2025 RESIDENCY APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED.

SEPTEMBER 1 DEADLINE

Review details below about accommodations and expectations before submitting application.

The Corsicana Artist & Writer Residency advances the production and presentation of new work and ideas by an international community of artists and writers by providing an arena of generous support and historic space enriched by Corsicana’s legacies, fifty miles south of Dallas, Texas.

Funded studio residencies are now available during winter, spring and fall 2025. Each two-month term generously hosts two artists and one writer pursuing deep focus for ambitious production in 100 West, a three-story 1890s fraternal lodge with massive meeting halls restored into private studios and living space, with furniture designed and built by residency founders from the ground-floor wood shop. The residency campus includes a bookshop: Storefront, window-front gallery: Anteroom, and alumni accommodations: Writers House, inside Corsicana’s walkable, historic downtown, the birthplace of Texas’ oil industry fifty miles south of Dallas. This small-town setting intersects complex legacies across the cultural, architectural, economic and geographic American South and West. Ongoing programs for education, exhibition and publication generate transformative dialogue with audiences near and far. Eligibility opens to international, United States, and Texas-based applicants.

RESIDENCY OUTLINE

2-Month Residencies. 2 Artists and 1 Writer hosted each term.

• WINTER: January 6 - February 25

• SPRING: March 3 - April 29

• FALL: October 13 - December 9

Residents are granted private studios with complete lodging at 100 West.

Video and photo documentation of residency work at the end of each term.

Residents agree to participate in these public programs:

• PRESENTATION: second Thursday of residency: 20-minutes, Artists project image / video / slideshow of past work. Writers give readings.

• OPEN STUDIOS: last Saturday of residency from 12 - 4 PM.

Residents are self-directed and self-sufficient in the studio without technical or production needs from the residency.

Studio focus and productivity is the residency’s first priority; social programming is second.

Residents connect with Dallas’ art and literary communities at openings and special visits.

Residents connect with Corsicana’s community of support at downtown and Storefront events.

APPLICATION

6 artists and 3 writers accepted for residency in 2025.

International, United States, and Texas-based eligibility.

Collaborative applications are not welcomed at this time.

Ceramic, fiberglass and aerosol-based work not accommodated.

Sound-based work is generally not welcomed. Performance, composition and sound-based applicants should inquire before applying by contacting residency director to ensure the residency can support their practice successfully. Headphones are generally expected to prevent sound from traveling other 100W studios.

Artist Applicants submit 5 examples of work.

Writer Applicants submit 2 examples of work, max 2000 words each.

References must be listed, but are not required to submit recommendation letters.

Application Fee $30.

Applicants notified of acceptance, waitlist or decline by October 1, 2024.

Accepted applicants confirm their 2025 residency dates in the first week of October.

Alumni are not eligible to reapply (contact residency director for self-funded Writers House retreats).

FUNDING

Funding covers all studio and lodging accommodations and public programming. Accepted applicants who commit to a residency term are responsible for a one-time, non-refundable $200 Administration Fee paid to the residency by November 1, 2024. No additional costs to attend. Travel, meal, material and research expenses are the resident's responsibility.

100 WEST STUDIOS

Constructed as an Odd Fellows Lodge in the 1890s, this unaltered building offers a third-floor artist studio in the original Encampment Hall, a third-floor writing studio in the Encampment Hall’s ante-chamber, and a second-floor artist studio in a former community meeting hall. A kitchen, dining and living room are shared on the second-floor. A laundry room with machine washer and dryer is on the first-floor. Two digital projectors (4500 and 6000 lumen) available for studio use. The building is furnished with period and artist-made pieces produced from the first-floor wood shop in the monastic tone defining 100 West.

Expectations for residents’ care of studios do not tolerate any lasting trace of a resident’s practice or work. Drop cloths and underlayment are provided. Expenses to repair damage from negligent use apply to residents. Residents are expected to return their studios in the same condition as provided.

