Residencies & Retreats
LOISAIDA’S ARTISTIC RESIDENCY PROGRAM (Rolling Basis)
ALL GENRES
This unique Artistic Residency provides a budget for project materials and rehearsal/creative space for the recipient of the residency while bringing a substantial amount of activities to the Center.
EMBAJADA 406 RESIDENCY (Rolling Basis)
ALL GENRES
*Open only to artists from Puerto Rico.
Given AAI’s longstanding history of providing support for creative experimentation and Clemente’s continuous dedication to the cultivation and preservation of Puerto Rican and Latinx culture, this joint initiative marks a significant commitment from both organizations to provide meaningful opportunities to underrecognized and emerging Puerto Rican voices for whom resources are often limited. This new residency program, the first of its kind in the Clemente, will provide a platform for the development and presentation of new conversations, methods, and ideas.
CANTO MUNDO RETREAT (Annual Spring)
POETRY
CantoMundo is a national organization that cultivates a community of Latinx poets through workshops, symposia, and public readings. Founded in 2009 by Norma E. Cantú, Celeste Mendoza, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Deborah Paredez, and Carmen Tafolla, CantoMundo hosts an annual poetry workshop for Latinx poets that provides a space for the creation, documentation, and critical analysis of Latinx poetry.
JACK JONES RETREAT AT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY (Annual Fall)
ALL GENRES
*Only open to women of color.
Professional and emerging women writers of color and nonbinary writers of color at work on book projects are eligible for residencies. Women and nonbinary people with and without MFAs are eligible, and graduate students who are currently enrolled in a degree program are eligible to apply for a fellowship.
THE WATERING HOLE WINTER RETREAT (Annual Winter)
POETRY
The retreat features living room style daily classes/workshops, daily craft talks, two readings, one holistic and interactive workshop, a keynote speech, group writing challenges, and a genuine community.
ALONZO DAVIS FELLOWSHIP (Annual June)
Initiated by VCCA Fellow and former Board member Alonzo Davis, this fellowship has been established as an endowment to support writers, visual artists and composers who are American citizens of African or Latinx descent.
POETRY
* Open to Afro-Latinx poets.
Cave Canem’s week-long retreat is held annually at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Black poets of African descent, ages 21 and over, are eligible to apply. Once accepted, poets become “fellows.” Most are invited to attend two additional retreats within a five-year period. A retreat residency offers an unparalleled opportunity to study with a world-class faculty and join a community of peers. Some fellows hail from the spoken word tradition, others focus on the text. Some are formalists, others work at the cutting edge of experimentation. All are united by a common purpose to improve their craft and find productive space “where black poets, individually and collectively, can inspire and be inspired by others, relieved of any obligation to explain or defend their blackness (Harryette Mullen).”
THE ANNUAL KIMBILIO RETREAT (Annual July)
For seven days, selected Fellows and Faculty gather in the Carson National Forest to read, write, and learn from each other.
THE RHODE ISLAND WRITERS COLONY (Annual July)
ALL GENRES
* Open to writers well versed in African-American/Diaspora canons.
The Colony’s purpose is to provide momentum; to be an impetus, for men and women fitting the criteria to focus, complete, and polish work; to develop work strong enough to stand on its own. These passionate emerging writers come from a multitude of combination of walks; single, African-American, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Hispanic, Latino, East Asian, Native American, African, married, gay, lesbian, or straight. We've hosted the 2015 Coretta Scott King/ John Steptoe Award winner. The next Pulitzer Prize winner, Booker Prize winner, and definitely another New York Times Best Seller may be here. These writers are the next wave.
