Berkshire Artist Residency 2024

2024 Residency Sites & Benefits

All selected artists receive access to the buildings and grounds of their site and receive support for the development, creation, and exhibition of their work. Artists will be fully immersed in the summer events at each location and invited to special events. Each residency closes with a reception and exhibition of the artist’s work. Studio space is not guaranteed.

RED LION INN, STOCKBRIDGE

The Red Lion Inn, now celebrating its seventh year as a Berkshire Artist Residency site, is an iconic landmark located in Stockbridge, MA, in the heart of the Berkshires. The inn’s distinctive warmth and character express timeless yet vibrant tradition. In addition to the Main Inn, the historic campus is home to Maple Glen, a 17-room guesthouse that features an unexpected twist on modern country. A number of unique guest houses are sprinkled throughout The Red Lion Inn Village, including a turn-of-the-century Firehouse. Artists will be selected after two rounds of review.

Benefits:

• $250 monthly meal stipend at The Red Lion Inn

• Studio Space (dependent on artist's medium and needs)

• $125 Materials and Exhibition Stipend

• Invitation to present an Artist Talk ($100 Stipend)

• 70% of Artwork Sales

• Residency promotion through The Red Lion Inn and Berkshire Art Center websites/social media

• Invitation to teach a summer class or workshop through Berkshire Art Center

CHESTERWOOD, STOCKBRIDGE

Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is the former summer home, studio, and gardens of America’s foremost public sculptor, Daniel Chester French (1850-1931). French is best known for his Minute Man in Concord, MA and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In his lifetime, however, he created over 100 public memorials and monuments across the country. Chesterwood has hosted contemporary artists since the 1970s and has been a participant in Berkshire Art Center’s residency program for the past 3 years, inviting artists to be inspired by the work of Daniel Chester French and the estate’s natural and built environment with views of the Berkshire hills in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. 

For 2024, Chesterwood is piloting an expanded partnership with Berkshire Art Center by providing three newly created studio suites on the second floor of the historic residence. In this inaugural year no overnight accommodations are provided although artists will have security-controlled access to their studios 24/7 during the residency. Artists must be able to work on site in a medium that does not require special equipment/facilities such as a foundry, darkroom, kiln, open flames, or flammable liquids. Sculptors and visual artists in all mediums, including landscape architects and architects, are encouraged to apply. Three artists will be selected. The Chesterwood residency begins June 1.

Benefits:

• $125 Materials and Exhibition Stipend

• $250 residency stipend from Chesterwood

• Dedicated space to create at Chesterwood

• 70% of Artwork Sales

• Invitation to present an Artist Talk ($100 Stipend)

• Invitation to teach a summer class or workshop through Berkshire Art Center

• Residency promotion through Chesterwood and Berkshire Art Center websites/social media

VENTFORT HALL, LENOX

Ventfort Hall, built by George and Sarah Morgan as their summer home, is an imposing Jacobean Revival mansion that typifies the Gilded Age in Lenox. Sarah, the sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, purchased the property in 1891, and hired Rotch & Tilden, prominent Boston architects, to design the house. In 1949, Jewish couple Bruno and Claire Aron purchased the abandoned Ventfort Hall property with the vision of transforming it into Festival House. In 1950, Festival House officially opened its doors as an inclusive and artistic retreat, the first in the region welcoming people who were racially and religiously marginalized. Musicians, artists, dancers, and actors stayed and performed at Festival House, including folk musician Pete Seeger, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and singer Odetta. Festival House closed its doors in 1961, but the impact it made on progressing diversity and accessibility in the Berkshires is alive and well today in Ventfort Hall's leadership, staff, and mission. The Ventfort Hall Artist Residency gives high priority to artists who identify with marginalized communities in our region.

Benefits:

• $125 Materials and Exhibition Stipend

• $250 Fuel/Transportation Stipend

• 70% of Artwork Sales

• Invitation to present an Artist Talk ($100 Stipend)

• Invitation to teach a summer class or workshop through Berkshire Art Center

• Residency promotion through Ventfort Hall and Berkshire Art Center websites/social media