Fellowships and Residencies for Writer-Parents
The little cabin where I spent my birthday this past fall on a self-imposed writing retreat
TGIF, folks! (For writer-parents that likely means more time with kids and less time for writing!)
In our house, next week is Spring Break. While I look very forward to gardening, daytime adventures, and extra morning snuggles with my girl, I also know my fingers will be itching to get to the keyboard come nap time.
If you do get a few hours to yourself this weekend (or on your kid’s break) and want to use them to further your writing opportunities, here are several residencies and fellowships that offer writer-parents money to write, time to write, or both. Note that the first three listed have upcoming deadlines.
Good luck!
—Erin
Upcoming deadlines:
Sante Fe Art Institute Thematic Residency Program (Apply this weekend!)
The Thematic Residency Program supports “dynamic creative practices that engage complex social issues, inspire individual transformation, and inform collective action” and is open to artists of many disciplines. The 2023 theme is “Changing Climate.” All residencies are free of charge (apart from the $10 application fee and refundable $150 deposit).
Families are integrated in the month of July only. Parent-artists are eligible for this program and can bring one or two children (ages 2-17) with them to the July Family Residency.
Application deadline: April 10, 2022
The Pen Parentis Writing Fellowship for New Parents
This fellowship is available to writers at all career stages who have at least one child under 10 years old. The winner will receive $1,000, a year of mentorship, and the opportunity to read their winning story (which will also receive publication) at the Pen Parentis Literary Salon in November 2022.
Application deadline: April 17, 2022
Marble House Project Family Friendly Residency
A multi-disciplinary artist residency in Vermont, Marble House Project “fosters collaboration and the exchange of ideas by providing an environment for artists across disciplines to live and work side by side.”
One session per season is dedicated to a family-friendly residency. Artists can bring their spouse/partner and children. Families are given studio space, housing, and food in a “communal atmosphere.” Art and ecology programming, along with other activities, are provided for children every weekday from 9am to 3pm.
Application deadline: May 15, 2022
Opportunities for the near future:
Millay Arts Core Residency, Parent/Creator Fellow
This fellowship is available to two applicants annually who have children under 18 living at home. Each Core Residency is fully-subsidized, and the Parent/Creator Fellow award includes a one-year membership to Pen Parentis and a stipend when funding allows. (Parent writers can note in their applications if they’d like to be considered for a shorter 5-7 day residency in June or September.)
Next application period opens mid-April with an early October deadline for residencies occurring in May, June, and July of the following year.
Founded by author and parent Hayley DeRoche after selling her first book, The Unruly Retreat offers a free, one-week retreat at a farmstay cottage in Virginia for “exhausted writers with children.” Priority goes to applicants who are “not hashtag blessed with the privilege white, cis-men typically experience in the publishing world.”
The deadline for 2023 retreat applications is January 2, 2023.
Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency
A seven-day workshop and residency, Cuttyhunk offers writers the chance to engage in a workshop setting with an instructor and other residents and have solo writing time on a gorgeous, remote island off the coast of Cape Cod.
Two scholarships, which cover the entire cost of the residency, are available for writers who are parents (one, “The Phil Spiekerman Fellowship for a Working Parent,” is specifically for a poet).
Applications open in December for Fall residencies in the following year.
Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Parent-Writer Fellowships
These fellowships give parents “the time and financial support to devote a week to themselves and their writing at MVICW. They are open to anyone who has a child age 16 or younger living with them.”
Applications will reopen January 1, 2023 for the 2023 Summer Writers’ Conference. The deadline for fellowship and contest applications is “typically January 31st of every year.”
Sustainable Arts Foundation Individual Awards
If you don’t know about these incredible awards, read on—and set your calendar alert NOW for next February!
Each year, the Sustainable Arts Foundation offers “unrestricted cash awards to artists and writers with children.” In 2022 they will award grants of $5,000 each to twenty recipients (the 2022 application window has passed). As of Fall 2016, they award at least half of the grants to applicants of color.
Applications open in February of each year. Join their mailing list to be notified of upcoming opportunities.
“Proud to be a parent-friendly residency,” The Luminary offers writer-parents “resources in the forms of additional funding to be used as the parent needs and a personalized environment for the unique needs of families.” That’s on top of the $3,000 research stipend and $1,000 travel stipend each resident receives.
Applications generally due in early February for a residency start date in mid-May.
Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Parent Artist Space Grant
This grant is for dance, theater, and performance artists and is meant to offset some of the costs of raising a family while working as an artist in NYC.
“BAX provides an artist stipend, child care stipend, and free rehearsal space. Additionally, Parent Artists’ children are eligible for free tuition for any youth class in dance, theater, and tumbling during their residency.”
BAX is committed to “nurturing creative expression and artistic process through education, residencies, and performance at the intersection of arts and social justice” and prioritizes a “non-white majority space grantee cohort.”
Applications open in February for Summer and Fall residencies in the same year.
An Artist Residency in Motherhood - Residency Kit
This super cool DIY residency opportunity helps mothers “plan, structure, and carry out” their very own artist residency.
Founded in 2012 by artist Lenka Clayton, who created her own residency to hold herself accountable to her artistic work amid the demands of motherhood, the website features three forms of downloadable planning tools that offer thoughtful, pointed questions and prompts to help you structure your residency.
You can download your toolkit and start your artist residency at any time.
Know of other family-friendly residencies and/or fellowships for writer-parents? Share the wealth in the comments!
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