Mentoring Artist-in-Residence Schedule

Residency #196 — February 8 – 28, 2026

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2025

GENEROUS SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE THAT
CAN DRASTICALLY REDUCE RESIDENCY FEES.

Megan Conley

Megan was Principal Harpist of the Houston Symphony from 2015-2022. She is a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights. She has performed with the New York City Ballet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Bang On a Can All-Stars, and the Sarasota Opera. She also performed regularly as a substitute for the Broadway show ‘The Fantasticks.’

Megan founded Ocean Music Action (OMA) in 2021. This nonprofit organization uses music to build community and inspire action to protect our oceans. OMA presents unique concerts, sharing music and dance centered on themes around the ocean and nature. Concerts are paired with volunteer activities in which the musicians and audience join together in helping the planet.

Residency Statement
The climate crisis is upon us, and the arts play a critical role in galvanizing public support for policies that put people and planet over profit. For this residency, I would love to work with fellow musicians as well as artists from other mediums who want to use their unique skillset to help inspire action for our planet.

Our work will be adjusted in accordance with the interests and skills of our group, but Iexpect our time together to be spent more or less as follows:

1) Our main focus will be an upcoming project of my nonprofit, Ocean Music Action, called Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals: Past, Present, Future. This project combines music and dance to highlight global biodiversity loss. Our work will include some music rehearsal of a new piece by Stephanie Ann Boyd inspired by endangered animals, for an ensemble of flute, violin, cello, bass, harp, and percussion. The music will be accompanied by dance and visual design, and my cohort will have the opportunity to engage with the other two Master Artists in Residence, choreographer John Heginbotham and puppet designer Greg Corbino. We may decide to perform all or part of the work but our goal is exploration, not a complete final product.

2) Our group will discuss and explore ideas and methods around artivism: activism through art. These discussions may draw upon readings and podcasts that will be shared in advance. I’d be very happy to dive deeper and explore your works-in-progress relating to this topic as well.

3) We will learn about the natural history and ecology of the geographic region that we’ll be inhabiting for three weeks. We will connect with local conservation organizations for at least one, hopefully two or more, volunteer activities and/or educational opportunities.

This residency is best suited to musicians who play flute, violin, cello, bass, harp, or percussion, as well as photographers, videographers, and any other artists who are interested in creating work around the intersection of arts, ecology, and climate action.

Application Requirements

1. A brief bio or resumé.
2. Please describe your work and goals: what you do and what you’d like to do.
3. Two recent work samples that demonstrate range. These may include audio, video, scores, etc.

Please compile all materials in a single PDF with links to any media you’d like to include.

Website
https://meganconleyharp.com/

 

John Heginbotham

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, John Heginbotham is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and performer. John graduated from The Juilliard School (1993) where he was awarded the Martha Hill Prize for Sustained Achievement in Dance. He subsequently performed in the work of Pam Tanowitz, John Jasperse, Rebecca Stenn, Janis Brenner, Allison Chase, David Neumann, Ben Munisteri, Stanley Love, Vanessa Walters, and Pilobolus Dance Theater, and Susan Marshall & Company, before joining the Mark Morris Dance Group (1998-2012).

Residency Statement
This residency is focused on the creation and development of a new dance, music, and puppetry work. The work features Camille Saint-Saens’ masterpiece, Carnival of the Animals and a new sister musical work, Stephanie Ann Boyd’s Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals. As a choreographer, my endeavor here is to build a beautiful new piece involving experienced and curious dance and theater artists. The content of the piece invites thought and action concerning preservation, and specifically the preservation and health of our planet’s oceans and marine life. This is an artistic venture with an environmental heart.

As music and puppetry are also integral parts of this residency, collaboration is central to our work. This residency is an opportunity to explore multi-disciplinary work.

In addition to participating in the workshop of the Carnival project, resident participants are invited and encouraged to bring their own projects to the ACA. If you have a dance or movement-focused theater piece you would like to explore and develop, you will have time, space, and regular periods of mentored activity. Throughout the three weeks, there will be formal and informal opportunities to talk with each other about the various works being developed.

This residency may be of particular interest to those seeking experience with artistic collaboration, to those interested in climate activism, to those interested in local community engagement, and to those interested in immersive theater.

Each day will involve a short warm-up in support of the Carnival project, and of the various projects at hand.

