Location: Johnson, Vermont
Mission: To support artists and writers by providing studio residencies in an inclusive international community, honoring creative work as the communication of spirit through form.
Cost: Shuttle fee (One Way US$ 20.00 / Round Trip US$ 40.00), Residency Deposit (US$ 300.00), Vermont Artist Week Deposit (US$ 200.00), The full cost of a 4-week residency at VSC is currently $3,950
Fellowships available for full or partial residency cost, work-study opportunities available to subsidize costs
Application Fee: $25
Number of Artists: Up to 50 artists at a time
Accommodations: Residents live in single rooms in ten modest, comfortable houses adjacent to the Red Mill Building. Rooms are simply furnished and have shared baths. Complete linen service is provided. The Studio Center is unable to accommodate guests at meals, overnight guests, spouses, children or pets. For other guest accommodation options, see our list of local hotels and B&B’s.
Our chef, Mark Hallett, serves 3 meals a day in the Red Mill Dining Hall. Along with the daily entrees, meals feature fresh breads, homemade desserts, soups and a full salad bar. Fresh produce from local, organic farms is used whenever possible. Vegetarian main courses are offered several times a week, but not daily. Regrettably, VSC is not able to provide for special dietary needs. Beverages and fruit are available in the VSC Dining Hall 24 hours a day.
Length of Stay: 2 – 12 week residency periods, year round
Demographic: Applicants should be working, exhibiting visual artists and writers
Medium:Visual artists (of any medium) and Writers
Benefits: YOGA*VSC is run by artist Fletcher Boote, a Jivamukti trained teacher. Please click here for class schedules and special events. If you have a regular yoga practice, are a CTY, or just have an interest in yoga and would like to fulfill your resident work exchange at the yoga studio, please contact Fletcher Boote at yoga@vermontstudiocenter.org.
A non-denominational awareness practice space that is open 24 hours/day. Basic meditation instruction is offered the first Thursday of each month and on an individual basis as requested.
The buildings serve as studios, residences, library, lecture hall, dining room, lounge, gallery, meditation house, conference rooms and offices. All are within close walking distance of one another. The Studio Center makes every effort to accommodate people with disabilities as we strive towards compliance and inclusion.
Painters and other 2-D media artists receive a private studio of approximately 300 square feet in one of four painting and mixed-media studio buildings. All studios are open 24 hours a day. Studios are equipped with rolling painting tables/carts, easels, stools, ample wall space, and both natural and artificial lighting, and are assigned according to information provided by accepted Residents about the scale and media of their work. Painting materials are available at the Studio Store, a private art supply store on campus.
See the Studios pages in the Photo Tour section for exterior/interior studio views.
Writers are provided with private studios, each with a view of the Gihon River, in VSC’s new Maverick Writing Studios building. Writer’s studios provide a desk, rolling ergonomic desk chair, wing chair, and a desk and standing lamp. Studios have wireless and hardwired internet access, and are networked to VSC-supplied shared printers for those writers who don’t bring their own. Writers may also use the Mason House conference room, a group meeting space and library with a growing collection of poetry, fiction and nonfiction.
Sculptors and other 3-D media artists receive a private studio in either the Schultz or Firehouse Studios, as well as access to an outdoor work yard. The facilities allow work in stone, steel, wood, clay, plaster and fabric, and afford opportunities for non-permanent site-specific pieces in the immediate environment. A staff sculptor is available for technical support; sculptors can also have materials ordered with advance notice. A complete sculpture shop with studio and hand tools for woodwork and welding is housed in Schultz Studios and kilns are available in Firehouse.
Printmakers work in a shared print shop in the Barbara White Studios and receive a private studio space. Printmakers should have prior mono-printing experience and plan to work independently. Some materials can be ordered in advance through the Studio Store.
Photographers are offered a private black and white darkroom and studio space. Photography residents with their own equipment may also choose to work in digital media.
Deadline: February 15, 2013, June 15, 2013, October 1, 2013
Rate My Artist Residency 
I was disappointed with my residency at Vermont Studio Center.
