Location: Madison, Maine

Mission: Skowhegan, an intensive nine-week summer residency program for emerging visual artists established in 1946, seeks each year to bring together a gifted and diverse group of individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to art-making and inquiry to create the most stimulating and rigorous environment possible for a concentrated period of artistic creation, interaction and growth.

Neither a school in the traditional sense nor a retreat, Skowhegan draws its vitality from the community created through the talent and energy of the Participants and the distinguished Faculty of Resident and Visiting Artists who provide support and critical assistance for them. Founded by artists, and still governed by artists for artists, the program provides an atmosphere in which Participants are encouraged to work and explore free of the expectations of the marketplace and academia.

Alumni often report that the intensity of the Skowhegan experience has had a profound effect on their work and their lives. In order to allow others entry, no Participant is allowed to return for a second summer. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Cost: $5,500 for room and board with possibility of financial assistance and fellowships

Number of Artists: information unavailable

Accommodations: All Participants, Faculty, and staff live and work on campus and are provided with studio space and technical support for their work. The artistic dialogue continues around the clock. Living quarters are in converted cottages set on a large lake. The cottages have common areas with fireplaces or wood-burning stoves. There are no cooking facilities in Participant living quarters. All meals are provided by the Dining Hall. There is a wheelchair accessible cottage. Most Participants share a room and no rooms have private baths. Participants furnish their own blankets, sheets and towels. There is a strict quiet rule in living quarters after 11:00 pm. There is a 24-hour Common House for social activity a short walk from the cottages. Studios are located amid woods and rolling pastures a short walk from the lake and are open 24 hours a day. Studios can accommodate a variety of work and accessibility needs.

Length of Stay: The program requires Participants to commit to being in residence for the full nine-week session from mid-June to mid-August, and absences from the program to fulfill other professional commitments are not permitted.

Demographic: Applicants must be at least 21 years old. American and international emerging (possibly mid-career) artists. Artists of all mediums are encouraged to apply.

Benefits: Weekly open critiques, performances, reading groups, discussions, and community and off-campus projects initiated by participants, new faculty of resident and visiting artists are highly accomplished and represent a cross-section of the contemporary art world, regular one-on-one critiques, series of lectures given by the faculty, a large wood and metal shop; and a multi-media lab with computer capabilities for digital-video editing, digital-image manipulation and basic Internet access, the Robert Lehman Library collection contains art books; catalogues; bound magazines; and the Skowhegan Lecture Archive, consisting of over 600 recordings of lectures given by Skowhegan faculty since 1952. The Library also houses a small collection of film and video art. Participants have access to this collection and are encouraged to organize special viewings in groups or individually. The Library is open around the clock. Participants are also encouraged to use the 300 acres of forest, pastures and lakefront on campus for their work.

Deadline: February 1, 2013

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