Monastery Arts Residency OPEN CALL Summer 2026

The Monastery Arts Residency brings artists and writers to live, create, and seek beauty for a week under summer skies at Mount Saviour Monastery near Elmira, NY. It is the only arts residency in the world that takes place at an active Catholic monastery.

The week is a unique blend of solitude and community. During the day, residents work independently on their own creative projects, with access to over 1,000 acres of monastery grounds and sheep fields. In the evening, the group gathers for programming, work sharing, and community time. The residency is deliberately interdisciplinary, bringing together twelve to fifteen painters, writers, musicians, actors, and other artists per session.

The rhythm of the week is shaped by the monks' daily prayers, the Divine Office. No one is obligated to attend, though all are invited. There is limited cell service and Wi-Fi. The silence, the land, and the monastic schedule quietly reorganize how residents experience time, attention, and their own creative work.

Residents live in private single rooms in the monastery guesthouse. Meals are included and taken with the monks. Visual artists share a studio in the monastic crafts building; writers and musicians have access to the library, practice rooms, and a monastery piano.

Two sessions run each summer, Monday afternoon through Sunday morning. All residents must commit to the full week. Artists of all faith backgrounds, or none, are welcome.