2026 Artist in Residence - Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Program Overview
The Artist-in-Residence Program at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s Art Institute—established with benefactors Priscilla & Michael Baldwin—offers artists an immersive experience in the Sonoran Desert. Open to artists with post-secondary training or equivalent professional experience, the program supports creative practices that align with our mission of “Conservation through Art Education,” fostering work that inspires appreciation of our natural environment through direct engagement with its landscapes, plants, and wildlife.

Residency Commitments
•    Reside on-site for the full duration of the one-month residency (May 1 – May 31, 2026).
•    Facilitate a one-day workshop for Art Institute students that reflects your creative practice.
•    Publish an online residency journal (blog, social media series, or video journal) with a minimum of one post per week, documenting your experience, sharing insights into your process and reflections on the Sonoran Desert.

Residency Support
•    One-month stay in a private casita for two, located on Museum grounds
•    $750 travel reimbursement
•    $750 artist stipend
•    Accommodations for 2 - comfortable casita on museum grounds (No pets)
•    Exhibition space during residency to display existing or newly created work
•    One-month All-access membership for two (valued at $100)

The residency accommodations are situated on museum grounds, located just west of Tucson’s skyline and adjacent to Saguaro National Park’s Tucson Mountain District, spans 98 acres of living desert landscape. Here, dramatic scenery meets functionality—a zoo, botanical garden, natural history museum, and aquarium woven into well-maintained trails and immersive exhibits. Home to the Art Institute and its two galleries, the Museum nurtures conservation-minded art through exhibitions and classes. Resident artists are housed onsite in a fully furnished casita, granting full access to desert surroundings, academic resources, and the cultural heart of ASDM for a seamless creative residency.

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