2026 CAFAC Studio Residency

2026 Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC) Studio Residency

Spend focused, supported time deepening your artistic practice and creating work at CAFAC.

CAFAC, located at 3749 Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, MN, is a community-based arts organization with unique creative resources designed to be accessible, responsive, and relevant with a focus on art forms produced by heat, spark and/or flame.

Residency Overview

Residency period: July – October 2026

For the 2026 Studio Residency program, we’ll invite one early career and one mid-career artist. You’ll choose one of the mediums supported at CAFAC as your residency focus. 

Attend an info session and Q+A on February 21, 2026, at 4 p.m. (in-person and livestream options available). 

We strongly encourage all applicants to attend the residency info session, familiarize themselves with CAFAC’s studio spaces, and communicate with CAFAC staff prior to submitting an application. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions! Contact us at info@cafac.org or 612-294-0400.

The application will close at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 16, 2026.

Program Goals

• To provide the space, training, resources, and nurturing environment for artists to deepen and expand their artistic practice, and for them to provide inspiration and a path for others to follow.
• To provide artists the opportunity to create independent work, enhancing their economic opportunities and furthering CAFAC’s commitment to help artists earn a living.  
• To increase representation of diverse artists in the art forms that CAFAC supports.
• To respect traditional processes and techniques while encouraging innovative exploration and creative problem solving.

Residency Candidate Qualifications

The intent of a residency at CAFAC is to move you forward in your artistic practice and career. We’ll select one early career and one mid-career artist, using these guidelines:

• Early career artists are in the beginning stages of their creative development with 2-10 years of generative experience. They have a focused direction and goals, even while still developing their artistic “voice,” but have yet to be substantially celebrated within their field, the media, funding circles or the public at large. Early career artists aspire to have their artistic work be a primary source of income/significant part of their livelihood.

• Mid-career artists have been actively creating and exhibiting their work for at least five years. They have established a reputation in the art world, have a larger body of work, and may exhibit their work regionally, nationally, or internationally. Mid-career artists may also have received some kind of recognition from the art world, such as through public presentations, magazine publications, online commentary, or industry acknowledgement. Other criteria for mid-career artists include having numerous solo art shows and/or collectors both nationally and internationally.

Other factors that may contribute to a successful residency include:

• You don’t necessarily have a fire arts background, but you do have sculptural experience, or a 2D background that provides a good foundation to expand into the art forms CAFAC specializes in.
• You’re at a point in your artistic career where you have time to focus on your professional development for a period of four to six months.
• You can describe your vision for a project, body of work, or specific skills you’d like to develop during a residency.
• You don’t have regular access to the type of facilities available at CAFAC.

As an organization, CAFAC is committed to increasing equity and representation in the arts, and in particular in the industrial art forms we support. We encourage applications from artists who identify as Black, Brown, Indigenous, or POC, as a woman or as gender-expansive/non-binary.

Residencies are open to anyone who resides in the United States and can provide a tax identification number for filing purposes. CAFAC does not currently have the capacity to provide housing to residents or support in finding lodging, so your presence in the Twin Cities for the duration of the residency period is a requirement.

Studio Residency Structure 

Studio Residency at CAFAC is four months long, from July through October. This coincides with our education program schedule, allowing you to take a class if you choose. 

All residencies will have a culminating project. The project could be an exhibit in our gallery, delivery of a workshop, a community event, installation of a public artwork, or another goal you wish to achieve. If you choose to do a gallery exhibit at CAFAC, it will take place in November, the month following your residency. Please note: your exhibit may share space in our gallery, if both residents choose this option. 

As a Studio Resident, you’ll have access to CAFAC’s well-equipped facilities which support a range of fire arts forms. Because four months goes by quickly, we ask you to choose one medium as your primary focus: 

• Blacksmithing: Shape metal with forge, hammer, and anvil to create decorative ironwork, tools, and more.
• Enamel: Fuse pigmented glass powder to metal to create durable graphical designs. An excellent way for illustrators and painters to dip a toe into the fire arts. CAFAC is home to a unique resource nationally: a public art-scale enameling kiln.
• Glass Lampworking/Torchworking: Melt and fuse glass rods with an oxy-fuel torch to create small sculptures, beads, and more.
• Stained Glass: Cut colored glass pieces and solder them into place using copper foil or lead came. 
• Jewelry/small sculpture: Create small pieces using precious metal clay, centrifugal and vacuum casting, soldering, and metalsmithing techniques.
• Metal Casting: Create molds of sand, clay, investment, or ceramic shell to cast pieces of aluminum, bronze, or iron.
• Neon: Bend glass tubing by hand to create glowing electric sculptures.
• Welding: Fuse, cut, and color metals using gas torches and electric welders. 

You’ll have access to CAFAC during all open hours (~50 hours per week) with the expectation that you’ll work in the facility about 15 hours per week. If you’re working in areas that require scheduled or intensive resources, such as casting or enameling, you may be asked to coordinate aspects of your work with our class schedules. 

CAFAC is an active, shared community space. An advantage of our residency program is that you’ll be able to work and learn alongside other studio users, teaching artists, and students. Consider your learning style. If you’re able to create in a dynamic environment, this residency may be an ideal fit for you. 

Prior to beginning project work, you’ll participate in a two-week training period that introduces our safety and equipment usage protocols so that you’re able to work independently.

Studio Residency Artist Benefits

In addition to four months of access to CAFAC’s shop based in a dynamic learning environment, you’ll also receive:

• Private 8×8’ studio for storage (shared between two residents).
• Artist stipend of $1500 and materials stipend of $500.  
• Weekly one-hour check-ins with CAFAC’s Artistic Director and informal feedback from other community members.
• Opportunity for gallery exhibition and public opening in the month following your four-month residency, including marketing and support from CAFAC’s Gallery Coordinator. Should residents choose to sell work in CAFAC’s gallery, sales are split 70/30 between the artist and CAFAC’s scholarship fund.
• A scholarship of up to $400 for classes taken at CAFAC during the residency period.