Application Requirements

Website
www.danceheginbotham.org

 

Greg Corbino

Greg Corbino is an OBIE Award winning designer with a focus in puppetry, sustainable large-scale installation, and environmental performance in public space. His designs have been called “gorgeously baroque” by The New Yorker and “crafty and audacious” by The New York Times. His off-broadway puppetry work has been presented at Soho Rep (It’s That Time of the Month, Give Me Carmelita Tropicana, The Great Privation), Ars Nova (Heaux Church), Bushwick Star (Gooey’s Aquatic Adventure 2026), and The Brooklyn Academy of Music (Cumulus Frenzy). His installation work has been featured on The High Line, The Architecture League of New York, The Queens Museum, The Leslie Lohman Museum of Art, HEREarts, Guild Hall, Art Yard, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Internationally his work has been produced at QueerLab (Rome), Duncan Dance Research Center (Athens, Greece) Togo Village Art Museum (Togo, Taiwan), Other Music Academy (Weimar, Germany), and Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes (Charleville-Mézières, France). His ongoing public space puppet performance since 2021, MURMURATIONS, draws attention to the environmental impact of plastics with giant puppets crafted of plastic trash collected from New York shorelines and has been supported by the The New York State Council on the Arts, Riverkeeper, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Greenpeace USA. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

Residency Statement
This residency is focused on the creation and development of a new dance, music, and puppetry work. The work features Camille Saint-Saens’ masterpiece, Carnival of the Animals and also a new sister musical work, Stephanie Ann Boyd’s Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals. As a Designer/puppeteer, my endeavor here is to build a beautiful new piece involving experienced and curious puppet and theater artists. The content of the piece invites thought and action concerning preservation, and specifically the preservation and health of our planet’s oceans and marine life. This is an artistic venture with an environmental heart.

As music and dance are also integral parts of this residency, collaboration is central to our work. This residency is an opportunity to explore multi-disciplinary work.

In addition to participating in the workshop of the Carnival project, resident participants are invited and encouraged to bring their own projects to the ACA. If you have a puppetry, desidgn or movement-focused theater piece you would like to explore and develop, you will have time, space, and regular periods of mentored activity. Throughout the three weeks, there will be formal and informal opportunities to talk with each other about the various works being developed.

This residency may be of particular interest to those seeking experience with artistic collaboration, to those interested in climate activism, to those interested in local community engagement, and to those interested in immersive theater.

Each day will involve a short warm-up in support of the Carnival project, and of the various projects at hand.

Application Requirements

Website
www.gregcorbino.com/

 

Residency #197 — April 26 to May 16, 2026

APPLICATION DEADLINE: MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2026

Scholarships are available for this residency.

Charlie Hailey

Charlie Hailey is an architect, writer, and professor. A Guggenheim Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, he is the author of six books, including Camps: A Guide to 21st Century Space, Slab City: Dispatches from the Last Free Place, and The Porch: Meditations on the Edge of Nature, which forms part of the U.S. Pavilion’s 2025 Venice Biennale. Hailey teaches design/build, studio, and theory at the University of Florida, where he was recently named Teacher/Scholar of the Year.

Residency Statement
I am very excited to work with artists and architects in any media. With the studio format as a mode of collaboration and feedback, we’ll meet as a group but will also have lots of time for individual conversations about your work. We can also engage with the ACA campus (its landscape, ecologies, habitats) and even the coastal environment around New Smyrna Beach. I am interested in the process of making at the intersections of architecture and art (sculpture, painting, writing, photography, film, and kinetic architecture). I’m also fascinated with margins and boundaries—whether they are found at the edges of practice, space, time, or place. They might occur between land and water, past and future, temporary and permanent, memory and matter, thinking and making, designing and building, climate change and resilience, one discipline and another, or any other frontiers and confluences that might intrigue and inspire you.

The size and scope of your work can range from full-scale constructs to something the size of your hand, or even smaller. Outcomes can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, text-based, or a combination. Goals are to complete a focused project, but also to refine ways of working. I hope that both results will serve as springboards to imagination and to your future projects.

Application Requirements
(Your materials may be submitted in any of the following file formats; .docx, .pdf, .jpg).
To be considered, please include the following items:
1. Bio
2. CV
3. Letter of intent that outlines your goals and a proposed project (300 word maximum)
4. Samples of previous work. This material can be submitted as a series of JPG’s
(maximum of 15, limited to 5mb for each file) or as a single PDF (maximum of 15
pages). This dossier can include images of work, photographs, computer
renderings, drawings, sketches, writing, and/or other media. Videos are also welcome (if
longer than 10 minutes, please submit a link to the video in a PDF document).

Website
www.charliehailey.com

 

 

Carlton Turner

Carlton Turner is an artist, agriculturalist, builder, researcher, and co-founder/co-director of the Mississippi Center for Cultural Production (Sipp Culture). He has more than 20 years of organizational development and management experience working in the arts and culture sector. He currently serves on the board of First People’s Fund, College Unbound, Grantmakers in the Arts, and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. Carlton is a founding partner of the Intercultural Leadership Institute and the former Executive Director of Alternate ROOTS.

