Free Residencies and Retreats for Writers
When Wanderlust Meets Poverty
This is a list of 263 free or nearly-free domestic and international programs designed to give you the space and time to write. Denali? Kyoto? Rhodes? Yes, please!
Some of these programs only host writers, and some host artists of varying disciplines, including writers. Some programs cost money but offer free fellowships. And some of this is just plain wrong. This list is in alphabetical order, with no links nor data, and I’m not 100% sure all these places exist outside my imagination. They’re usually available on a competitive application basis (so don’t just show up).
If you catch any errors, please do me a favor and let me know. Please also feel free to contact me if you have other free or nearly-free retreats/residencies to add to this list. Enjoy, and happy hunting!
The List:
A Studio In The Woods
ABA / Artist in Residence Berlin Alexanderplatz
acquasumARTE—La casa di Amleto
AIR Wro
Akademie Schloss Solitude
Akiyoshidai International Art Village: Artist in Residence Programs (AIR)
Akrai
Alte Schule Hohenstein Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur e.V.
Altos De Chavon
American Academy of Berlin
American Library in Paris
Anderson Center Residency Program
Andrews Forest Writers' Residency
Anne LaBastille Memorial Writer Residency
Annmarie Garden, Sculpture Park & Arts Center
Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, National Science Foundation
Apartment in Istanbul
Arctic Culture Lab Research Program
ARNA i Fågelriket
Art Farm Writers Residency Program
ART342
Artcroft
Artist in Residence Bergen at USF Verftet
Artists in Berlin
Artsmith Artist Residency
Association des Centres Culturels de Rencontre - ACCR — Odyssée artist-in-residency programme
At Sea
Baltic Writing Residency in Sweden
Banff Investigative Journalism Intensive
BAU at Camargo Foundation Summer Arts Residency
Bellagio Study & Conference Center
Berlin Prize
Bibliothek Andreas Züst: Studio Residency Stipend Bibliothek Andreas Züst
Blackacre Residency
Blitz Residency
Blue Mountain Center
Bogliasco/Liguria Study Center
Bread Loaf Fellowship
Bridge Guard Residential Art - Science Centre
Brown Foundation Fellows Residency Program
BRUNAKRA: BRUNAKRA Temporary
Brush Creek Foundation for The Arts
CACIS - Forn de la calç
Caldera Arts Center
Camac: Centre D'Art—Marnay Art Centre
Can Serrat International Art Centre
Caribou Ranch
Casa Arte: Artists run space & gallery
Caversham Centre for Artists and Writers
Centre D'Art I Natura
Centre international de poésie Marseille: cipM
Chateau de La Napoule
Chateau deLavigny
Cill Rialaig Project
Collaborative Retreat at the Cabin at Shotpouch Creek
Cove Park Literature Residencies
Crosshatch Center for Art & Ecology: Hill House Artist Residencies
Cullman Center NY Library Fellowship
Cultureland
Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence Program
Dickinson House
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Dolgian House Artists' Colony
DRAWinternational
Eckerö Post and Customs house guest apartment
Edith Wharton Writer-in-Residence Program
Edward F. Albee Foundation
Embassy of Foreign Artists
Escape to Create
Est-Nord-Est
Faber
Farcaster
Fine Arts Work Center
Fogo Island Arts Corporation
Fondation Jan Michalski pour l'écriture et la littérature
Fondazzjoni Kreattività
Fort Union National Monument Artist-in-Residence
FpA Fondazione per l'Arte
Fundacio Tallers Josep Llorens Artigas
Fundacion Valparaiso
Gartenhaus am Süderwall
Gedok Atelierhaus
Gell Writers Center of the Finger Lakes
Gemeinschaften der Künstlerinnen und Kunstförderer
George Washington University Arts Fellowship
Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts
Gladstone Library Writers in Residence
Glasslåven Arts Centre
Grand Lake Writers Retreat (not free but really inexpensive)
GuestRoomMaribor
Hald Hovedgaard: The Danish Centre for Writers and Translators
Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences
Harvard University Radcliffe Institute Fellowships
Hawthornden Castle
Headland Center for the Arts
Heart of Glass: Make It Happen Residency
heARTbreaker: AiC Česká Bříza
Hedgebrook
Helene Wurlitzer Foundation
Hodder Fellowships & Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts (FCPA)
Hordaland Art Centre
Hosking Houses Trust
Hugo House Writers in Residence
Hypatia in the woods: Holly House
I-Park Foundation Artists-in-Residence Program
IHAG - International Writers' House Graz
Incheon Art Platform
InSideZone Residency
Institut für Alles Mögliche
Instituto Sacatar
International Art Space (spaced)
International Center of Art and Landscape at Vassivière Island: Centre international d'art et du paysage
International Writers' & Translators' Centre of Rhodes
Ionion Centre for the Arts and Culture
James Merrill Writer-in-Residence Program
James Thurber House
Jenny McKean Moore Writers Prog.
