Creative Residency

The Creative Residency Program

The mission of the Creative Residency program at Bloedel Reserve is to foster creative thinking that is inspired by nature and that explores the connection between humans and the environment. The program opportunity is described in more detail below. Watch this video to learn more.

2024 Creative Residency Application–Closed

Applications for 2025 Creative Residencies will open July 2024

If you’d like to apply to be a Community Creative click here.

Scroll down to learn more and apply for Alumni Fellowships.

Meet the 2024 Jurors

Click the links below to see photos and learn more about the jurors for the 2024 Creative Residency.

Visual Arts (e.g., painting, photography, craft, sculpture, installation, 2D, 3D, digitally assisted)

Performance, Film & Composition (e.g., music, theater, dance, music composition, film, performance art)

Poetry

Prose Fiction & Nonfiction (e.g., novels, short stories, essays, memoirs)

Research & Design (e.g. landscape design, scientific research, botanical illustration, etc.)

Learn More about our Creative Residents

Bloedel Reserve Fellowship Opportunity

The Bloedel Reserve Fellowship is offered to one past Creative Resident each year who would benefit from a return to the Reserve to work on a project which is deeply tied to the mission of Bloedel Reserve’s Creative Residency Program of exploring the relationship between people and nature. Fellows are invited for a four week stay and asked to offer a workshop, walk or other community engagement event for the public. The fellowship is supported by a $2000 stipend.

Bloedel Reserve Fellow Selection Process

Bloedel Reserve Fellows are selected by a committee of rotating staff members. Consideration is given to applicants who have previously spent time at Bloedel Reserve as Creative Residents and who have a compelling reason to return. Also considered is the proposed community engagement component and the ability of the staff to work with and support the Fellow.   

2024 Creative Fellowship Application–Closed

Applications for 2025 Creative Fellowships will open July 2024

Creative Residency Requirements

  • Your project, artwork, or research must relate to nature in some specific way.
  • Special consideration will be given to projects that investigate the relationship between people and natural world.
  • Once selected, each Creative Resident must offer a public presentation, workshop, lecture, demonstration, viewing, or concert as part of their Residency.
  • Creative Residents must be 21-years of age, or older.

Residency Amenities

creative residency at bloedel reserveEstablished in 2015, the program has welcomed 70 Creative Residents from a wide variety of disciplines, giving them the time to nurture their passions and deepen the connection between creativity, nature, and humanity.

The Creative Residency program provides artists and innovative thinkers with a three-week stay in a home on the Bloedel Reserve grounds, pictured here. Residents have unlimited access to the Reserve’s 140 acres of sculpted gardens, forests, meadows, and wildlife habitats.

interior of creative residency at bloedel reserve

As a Creative Resident, you will stay in a two-bedroom, two-bath home designed by noted Northwest architect Jim Cutler, tucked into the woods, tucked away from the trail used by regular Bloedel Reserve visitors.

Known as the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Education Center, the home is built over a stream and features beautiful finishes and furnishings. Residents have 24/7 access to Bloedel Reserve grounds during their stay and the use of a Smart Car. (Proof of valid driver’s license required.)

The Creative Resident receives a $1000 stipend.

The Creative Residency Opportunity

“The space and quiet allowed me to sink into my novel with prolonged, uninterrupted concentration. I woke up with my story, lived and walked with my story, and like any relationship, our intimacy increased.”

– Karen Finneyrock, 2016 Resident

UP Lift: Collaborations with Nature

A Celebration of Creativity at Bloedel Reserve

Read more about the far reaching effects of this October 2023 creative celebration here.

Questions About the Creative Residency Program?

For more information about the program details or the application process, please contact Creative Residency Manager Amy Weber at [email protected]

The Case for Support

The Creative Residency program is one of the cornerstones of our mission. We recognize that artists and innovative thinkers are vital contributors to our collective well-being. They delight, inspire, challenge, and enrich our lives. Past Creative Residents have included botanists, visual artists, writers, composers, environmental researchers and landscape designers, to name just a few.

To learn more about donating to the Creative Residency program, please contact Development & Communications at [email protected].

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