In January 2024, I was accepted as one of two artists-in-residence at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in western Nebraska. In this blog post, I will explain what these residency programs are, what the application process is like, and my experience in (finally) being accepted.
The National Park System (NPS) boasts over 400 units. Ranging from the world famous Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks to much lesser known parks like Congaree National Park and Capulin Volcano National Monument, the park system protects an incredible variety of environments and historically important landmarks. Each year, hundreds of millions of recreation visits are paid to these parks. The most popular receive millions of visits annually, while smaller parks might see only a few thousand. Regardless of their size or popularity, however, people visit these parks for adventure, exercise, enlightenment, and quiet.
For artists, the appeal is obvious. What better place to draw inspiration than a gorgeous mountain range, forest, or seascape in a protected park?
Artist-in-Residence Programs
I first became aware of artist-in-residence (AiR) programs in early 2020. Artist residencies are programs that allow the selected artist to live in a park for a set period of time, usually two to four weeks (although I have seen some as short as one week and other as long as six weeks), and immerse themself into the park. For AiR programs within the NPS, there are usually two additional requirements:
- Give one or more public presentations relating in some way to your art and the park. These can be interactive workshops, slideshow presentations, music or dance recitals, or gallery events of the artist's work from the park.
- Donate a piece of art to the park within a set amount of time. Often this is six months, but I have seen programs range from three months up to a year.
As can be imagined, competition for these programs is intense. For premier parks like Zion or Grand Canyon, anybody but well established professional artists can ignore those calls for entry. However, there are dozens of other parks within the NPS that offer residency programs where emerging and less well known artists can still have a chance of being accepted.
The map above lists the AiR programs currently available within NPS units. By my count, there are between 70 and 80 parks with residency programs, although the list can change from year to year, so you will need to stay up to date to know what opportunities currently exist.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no universal application or deadline. Each park dictates its own residency timeline, application process, and requirements. For example, Badlands National Park requires applicants to physically mail their applications to the park by a certain deadline. Most parks, however, have an entirely online application process; although the exact requirements differ from park to park, applications typically ask for:
- A one or two page artist resume
- A statement of purpose. Applicants are asked what they will gain from a residency in the park, how they will grow as an artist, and how they will share that with the public.
- A public program proposal. This is usually a one page or less document explaining how the artist will share their work and how it relates to the mission or goals of the park.
- Visual artists will submit samples of a handful of works, while musical and performance artists will submit examples of their work via video or audio recording. Writers submit a few pages of their writing as an example.
The review process also differs from park to park. At some more popular (or short staffed) parks, you might wait months and never hear back. This seems especially true for those parks that utilize third-party organizations (such as CaFE). Note that parks that use outside resources will often have a fee of around $20. In my experience, applications to smaller, lesser known, or less popular residency programs provide results and give feedback much better than their larger counterparts.
My Experience
I began applying to residency programs in early 2020, immediately before the COVID pandemic and ensuing lockdowns started. Obviously, my timing wasn't great. Many residency programs were shuttered or delayed indefinitely. Between 2020 and my acceptance to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in early 2024, I applied to probably two dozen residencies in various parks large and small. Three or four times I was informed that I was the runner-up (Capitol Reef and a couple in Alaska come to mind, including Wrangell-St. Elias).
When I could, I reached out for feedback on my application. Unsurprisingly, these residency programs are highly competitive. Many parks receive hundreds of applications for no more than a handful of slots (and many parks have only one residency slot per year). More interesting to me was the feedback that, by far, the most common artistic medium is photography. The parks want a diversity of artistic mediums, from painting to poetry to musical and dance performances. Because of this desire for a wide variety of art forms, even highly skilled photographers may find themselves at a disadvantage.
I do not have any formal art education and my artist resume is rather sparse. I do maintain a website (obviously) and a social media presence, but otherwise I am not a professional photographer or highly active in the art community. Due to that, I believe my chances are somewhat dampened and I must rely solely on the judges' evaluations of my work.
I once applied as a large format photographer and received the feedback "large format is very interesting and I'd love to have it in our residency, but we had a landscape photographer last year." In cases like this, there isn't much you can do except for try again next year.
Once I was accepted, the process was simple. I had to apply as an NPS volunteer and provide the exact dates I would attend the residency. I spoke with the residency coordinator and we discussed living arrangements in the park, rules and regulations, and their expectations of my time in the park.
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument revived their AiR program for the first time since 2018 this year. Two artists were chosen and each served in the park for two weeks—one in February and the other in March). Each resident was given a room in an unoccupied house within the park. Lodging for this residency was given freely, but in other parks that may be different. Some parks do not have housing, some provide small reimbursements, and others may require shared accommodations.
Finally getting accepted into an AiR program was the culmination of years of being rejected by park after park. During that time I like to think my body of work improved greatly, but maybe I just finally got lucky. As I write this post, I am in the middle of my residency at Agate Fossil Beds, and it has been everything I hoped it could be. Living in the park for two weeks and having the ability to focus so much time and energy on photography is an opportunity that I have never had before. I can clearly see the benefit to my work—I have taken photos that I doubt I would have taken had I only been here for a day or two.