The Studios at MASS MoCA run year-round on the museum’s campus in North Adams, Massachusetts — a former factory complex in the Berkshire Mountains — hosting up to ten artists at a time. Since 2015 they’ve taken in over a thousand artists and writers.
Applications for July–December 2027 close November 1, 2026 at 11:59pm EST.
Who it’s for
The programme primarily seeks visual artists — painters, sculptors, installation artists, photographers, video and new media artists, fibre artists, printmakers — and writers across all literary disciplines. International applicants are encouraged.
Video and new media being named directly in that list is the reason it belongs here. A residency that hosts ten people at a time in a contemporary art museum’s orbit is a different proposition from a studio-painting retreat, and the institutional context is one where technology-based work is normal.
What you get
- Private, furnished studio with 24-hour access
- Housing — private bedroom, shared kitchen and bath, in renovated apartments across the street from the museum
- One communal meal daily
- Unlimited access to MASS MoCA’s galleries
- An optional curator studio visit
- One year of access to career development workshops
- Three months of member benefits, plus access to the Clark Art Institute
- Optional opportunities to share work publicly
Residencies are two or four weeks.
The money, stated plainly
This is a fee-paying residency, and it’s better to know that up front than to discover it at the payment step.
- Listed subsidised rate: $650 per week. The real cost to run it is $1,000+ per week, so the sticker price is already substantially underwritten.
- Financial aid: artists requesting aid typically pay between $0 and $450 per week, depending on need.
- Every applicant in this general pool may opt to be considered for a full-ride fellowship and/or need-based financial aid.
- Alumni rates: $400/week for four weeks, $450/week for two.
The critical detail — and the reason to use this deadline rather than the Early Application route MASS MoCA also offers: Early Applications are not considered for the financial aid budget or for fellowships. Early Application is for people confident they can pay the full $650/week. The November 1 general application is the one where aid is on the table.
If cost is a factor for you, that distinction decides which door you go through. Apply to this one, and tick the aid box.