He lives and works in in Utica, MS where his family has been rooted for eight generations. Carlton is an Interdisciplinary Research Fellow with the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, was a finalist for the AFTA 2023 Johnson Fellowship, and was named to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts YBCA100 in 2021. He is also a former Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow and Cultural Policy Fellow at the Creative Placemaking Institute at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design in the Arts.

Carlton was awarded the Sidney Yates Award for Advocacy in the Performing Arts by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (2018). Carlton has also received the M. Edgar Rosenblum award for outstanding contribution to Ensemble Theater (2011) and the Otto René Castillo Awards for Political Theatre (2015).

Residency Statement

My artistic practice is cross- and multidi-sciplinary and guided by imagination, creative visioning, and practicality and informed by my upbringing in rural Mississippi. I believe that the imagination is critical to the ability to vision and vision is key to manifesting tangible change in the material world. I believe the work of artists (storytellers in all forms) is a form of bending space and time traveling. My work explores all of these intersections.

The focus of this residency is to explore personal and community narrative through oral histories and how these narratives are a unique form of information technology that can inform creative placemaking and community design. During our time together, we will explore story and community through these lenses. I envision building a residency community that is supportive, collaborative, and grounded in aspirations for creating future communities.

I welcome artists working in all mediums, especially visual, literary, and culinary artists interested in using their art to positively impact their communities.

Application Requirements

Applicants should submit a bio, resume, and artist statement that speaks to their background and aspirations related to their art and community building. The artist statement should include the following:

● Brief overview of important artistic and cultural influences

● Reflections on personal history working in community

● Personal goals for their residency time

Please provide up to three (3) work samples that will help contextualize your artistic practice.

Website
www.sippculture.org/

 

Nestor Torres

From Cuban Charanga to his original sound; from Pop Instrumental to Smooth Jazz; from World/Orchestral Music Fusion to Latin Jazz, from Straight Ahead/Traditional Jazz to Contemporary Classical, to Big Band and Spoken word. With 18 albums to date, Nestor Torres’ career includes collaborations with Tito Puente, Herbie Hancock, Ricky Martin, and Gloria Estefan, as well as performances with The New World, Cleveland, and Singapore Symphony Orchestras.

Born in Puerto Rico, Torres pursued flute studies at Mannes School of Music in NYC and later at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. His recordings have earned four Latin Grammy nominations, 1 Latin Grammy Award, and a Grammy nomination.

Equally fluent in Jazz, Classical, and Latin Music, Nestor Torres’ melodic and rhythmical flute sound sets him apart as one of the most influential flutists of his generation.

He is also the recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees for his commitment to youth, education, and cultural exchanges.

Residency Statement

Building on Legacy: The Complete Works of Nestor Torres

This residency is open to anyone working in music and artistic creation, particularly those interested in collaborating with performers, writing for instrumentalists, and communicating with live audiences. Musicians, Poets, Playwright & Writers, Dancers, Videographers & Filmmakers, Sound Engineers, Visual Artists & Set Designers, Singers and Actors, and of course, FLUTISTS! All are welcome! Using my recorded work as a point of departure, it will be tailor-made for the participants based on two ‘Motifs’:

1) Charting Your Own Path Through Self-exploration & Acceptance: “This Is Who I Am, this is Where I Am From, this is What I Do With It.”

2) Versatility & Improvisation: If you’re a Classical musician or have never improvised, or to those from other artistic disciplines, together we will explore and find the best way for you to learn how to improvise and create on the spot. In so doing, you will develop your individual voice.

Application Requirements

  1. Applicants are to review Torres’s CDs, videos, and unreleased works and submit an essay describing their impressions – good, bad, or indifferent – and choose at least one song, album, video or story they would like to work on to develop further, update, or create their own original piece based on his work.
  2. Submit two recent work samples that demonstrate your range and personal voice. These can be audio/video/scores/all of the above. These should be accompanied by any relevant work descriptions (program notes, artist statements, etc.). Imagery and all links to videos, websites, and, audio should be in a PDF format.
  3. What are your expectations out of this residency? How can I serve you? Write a brief personal statement or artist’s statement about your work and what you hope to accomplish during the residency.

Website
https://nestortorres.com/

 

Residency #198 — October 4 to 24, 2026

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, August 5, 2026

Scholarships are available for this residency.

 

Will Cotton

Will Cotton was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and raised in New Paltz, New York. He has a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City, and also studied at the Beaux Arts in Rouen, France and the New York Academy of Art. Cotton is represented by Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, New York, and Brussels; Baldwin Gallery, Aspen; and Ronchini Gallery, London. His paintings have been shown at San Francisco Museum of Art (2000); Seattle Art Museum (2002); Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2004); Hudson River Museum, New York (2007); Triennale di Milano, Italy (2007); Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France (2008); Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba (2009); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York (2009); Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (2013); Virginia MOCA (2013); Orlando Museum of Art (2017); Louvre Lens, France (2023), among others.

