
About the Arts Center Residency
2023 APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.
Applicants will be notified in February 2023
The Arts Center at Governors Island is home to year-round artist residency programs for artists working in any discipline. LMCC’s residency programs aim to meet the immediate studio space needs of the artist community we serve by converting unconventional, vacant spaces into work and process space for artists. With the Arts Center at Governors Island, LMCC established our first permanent location for artistic process, presentation and gathering. LMCC’s residency programs are a vital part of our commitment to ensuring artists have free, collaborative space for creative development and production in New York City today and long into our shared futures.
The 2023 Arts Center Residency will offer residencies to artists and creative practitioners, currently in need of studio space to support their practice, who are interested in a short-term residency experience focused on experimentation, ongoing development, and being in dialogue with fellow residents. LMCC welcomes applications from artists whose practice is self-directed and process-based and would benefit from the unique resource of the Arts Center at Governors Island serving as an incubator for research and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The 2023 residency will take place in the open plan studios at LMCC’s Arts Center on Governors Island in two sessions:
Session One: Monday, April 3 - Friday, July 28, 2023
Session Two: Monday, August 21 - Friday, December 15, 2023
Residency participants will be provided the following basic amenities:
- Access to free, temporary, work space in LMCC’s Arts Center for 4 months
- Semi-private open floor plan studios - approximately 250 square feet
- Basic work tables and chairs
- Basic overhead lighting
- Electricity
- Wi-Fi
- Heat & A/C
In addition, all residency participants will be offered:
- Opportunities for professional development, group sharing and peer critique
- Opportunities to share work in-person with the public during LMCC’s 2023 Public Season at scheduled Open Studios moments
- Access to LMCC’s publicity and marketing efforts via its website, e-blasts, and social media channels
Please note:
- There is NO stipend offered as part of the opportunity
- Studios facilities do not offer access to medium- or technique-specific amenities such as a woodshop, print or media lab, or a large rehearsal space
- Artists must provide and transport their own supplies and tools; restrictions apply
- Participants will be required to observe mandatory COVID-19 health and safety guidelines
To be eligible, applicants must be:
- A practicing, mid-career artist and/or creative practitioner as demonstrated by a sustained commitment to their work, career, and a public audience;
- New York City based resident who works independently or as a small collective (no more than 3);
- 21 years of age or older;
- Must not have been supported by an LMCC residency program in the last six (6) months;
- Must not be scheduled to participate in another residency during the residency time frame offered; and must not have existing studio space
November 8, 2022 – Application Opens (on Submittable)
December 13, 2022, 5PM EST – Application Deadline
February, 2023 – Selection Juries
Late February, 2023 – All applicants notified
March, 2023 – Finalist Interviews
Residencies will take place in two sessions, as outlined above, from April through December 2023
- Artistic practice is driven by curiosity: where experimenting, questioning, learning, and understanding are valued in the artist’s creative development;
- Artistic practice is process-oriented and research-based and would benefit from time and space to reflect and ponder in the retreat-like setting of Governors Island;
- Clear intentions in residency and artistic goals, and ideas to be explored;
- Willingness and interest in interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement in a community-oriented setting, of fellow artists and the larger public (when applicable);
- A creative process that will flourish given space limitations (open plan, semi private, temporary walls).
LMCC is committed to assembling cohorts of artists in residence that collectively reflect the cultural and creative diversity of the field including artists of diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, sexual identities, genders, ages, physical abilities, and artistic genres and forms.
Questions? Please contact ArtRes@lmcc.net or call Esther Nguyen, Program Associate, Artist Residencies at 212-981-2247 from 10am-6pm Monday to Friday.
Session Three of our 2022 Arts Center Residency is currently in progress until December 16th, 2022. Our current artists in residence are listed below:

Governors Island Residency Initiative in Response to COVID-19
In 2020, as part of the Governors Island Residency Initiative, LMCC provided free, temporary residency and work space at LMCC's Arts Center to eligible artists and small arts groups based throughout the five boroughs.
LMCC’s Arts Center Residency program is supported, in part, by Cowles Charitable Trust, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., The Norman & Bettina Roberts Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, and Teiger Foundation.
The Arts Center Residency is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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