In Studio Artist Residency

The In Studio Artist Residency at the California Center for the Arts Museum is a structured program for emerging artists to create project-based work over a period of six weeks. Relaunched in 2024, the Museum’s artist residency program encourages experimentation and innovation within the Museum's exhibitions and thematic focus, offering artists a platform to develop new projects in a supportive environment. The first year of the program has seen participating artists develop workshops, artist-led tours, talks, performances, and participate in school group visits.

2025-26 Call for Submissions

The California Center for the Arts Museum is now accepting applications for the 2025–26 In Studio Artist-in-Residence season. We invite visual artists working in any medium to apply for one of three six-week residencies taking place during the following periods:

  • October–November 2025

  • January–February 2026

  • March–April 2026

One artist will be selected for each residency. When applying, please indicate which time period(s) you are available. Final dates will be coordinated with the selected artists.

The residency provides:

  • 150 square-foot studio space (on site preferred at least 2 days per week)

  • $1,500 honorarium

  • $1,000 materials stipend

  • Opportunity to engage with the public through:

    • At least one open studio session

    • At least one public program event

    • Optional visits with local school groups (as schedules allow)

A culminating group exhibition featuring all three artists-in-residence will open June 5, 2026 in the Museum galleries, and will remain on view throughout the summer. Artists are not required to complete artwork(s) during the residency period. This exhibition may include recent work developed beyond the residency period.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Artists working in any medium are eligible to apply

  • Applicants must be 18 years of age or older

  • Applicants must reside within a 50-mile radius of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido

  • Artists must be available to work onsite at least two days per week for the duration of the residency

Deadline to Apply: September 15, 2025, 11:59 PM

2025–26 Theme: Dreaming as Resistance

The 2025–26 exhibition season at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido centers artists who build and traverse alternate futures while reimagining dominant systems, and who use storytelling, craft, and memory to reimagine the world around us.

This year’s theme invites artists to explore dreaming as a radical, future-shaping act—one that opens portals between past and present, between real and imagined, between self and community. Proposals might engage themes such as liminality, mythmaking, inherited histories/inherited memory, collective geographies, decolonial design, worldbuilding, sanctuary, or the role of fantasy and speculation in navigating lived experience.


Apply here.

Above: Victor Castañeda H works on an installation during his residency at the California Center for the Arts Museum in March 2025.

How to Apply

Include the following in your application:

  • A short project proposal (max 300 words) outlining what you plan to work on during the residency

  • Artist statement (max 300 words)

  • CV (3 pages max)

  • Up to 10 images or media samples of recent work made within the last 5 years (include your name and the artwork title, year, medium, and dimensions in the name of the file)

  • Preferred residency period(s): October–November, January–February, or March–April

  • Link(s) to artist website and/or social media

Please email any questions about the application to museum@artcenter.org with the subject line: 2025–26 Artist Residency Application

All materials must be received by 11:59 PM PT on September 15, 2025.

Up to 10 finalists will be selected to participate in virtual interviews with the selection committee. Finalists will be notified of advancement status by Friday, September 19, 2025, via email. All applicants will be notified of their selection by Tuesday, September 30, 2025.