Saltonstall offers free residencies to artists and writers who are current residents of New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein. Our residencies are designed for those looking for a quiet, supportive environment in which to focus on their craft.

In 2019, we piloted a new program: a free six-night residency specifically for artist/writer parents with at least one dependent child under the age of 18 at home. This new residency was a huge success, and we are pleased to offer it again for our 2022 season. We are not able to accommodate children, spouses, partners, or collaborators. This residency is designed for the artist/writer parent alone.

We accept New York State writers and artists for residencies in the following categories:

• Poetry
• Fiction | Creative Nonfiction
• Photography | Filmmaking
• Painting | Sculpture | Visual Arts

Each residency session includes the same combination of five artists and writers: one poet, one fiction or creative nonfiction writer, one photographer or filmmaker, and two visual artists. These residencies are designed for individual artists and writers; we cannot accommodate collaborations or partners working together.

All residencies (incl. the six-night residency for artist/writer parents, the two-week, and four-week) function exactly the same way. Each group of five arrives and leaves together, and the application process for all residencies is also exactly the same.

We use Submittable, an easy, online submission manager. If you are not already signed-up with Submittable, you will be prompted to create a free account. Submittable helps make the application process smooth and simple for you and for us.

We believe in and value a diverse community of creative individuals. To that end, we hope that all artists and writers feel welcome to apply for a residency, regardless of one’s level of education, experience, race, age, sex, religious belief, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or national origin.

If you have applied in the past and have not been selected for a residency, don’t be discouraged! Our juries change yearly, so you have a legitimate chance every year. And every year, there are artists and writers who were unsuccessful in the past and who re-apply and are accepted.

Read more about our residencies and view photos of our facilities here.

Preparing your application material:
More detailed application instructions specific to each discipline are included within Submittable. However, in all cases, we ask for the following things:

• Basic personal information and a preference regarding residency dates
• A resume (not seen by the jury.) This can be any length and can be named whatever you’d like.
• Contact information for two personal references (not seen by the jury.) Please note: we are not asking for letters of reference. Nothing should be mailed or emailed to us. References cannot be spouses, partners or other family members.
• An artist’s or writer’s statement (seen by the jury; take care not to identify yourself or include your name in the document or file name.)

For all disciplines, we ask for a short statement about your work, no longer than one page. (For example, something in the 400-word range.) Please keep this brief and specific to the work you are submitting.

PLEASE NOTE: When composing the statement about your work, do not “credential” yourself by including information that would normally be seen on a resume. For example, your statement should not mention where you went to school or where you’ve been published, exhibited, etc. Simply talk about the work that the jury is reviewing.

• Work samples for everyone and a file list for visual artists (seen by the jury; please do not include your name anywhere or use your name to name your files.)

This is the most important part of your application. Poets, we ask for 15 pages of work; fiction and nonfiction writers, we ask for 20 pages of work, double-spaced. Visual artists and photographers are asked to submit 10 images, and filmmakers are asked to submit 1-2 samples of their work, up to 5 min. in length. (More detailed information is contained within Submittable.)

We can’t stress this enough:

Please take special care regarding identifying and “credentialing” yourself in your statements and especially how you name your work sample files. If there are errors, you will not have an opportunity to fix them and your application will be disqualified. We don’t want that to happen!

• $0 application fee! We eliminated our application fee three years ago in an effort to make a Saltonstall residency accessible to as many people as possible.

We convene a different jury for each discipline, and they change each year. Jurors serve anonymously. Saltonstall’s board members and staff do NOT serve on any juries. Your application is considered solely on the merit of your work sample and your artist’s and writer’s statement.