SECOND-FLOOR ARTIST STUDIO

THIRD-FLOOR ARTIST STUDIO

• 2400 square-foot studio (222 square-meters)

• Wood floor, 13' ceiling, concrete walls

• Two 3 x 6’ worktables, two moveable stand-alone 8 x 8' work walls, easel, desk

• 500 square-foot bedroom, extra-long twin bed, bath attached to studio

THIRD-FLOOR WRITING STUDIO

• 400 square-foot studio (37 square-meters)

• Wood floor, 13’ ceiling, drywall

• Two desks

• Spiral staircase to rooftop

• Extra-long twin bed, full bath attached to studio

DISCLAIMER for WRITING STUDIO: This studio is matched best with writers who work well in settings without absolute quiet and privacy. The third-floor is shared by one artist and one writer, and true to the original floor plan, the Writing Studio is still a hallway on one side of the room to access the Artist Studio. An 8’ tall, floating wall with doors on either side spans the full-width of the Writing Studio for visual privacy of bed, workspace and bathroom. A second writing desk beneath the window is in the hallway area. Resident writers must be comfortable with the sound of a fellow resident passing through the hall. Follow this link to view more studio photos and details of the writing studio layout.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Bed and bath accommodations include an extra-long twin bed, pillows, sheets, blankets, bath towels, and closets for clothes and personal belongings. Each resident has a personal bathroom with sink and lavatory. Writing Studio bathroom includes a clawfoot tub. The shower room is shared on the second-floor.

Cleaning service weekly on Fridays (full cleaning of kitchen, baths and shared living space, with vacuum only in private studios).

Kitchen is shared and furnished with standard appliances - refrigerator, oven, cooktop, microwave, blenders - with dishes, utensils, basic spices.

Laundry room with machine washer and dryer with supplied detergent is available on the first-floor.

Wi-Fi Internet is available throughout 100 West.

100 West remains private to residents, with locked street-level doors accessible only to residents and staff.

Visitors may book brief stays at accommodations in the Carriage District 10-blocks from 100 West.

Families are not accommodated.

Pets are not accommodated.

TRANSPORTATION & ACCESSIBILITY

Cars are not necessary. For residents bringing a car to Corsicana, parallel parking spaces are located alongside 100 West.

Bicycles with baskets are available for use downtown and to the neighborhood.

Grocery stores are accessible on foot / bike within five blocks of 100 West.

Café’s, restaurants, post office, tailor, hardware shops, copy center, YMCA (fitness center) are within a five-block radius.

Air-Travel to Corsicana: nearest airports are Dallas-Love Field (1-hour north) and Dallas-Fort Worth International (1.5-hours north).

Car-rides to and from the airports to Corsicana are complimentary upon residency term arrival and departure dates. Rides to and from airports outside of these dates or for visits in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex can be scheduled with a local ride service for approximately $80 - $100 round-trip.

Corsicana’s downtown is largely walkable for general, everyday needs and life.

100 West is accessible only by steep staircase, without elevator. Please contact residency director for mobility concerns.

CLIMATE

100 West is heated adequately for Fall and Winter terms with 1940s Dearborn gas heaters.

No central air-conditioning exists. For warmer Spring days in April, residents may use portable air-conditioning units that exhaust through the window. Generally, no air-conditioning is used and windows are cracked for cross-breeze.

Fans are available throughout 100 West.

Summer heat and limited access to air-conditioning forces annual hiatus May 1 through October 15.

LOCAL COMMUNITY

Artists and writers come to Corsicana to pursue extensive studio work within a two-month frame. It's quiet here with a focus stimulated by small-town atmosphere and massive windows. Residents generally prepare meals individually, with a tendency to cook dinner together several times per week. Family-owned taco shops, coffee shops, and a classic diner neighbor 100W for affordable and delicious meals. The rooftop is ideal to watch sunsets and storms roll-in. Freight trains pass three blocks away with horns sounding regularly. The local Opry hosts country bands on weekends. A ‘20s vaudeville theatre and community blackbox are regularly showing. At 100W, guests from Texas’ creative community, galleries, museums and friends are invited for studio visits and dinner. Community extends across the street from 100W with several private live-work studios of this residency’s founders.

Corsicana represents many expectations of a small town in rural Texas with a southern culture of hospitality. The population of 26,000 is predominately Christian (Baptist, Protestant, Catholic), socially and politically conservative, and combines approximately one-third each of African American, White and Hispanic races. Though, the downtown setting is vastly more complex than these metrics suggest. This residency welcomes all nationalities, races, gender identifications, and sexual orientations into an accepting environment, surrounded with generous local support that welcomes differences from their own identity generalized above. Part of this residency’s mission is to engage residents with locals, through residency events, downtown programs, with occasional invitations from locals to their homes for dinners. Residents are expected to respect the ranging composition of values, beliefs and politics encountered in Corsicana. The residency’s priority is to provide private and focused studio space and time without interruption for self-directed work in a safe and welcoming environment.