Artistic

The relationship between human beings and the environment is the defining issue of our time and while we recognize there are other reasons for making art, we have decided to devote our organization to support artists who are interested in engaging this issue with power and imagination.

Through our residencies, A Studio in the Woods looks to facilitate a meaningful relationship between our artists and the community. The people, environment, and culture of Southeastern Louisiana influence our residents, and in turn our artists and their work have a significant impact on the region. In advance of their arrival, staff assesses each artist’s needs and begins to build relationships with the community resources and collaborators that will be crucial in the evolution of their projects.

Residencies are open to artists of all disciplines including visual, musician/composing, performance, literary, new media, and interdisciplinary. Both established and emerging artists are encouraged to apply, but students are not eligible. A rigorous work ethic, dedication to public engagement and demonstrated ability to work with colleagues and wider audiences are expected.

A Studio in the Woods is located at the nexus of the City of New Orleans, a larger 5,000-acre bottomland hardwood forest, the Mississippi River’s lower reaches, the Gulf of Mexico, and the largest swath of alluvial wetlands in North America. Each of these systems has undergone profound changes over the past several decades, creating a dynamic context for artists.

Replenish Residencies

Apply Here - Proposals due March 13, 2024 Replenish Residencies provide restorative visioning retreats to Greater New Orleans’ BIPOC artists and culture bearers 2020 - present

Self As Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem

Apply Here - Proposals due April 3rd, 2024 Self as Universe: Mending Our Collective Ecosystem Residencies at A Studio in the Woods invite artists to explore the connections within our collective ecosystems. - 2024.

Bulbancha Residencies

Applications Closed Bulbancha Residencies support Indigenous artists with a deep connection to Louisiana. 2022 - present.

Rising: Climate in Crisis

Applications Closed Rising Residencies invite artists to examine the severity of the climate crisis and be agents of change to guide our collective understanding, response, and vision as we shape our shared future. 2020 - present

Emerging Writers’ Residencies

Applications Closed These residencies invited local poets, playwrights, composers, and prose writers (fiction and nonfiction) to apply for one-week residencies at our Writer’s Cabin to support new or ongoing work. 2020-2021

Inaugural Writer Residencies

Applications Closed These one-week residencies support literary artists living in southeast Louisiana in celebration of our newly constructed Writer’s Cabin. 2020-2021

Adaptations: Living with Change

Applications Closed Adaptations Residencies invited artists to examine how climate driven adaptations - large and small, historic and contemporary, cultural and scientific - are shaping our future. 2017 - 2020

Flint & Steel: Sparking Cross-disciplinary Combustion

Applications Closed Designed to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, Flint and Steel Residencies allowed artists to join forces with invested academic partners. 2015 - 2017

Ebb & Flow

Applications Closed Ebb & Flow is based on the premise that Southern Louisiana can be seen as a microcosm of the global environment, manifesting both the challenges and possibilities inherent in human interaction with urban and natural ecosystems. 2011-2014

Changing Landscapes

Applications Closed Inspired by the drastic upheaval in our local ecology, Changing Landscapes residencies were based on the premise that Southern Louisiana can be seen as a microcosm of the global environment, manifesting both the challenges and possibilities inherent in human interaction with the natural world. 2008-2011

Restoration Residencies

Applications Closed In response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, A Studio in the Woods created month-long Restoration Residencies for New Orleans visual artists, musicians, composers, writers and performing artists who lost their homes, studios and/or work in the hurricane and were either displaced in other cities and communities or back home in New Orleans without resources. 2006 - 2008

River Residencies

Applications Closed River Residencies honored the Mississippi River, a magnificent body of water that has inspired authors, musicians, artists, historians, and playwrights for over a century yet today is challenged by pollution and containment.

Open Call Residencies

Applications Closed The first juried residencies at A Studio in the Woods.

Pilot Residencies

Applications Closed Where it all started.