Our Artist Residency Program aims to foster the professional growth of Artist Members by providing a space where they can concentrate fully on their creative practice.
Since its launch in January 2021, the County Arts Artist Residency program has allowed us to support the career development goals of both visual and performing artists, including through critical phases during the arts community’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
TO APPLY:
The January 2026 application form will be available in September 2025.
Any emerging or established Artist Member in good standing may apply, as well as Arts Organization members (some conditions may apply). To be considered, artists and/or arts organizations should demonstrate a consistent style, method, or conceptual framework for their artistic practice. Projects that involve a collaboration between artists and/or artistic disciplines are permitted and encouraged! In order to foster public awareness and appreciation for the arts, projects must have a free-to-access public engagement component. This can be achieved through various activities, e.g. artist talk, live or recorded performance, in-person/virtual exhibition, reading, etc. We can help promote and amplify these efforts.
Successful candidates receive one-month access to the main County Arts Lab space and related amenities, as well as a $500 honorarium and promotional support for their residency project on our various channels. The County Arts Lab is equipped for a variety of arts activities and located on the main floor of the Picton Armoury Building (unit 2E).
Artist residents receive:
Bay Woodyard, Renee Lortie, and Bear Epp (2025) – “We are beyond grateful for our residency experience at the County Arts Lab. As our artistic work involves a lot of equipment and materials, having a dedicated space with abundant natural light where we could keep everything set up was an absolute pleasure, and allowed us to spend more focused, dedicated time on our work. Our community engagement project, Pull Up A Chair, brought over 100 people to the studio to check out our work in progress and create with us. We could not have imagined a better experience or outcome for our residency, and are thankful for this opportunity to shine a light on textile art.”
Lucy Sterezylo, Stareatjello Paper & Press (2024)
“I am grateful for my time spent as County Arts’ January 2024 Artist in Residence. The opportunity enabled me to explore a project that I had been thinking about for some time, on the themes of kindness and gratitude, and the connections between letter writing, illustration and community. The Residency afforded me the space, time, and freedom to experiment and take risks with scale and different mark-making tools, as well as explore storytelling in hand-written form. I was able to create working concepts that I will continue to build upon and develop.
The community engagement aspect of my Residency far exceeded my expectations. Our community came together over three meetings of the The Arts & Letters Club and crafted beautiful, thoughtfully-written and illustrated love letters to the County. It was exciting to see how the use of illustration in the letters supported and enhanced the participants’ written words. It is clear that the visual beauty of the County inspires and impacts its community.
The time spent as County Arts’ Artist in Residence was invaluable to my artistic practice. It reinforced to me the importance of dedicating time to work through new ideas, take risks in my creative pursuits, and be open to where the process may lead me. The experience was brilliant and revitalizing. I look forward to facilitating upcoming workshops and am excited to build on the work I’ve created during my time in the residency.”
Kamee Abrahamian, Interdisciplinary Artist and Filmmaker (2023) – “This residency was pivotal in pushing my work forward into the next stage. Now on the other side of the month, I have a refined series bible that outlines fully fleshed out storylines and character arcs. Having the dedicated time and space to focus was crucial, and now I have what I need to introduce the project to the industry. I’m super grateful to County Arts for supporting me and my work.”
Vanessa Rieger, Video Artist (2022) – “The County Arts residency program provided me with a unique opportunity to set up a dedicated shooting studio and computer lab, and to focus on my video art practice. Having access to high-speed internet and a modular, well-equipped space allowed me to be productive, while the County Arts Lab’s location in the heart of Picton made it an excellent place to hold creative meetings and practices and collaborate with other artists. Thanks to County Arts for this opportunity!”
Georgia Papanicolaou, Theatre Artist (2021) – “Gaining access to a dedicated space through the artist residency has made a world of difference for me. I feel so invigorated, and the creative spark that had been on the back burner since Covid started has come back to life.”
Megan Hutton, Singer-songwriter (2021) – “Thank you so much for this lovely experience. I am happy to report that I have exceeded my original goals in how much I wanted to write. The location made it the perfect space to meet a few artists and the room itself proved to be the blank slate I needed.”
Rosalie Maheux, Multidisciplinary Artist (2021) – “Not only did the Artist Residency Program give me the chance to create a new work, but also it has brought me so much joy. It’s an incredible program that you are running and it is so necessary to support artists in these weird times.” ~
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Pictured above – Video Artist Vanessa Rieger, June 2022 Artist in Residence
