contemporary, everyday world.
Colorado Art Ranch, 6878 Taft Court, Arvada, CO 80004, 303-279-5198, info@coloradoartranch.org. Colorado Art Ranch provides one-month residencies to writers and visual artists from around the world. We encourage emerging artists, as well as established artists, to apply. Because Colorado Art Ranch is located in a different area each session (with varying studio space), we can only accommodate the following art disciplines: painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and mixed-media. Writers of every genre are eligible to apply.