Jentel Artist Residency Program
Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency
Joshua Tree National Park Artist-In-Residence
Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Center
Kattilakoski culture cooperative: Artist Residence Frosterus
Kerouac Writer in Residence Project
Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts
Kio-A-Thau Sugar Refinery Village Artist in Residence
Klaustrid
Krakow UNESCO City of Literature
Künstlerdorf Schöppingen
Künstlerhaus Lauenburg-am-Elbe
Künstlerhäuser Worpswede
Künstlerhof Schreyahn: Niedersächsische Stipendiatenstätte Künstlerhof Schreyahn
Kyoto Art Center
La Napoule Art Foundation: Clews Center for the Arts (CCA)
Laughing Waters Artist-in-Residence Program
Le CouveNt
Lighthouse Works Fellowship
Lijiang Studio
LitSpace Writer’s Residency
Logan Nonfiction Program—Carey Institute for Global Good
Longleaf Fellowship
M Literary Residency–China
M Literary Residency–India
MacDowell
Maison des auteurs: Cité internationale de la bande dessinée et de l´image
Maison des Écrivains Étrangers et des Traducteurs: M.E.E.T.
Maisons Daura: Maison des arts Georges Pompidou
Marble House Project
Marko Marulić: Writers and Translators in Residence
Martha’s Vineyard Writers Residency
Mary Ingraham Bunting Fellowship
Mesa Refuge
Millay Colony for the Arts
Monodendri Writer's Residence
National Parks check website
New Orleans Writers Residency
New York Mills Arts Retreat
New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellowships
Nilufer Municipality Libraries: Göl Yazıevi Writers' Residence
Norman Mailer Writers Colony
Norton Island
Novopo
Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus
Ox-Bow Artist-in-Residence Program
Passa Porta: Internationaal literatuurhuis
PEN NW Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness
Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing
PLAYA
Pour Que l'Esprit Vive - Abbaye de la Prée
Rabbit Island
Ragdale
Residencia Corazón Casa de Artistas
Residencia de Estudiantes: An emblematic campus for artists
Residencies for Writers in Amsterdam
Residency at Sanskriti Kendra
Richard J. Margolis Award
Richard Thornton
Rockland Residency
Rocky Mountain National Park Artist-in-Residence Program
Rucka Artist Residency
Saari Residence
Schloss Leuk: Spycher: Literaturpreis Leuk
Schloss Plüschow
Scholars & Writers
Schrijver in huis: Writer in Residence-programma
Scotland Writing Residency (via Baltic Writing Residency)
Seoul Art Space_Yeonhui
Sewanee Fellowship
Shakespeare & Company Tumbleweeds
Siena Art Institute
Sierra Centro de Arte: Art in the nature
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Slovene writers' association: Društvo Slovenskih Pisateljev (DSP)
Soaring Gardens Artists’ Retreat
Soltauer Künstlerwohnung
Soul Mountain Retreat
SPACE on Ryder Farm
Spiro Arts
Stadtmühle Willisau
Stepping Stones in the Atlantic
Stiftung Starke: Starke Foundation
Stiwdio Maelor: Artist / Writer in residence program
STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
Studios of Key West
Summer Lit Seminars
Sustainable Bolivia
Swatch Art Peace Hotel Guest Artist Program
Taipei Artist's Village
TAIR (Tiny Artist-In-Residence)
Tartu Artist in Residence: TAiR
Tasmanian Writers' Centre
The Jersey Arts Trust—the morning boat
The Kamov Residency Programme
The Lock-up Cultural Centre: Artist in Residence Program
The Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing
The Watermill Center
The Well Artists Residency Retreat
Tin House Conference Fellowship
Tomma Rum Empty spaces
Toronto Artscape Inc.
Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art
Trap\door Artist Run Centre
Ucross
Ultra Laboratory
Unlisted Projects
Upernavik Retreat
US/Japan Creative Artists (NEA)
Van Abbemuseum: Artistic Strategies in Psychiatry
Van Eyck Academie
Ventspils House
Verein Werkraum Warteck PP
Villa Aurora
Villa Concordia
Villa Marguerite Yourcenar: Centre Départemental de Résidence d’Ecrivains Européens
Villa Ruffieux: Chateau Mercier
Villa Sarkia
Villa Sträuli
Villa Waldberta: Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
Visegrad Artist Residency Programs (VARP): The Visegrad Literary Residency Program
Voices of the Wilderness Residency
w-o-l-k-e Residency
Waves of Three Seas
Wellspring House Fellowship
Wellstone Center in the Redwoods Fellowship
Wesleyan Writers Conference fellowship
Wildacres Residency Program
Willapa Bay AiR
Willard R. Espy Foundation
Wrangell Mountains Center Meg Hunt Residency Program
Writer In Residence Program at Saskatoon Public Library
Writers in the Heartland
Writers Omi International Residency at Ledig House
Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow
Writing Between the Vines
Yaddo
Zalozba Goga: Publishing House Goga
Zaratan - Arte Contemporânea: Zaratan AIR
Zion National Park Artist-in-Residence Program
Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr
Zvona i Nari: Literary Retreat
Last updated: April 2019. Will be updated every year or so.