One of the founders, Jonathan Gregg, approached me on one of my first days there. Without saying hello, he abruptly asked me what my name was. I told him. And then he asked me where I was from. I said New York. He asked me where I was REALLY from. And I answered that I was originally from California. He said, “you’re not from Korea or something!?” and turned and walked away. That was the first time I “met” him.
The next evening as I was working in the kitchen cleaning up (as part of my work study), Jonathan Gregg came into the kitchen and approached me. Putting his hand on my shoulder, he asked me if my last name was Chinese. And I responded that yes it is. He then proceeded to list different Asian things he had heard of, such at the Rubin Museum of Art and the Dalai Lama. He told me how he met the Dalai Lama once and asked if I had. I said I had not. That was the second and last time I interacted with him.
I was saddened that this was the way I was welcomed to my residency at VSC. I brought what I had experienced up to one of the staff members there and she told me that comments like this were very common with Jonathan Gregg. That he not only routinely made racist remarks to the staff and residents, but also sexist ones. She said that she had been called in for a one on one meeting with one of the directors at VSC when she started working there, warning her about Jonathan Gregg and the oftentimes offensive things he says. Especially to young women. I wondered why, as a paying customer and resident, I was not at least given the same courtesy of a warning.
I was also dismayed to learn that after calling twice and filling out the request on my application, that I was not placed in an adjacent studio with my collaborator, who I planned to make work with while I was there for the month.
I personally did not like that I was encouraged to view this residency as a vacation, rather than a time to work. Jonathan Gregg made an announcement on one of the first nights there that this residency was not so much about making work as it was about meeting people. I was also told by multiple staff members that many residents view this time as a vacation and some even choose to only socialize rather than make work. I understand that this is a personal preference and that not everyone has to go this route, but I was surprised to hear this. I was surprised that they consciously cultivated an environment of socializing and vacationing rather than working. For me, taking off of work for a month and paying money to come to VSC was a hardship, and I wanted to use it as a time to make work. Which I did.
Overall, this residency was not a good fit for me and I would not recommend it to a friend.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
I stayed at Vermont Studio Center for three consecutive months. It was my first residency experience and I had the time of my life. I have attended six art residencies since then and VSC was by far the most social, interactive, academic… and expensive. The available work/study arrangements and financial aid are appreciated, but even still this is an expensive retreat. However, you do get your money’s worth, since there are lectures, visiting artists, exhibitions, a library, networking galore, a meditation room, and incredible meals provided three times a day. Yoga is available, but costs extra.
Since I was there for three months, I noticed that the tone of the month is heavily dictated by the group. In a group of 50 residents, I appreciated that VSC roughly pooled ten people from each decade: in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s+. There was a healthy mix of ages, disciplines and nationalities. My first and last months were friendly groups that meshed like a family immediately. The middle month was a little “younger” than normal and felt clique-y (for the record, I’m in my 20s, but wasn’t feeling it).
If you are not a social person, VSC might not be your cup of tea. I heard more than one person describe it as “artist summer camp,” and they weren’t being complimentary. Although I didn’t partake in many parties, there was plenty of that going on. On the plus side of this, you are guaranteed to make life-long friends.
Overall, I recommend Vermont Studio Center if you thrive off collaborating with other creatives– and don’t mind large group meals.
Perfectly adequate — Not really for writers though. Organizational quality is low. It is rather inefficiently run by other artists, who do not have a sense of business. For example, asked if I could make arrangements to send my books back home after the residency and I was told to leave a BLANK CHECK at the office and they would later fill in the amount to send the items back. They couldn’t even provide an estimate on what it would cost. Here’s a suggestion – on the last day, offer to get a van to drive people and their belongings the half mile to the post office. Run the shuttle throughout the day. You can even charge for it. Also, try to make sure that there is ALWAYS someone in the office. I was locked out of my crummy little room during a snow storm, and no one was available to let me in. I had to take the broken lock off the door with a pin knife. Two or three days later someone fixed the door. Also, the linens were not changed for the entire month that I was present. I was told to leave the items in the hallway and there they stood for weeks.