In-situ installation by 2021-2022 Residents, Aly Ogasian and Claudia O'Steen.

Residency Program

The 2024 Rabbit Island Residency Open Call is now online.

Download and review the Residency Application Guide.
Review the Frequently Asked Questions.

Please prepare the following application documents:
  • Artist Statement (1,200 character limit)
    Provide a brief artist statement describing your practice. For group proposals, provide a collective artist statement describing your collaborative practice.
  • Proposal (1,800 character limit)
    Provide a proposal or outline of the work that you would like to pursue on Rabbit Island. This section should be used to demonstrate the applicant's understanding of the context-specific nature of the Rabbit Island Residency Program. More information describing this can be reviewed in our Residency Application Guide. Our residency exists to engender creativity in the context of contemporary environmental issues. PLEASE NOTE: Historically we have received many applications that could be referred to as "Time and Space Applications". In these, artists propose working on ideas unrelated to contemporary environmental thought and simply seek time and space in the island wilderness to complete work. These type of applications are unlikely to be awarded residencies. For further guidance we recommend careful review of our Residency Application Guide and Frequently Asked Questions.
  • Work Samples
    Submit up to 5 work samples. The individual filesize limit is 8 MB. Please follow a file naming format that includes work sample number, name(s), title (optional) and date (optional), in that order.

    EXAMPLE: 01_Firstname_Lastname_Artwork_Title_2024.jpg

    REQUIREMENTS—
    • Visual (still image): JPG format preferred, please limit to 5 MB or smaller in file size.
    • Writing: PDF format, double-spaced. Limit the TOTAL number of submitted work sample pages to 5.
    • Audio: MP3 file, 3 minutes in length or shorter per work sample.
    • Film, moving image, performance: PDF format containing URL to clip/excerpt 3 minutes in length or shorter per work sample. Vimeo, YouTube, or similar platforms work the best. Make sure to include password information if the link is password protected.
    • PLEASE NOTE: With visual submissions, optional additional context (materials, exhibition, etc.) can be included in the image file, or by submitting a one-page PDF containing the image and brief text. Do not submit multi-page PDFs for visual submissions. If required by the Selection Committee during the review process, applicants may be contacted to provide additional context about their work samples.

Rabbit Island Residency Overview

The Rabbit Island Residency provides financial support, time, and pristine natural spaces to challenge creative practices in a wilderness environment. Artists live and work on the island for 2-4 weeks, engaging directly with the landscape, responding to notions of conservation, ecology, and sustainability via their research and cultural works. The residency reflects on the American continent’s four hundred year history of settlement and division of land and stems from the idea that in a developed society intelligent organization of wild spaces is one of the most civilized things we can pursue.

The island itself, an unsettled and undivided space, enables artists to present commentary on these ideas, creating interpretations and solutions to issues of global importance–climate change, loss of natural habitat, the value of pristine watersheds, the environmental implications of entrepreneurship, and so forth. Modern understanding of our natural reality, as well as our cause-and-effect relationship to it, dictates a need for principles worthy of our time. If artists do not create the work that defines this new space, who will? Art is perhaps the purest form of creation and serves fittingly as a symbol for all human constructions.

To receive information about future opportunities and awards please follow us on social media (Instagram, Facebook) or subscribe to the mailing list.

Photograph: Island installation by 2021–2022 Residents, Aly Ogasian and Claudia O'Steen, courtesy of the artists.

Past Residencies

2023 Residencies
The 2023 program was made possible with support from our donors and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

2022 Residencies
The 2022 program featured ongoing research and projects with 2021 Residents and Collaborators. The program was made possible with support from our donors and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

2021 Residencies
The 2021 program was made possible with support from our donors and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

2019 Residences – General Residency Program and Choreographer and Composer Residency Program
The 2019 programs were made possible with support from our donors and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs operational support grant with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Our Choreographer and Composer Residency Program is supported and presented in part by the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts at Michigan Technological University.

2018 Residencies
The 2018 program was made possible with support from our donors and the National Endowment for the Arts, Artist Communities Grant.

2017 Residencies

2016 Residencies

2015 Residencies

2014 Residencies

crossmenu