In 2010, he served as the artistic director for the California Gurls music video for pop singer Katy Perry. His work is in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Seattle Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, Washington; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; and Orlando Museum of Art, Florida, as well as many prominent private collections. Cotton lives and works in New York.

Residency Statement

Application Requirements

  • Artists working in the mediums of painting and drawing
  • A brief personal bio, no. more than 300 words
  • CV
  • 10 Images of your work
  • Website or Instagram Link

Website
https://willcotton.com/

Hannah Drake

Hannah Drake is a blogger, podcast host, activist, public speaker, poet, and author of 11 books. She serves as the co-executive director of IDEAS xLab and co-founder of the (Un)Known Project, which aims to uncover the hidden names and stories of Black people enslaved in Kentucky and beyond. She writes commentary on politics, feminism, and race, and her work has been featured online at Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, The Bitter Southerner, The Lily, and Harper’s Bazaar. Today’s Woman Magazine named her the Most Admired Woman in the Arts, she is a Daughter of Greatness, and she was honored as a Kentucky Colonel. Hannah was selected as a Soros Fellow by the Open Society Foundation, which seeks to support individuals believed to become long-term, innovative leaders shaping racial justice.

In 2023, Hannah was inducted into the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit, a permanent display in the State Capitol highlighting outstanding women who have made significant contributions to Kentucky’s history. In 2025, Hannah proudly received the Living the Vision Award, recognizing individuals who have made exceptional contributions to their communities in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. One of Hannah’s proudest achievements is earning an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Simmons College of Kentucky. Hannah’s message is thought-provoking and sometimes challenging; however, she believes that change occurs in uncomfortable spaces. “My sole purpose in writing and speaking is not to entertain you. I am trying to shake a nation.”

Residency Statement

The theme for my portion of the residency is Bearing Witness – a residency for Bold Artists

Step into a powerful creative lab where history, art, and truth collide. In this residency, artists will join Hannah Drake to dig deep into the urgent issues facing our nation today. Together, we will explore ways to create poetry and performance that speak truth, spark conversation, and push back against silence and erasure.

Drawing from historical narratives, poetry, dance, monologues, and personal storytelling, participants will shape new work that challenges injustice, honors our past, and imagines a more equitable future. This is a space for artists who are ready to create with courage, intention, and heart. Whether you are a writer, dancer, spoken word artist, actor, or storyteller, you will leave with new tools, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of how art can shift culture.

If you are ready to create work that meets this moment, lifts voices, and refuses to be quiet, this residency is for you.

Application Requirements

  • Submit three to five creative work samples:
    Poetry, spoken word, monologues, dance excerpts, short performance clips, or narrative writing that reflect your artistic voice. These can be submitted written or via video.
  • Provide a brief artist statement:
    Share who you are as an artist, the themes you explore, and why you want to participate in Bearing Witness.
  • Write a short reflection:
    Describe one current national issue you feel compelled to explore and how you hope to engage it through your art.
  • History has informed much of my work. How do you utilize history in your artistic practice?Share how historical narratives shape your creative approach, inspire your work, or influence the stories you feel called to tell.
  • Confirm your commitment to collaboration:
    Agree to work collaboratively with artists across disciplines including poetry, movement, and performance.

Website
http://www.hannahldrake.com/

Dani Howard

Dani Howard is a British composer and orchestrator who is quickly gaining international recognition with regular performances across Europe, the US and Asia. Described as having a “luminous and effervescent sound world” (Gramophone), Howard’s work has been commissioned and performed by orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, and Kuopio Symphony. Conductors have included Vasily Petrenko, Dalia Stasevska, Kazuki Yamada, Elim Chan, and Chloé Van Soeterstède. In 2022, she won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for her Trombone Concerto which was dubbed “an instant classic” (The Times).

Residency Statement
We are looking for composers, orchestrators, arrangers and/or performers who are engaged in composition to join us on this programme where we will be developing our craft through a series of workshops diving into compositional technique, intense orchestration workshops covering every section of the orchestra and beyond into other genres. We will be looking into the wider industry at areas including: self-publishing, promotion, PR, working with organisations, music in education, and it will be an opportunity to work closely with British composer Dani Howard and invited guests over the course of the three week period.

Application Requirements
Please provide us with:
Questions:

Website
http://www.danihoward.com/

 

 

All Mentor/Master Artists are vetted and nominated by the National Council; we do not accept unsolicited proposals or requests for consideration. Visit the National Council Advisory for more information.

To apply as an Associate Artist to our Mentoring Artist-in- Residence program, visit Submittable for open applications.

Residency Contact: rmorrison@atlanticcenterforthearts.org

 

 

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