Seven accomplished writers will join the Writers Residency program at Franconia Sculpture Park in 2023. Writers span a range of arts-focused disciplines and will receive a stipend, full room & board, and a two-week residency at the 50-acre outdoor sculpture park. Writers will immerse themselves in the new environment and embrace the time and space to move forward in their work. Residents with an interest or practice in art writing will have the possibility to publish a piece with Mn Artists, the Walker Museum’s platform for interdisciplinary arts writing.
Winter is an ideal time at the park for writers to find focus, solitude, and quiet away from familiar day-to-day distractions. Snow covers the landscape, bringing stillness and contemplation instead of the bustling of Franconia’s summer months. The weather can drop to extreme temperatures so applicants must be self-sufficient and comfortable with a semi-isolated residency when staff leave after the workday. October is cool and vividly hued with trees at their most colorful. Visitors to the park pick up in the Fall.
Franconia Sculpture Park is adjusting to and conceiving new ways to support a collaborative artist environment during the COVID-19 pandemic when so many artists have lost personal and professional opportunities to thrive. In the spirit of our mission to support artists with our open spaces (50-acres of trails, prairie, and sculpture park), Franconia has been able to safely resume its residency programs since June 2020 with strict sanitation and social-distancing protocols.
