Early Career Artist Residency Program
Location: MN — Southeast (Rochester / Austin / Winona)
Type: Residency
Categories:
Any discipline
Deadline: 05/30/2025
No entry fee required
Open to artists statewide
Paid opportunity ($1,250/week)
The Round One application deadline for the 2026 Lanesboro Early Career Artist Residency Program is Friday, May 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Artist will be contacted about the status of their application, and whether or not they were invited to Round Two of the application process on June 9th, 2025.
About the Lanesboro Early Career Artist Residency:
Since 2001, the Lanesboro Artist Residency Program has welcomed early career artists of all disciplines to live, work and create in the rural context of the greater Lanesboro community. Supported through 2026 by the Jerome Foundation, the Lanesboro Early Career Artist Residency Program awards two to three residencies per year to early career artists with projects that activate the people & places of Lanesboro while instigating positive change. The program’s place-based and community-engaged focus is geared toward early career artists that are driven to explore ways in which their work can be applied to the community and how Lanesboro’s rural community can inform their work. Artist Residents utilize a dynamic and compelling array of community assets as a catalytic vehicle for engagement and artistic experimentation, while benefiting from dedicated live/work space and ample time to create.
Residencies can be two or four weeks total. Lanesboro Arts’ goal is to be flexible and accommodating to artists, allowing them access to local resources needed for conceptualizing and realizing their place-based work. Lanesboro Arts recognizes “place-based work” as work that is specifically inspired by and designed for the place in which the work takes place; it can be a new project, or an interpretation of the artist’s current work tailored to engage the community of Lanesboro. The residency program was designed to align with and amplify Lanesboro Arts’ vision for communities–especially rural communities–to embrace artists as economic drivers, culture bearers, community builders, and problem solvers.
Application Process:
Since 2024, Lanesboro Arts has implemented a two-round application process for the Early Career Artist Residency Program, in response to feedback from artists. The two-step application process is meant to alleviate some of the time-consuming nature of applications.
Round One of the application process asks for basic information about the artist, their demographics, and a bit about the proposed project. Round One applications are due May 30, 2025 at 11:59 pm. Round One Applications can be found at https://lanesboroarts.org/early-career-artist-residency/residency-program-application/
Applications are then reviewed by Lanesboro Arts staff for alignment and best fit with program mission and goals. Following review, applicants will be notified of their application status on June 9th. A smaller pool of selected applicants will then be invited to apply for Round Two, which includes more detail about the artist and their proposed community project. Round Two applications are due August 1st, 2025 at 11:59 pm and are reviewed by a diverse jury of artists from around the state of Minnesota.
Please contact Artistic Director Melissa Wray at melissa@lanesboroarts.org with questions about the Residency Program, future project ideas, the community engagement component, etc.