Colburn_GlenFoerd6.jpg

2024-2025 Application Now Closed

Glen Foerd’s applications for the 2024/2025 Artist-in-Residence Program is now closed.

Deadline to apply: October 21st (11:59pm).  

Applicants will be notified of results in early December 2024. 

The application fee is tiered by date of submission: 
$5 fee for applications submitted 8/22/24 until 10/18/24 at 5:00 pm. (Extended) 
$10 fee for applications submitted after 5:00 pm on 10/18/24 through 10/21/24. 

About the 2025 Residency Program

Glen Foerd will be accepting three (3) Philadelphia-based artists (or artist collectives) to complete site-specific artworks in the categories of Visual Artist, Performing Artist, and Teaching Artist. Applicants are not required to reside in Philadelphia. However, applications that demonstrate a strong connection to Philadelphia and the surrounding area will be prioritized. 

Each selected artist will receive a $4,000 artist stipend for labor and materials to use as they see fit.  Additional support for printing, signage, lighting, photography, and marketing may be provided when applicable.   

Once selected, each Artist-in-Residence will have from January 1st, 2025, until October 2025 to complete their residency, culminating with a group exhibition during our annual Arts Fest event in October 2025 (date tbd). The selected artists will create works that engage Glen Foerd’s audience and collections, which include architecture, material culture, art, a functional pipe organ, and natural landscapes. This opportunity offers artists unprecedented access to Glen Foerd’s historic collections, grounds, and the Delaware River and allows each artist to highlight new historical narratives by focusing on issues such as environmental conservation, wealth inequality, race, and industrialization, among other contemporary social issues. Over the course of the residency, Artists are encouraged to engage with Glen Foerd's community partners, a process that will be facilitated by Glen Foerd’s staff. 

Each artist/collective may submit one application only, and they must indicate one category for their application. The outcomes of the proposal should correspond to the categories below:  

Visual Artist category should include the production of one or more site-specific artworks or installations, with a public engagement element such as a workshop, artist talk, film screening, or performance.  

Performance Artist category should include at least two free performances for the local community created by the artist(s). 

Teaching Artist category should include at least six free, hands-on workshops designed and implemented by the teaching artist(s).  

All selected artists must collaborate with Glen Foerd regarding the production of artist talks, interpretive materials, press releases, media coverage, documentation of artworks, and the coordination and attendance of the ArtsFest Exhibition in October 2025 (date tbd). Artists will attend four planning meetings with Glen Foerd staff on 1/15/25, 4/15/25, 6/30/25, and 9/25/25.  

We encourage all artists to look at past AIR projects on the Glen Foerd website for examples of successful artworks. Please consider visiting Glen Foerd to spend time with our collections, architecture, and grounds. The main house is open for free self-guided tours on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10am to 1pm. The gardens and arboretums of the 18-acre estate are part of Fairmount Park and are open from dawn to dusk. Please check the website for early closures due to private events. No reservation is required to visit the grounds or come inside the house during open hours.

Program Dates:

Application Period: September 22nd to October 21st, 2024

Open House Information Sessions: September 9th, September 21st, and October 5th, 2024

Decision and Notification Period: Early to Mid-December, 2024

Residency Period: January 3rd to October 2025 (Works can remain on display through Spring 2026)

Planning Sessions: January 15th, April 15th, June 30th, and September 25th, 2025

ArtsFest: October 2025 (date tbd)

Access to space

On-site studio space is not available, but accommodation will be made as much as possible to assist artists during the installation phase. 

Selected resident artist can access the following facilities with assistance from Glen Foerd staff:  

  • Wood shop in the Carriage House is available to artists with demonstrated wood shop experience and is dependent on the availability of Glen Foerd staff.

  • Historic archives that include personal receipts, photographs, piles of carpets, hordes of china, rare books, and other bizarre family ephemera. 

Glen Foerd's historic structures and natural environments cannot be altered or experience any adverse effects as governed by the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.  Artists must have the ability to work within a natural environment and adjust to the historic preservation parameters as directed by Glen Foerd staff and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation.  

Consideration for creation, staging, performing, and removal of works through traditional doorways and protected grounds should be considered. Drilling of walls, ceilings or structures is prohibited.  Glen Foerd cannot host festivals or large scale events. Outdoor murals are not permitted to be painted on historic structures.  No permanent signage may be installed.  All installations and their associated elements must be reversible.  

Outdoor artists are required to use ecologically friendly materials. Installations and interventions are not permitted in or within flooding range of Glen Foerd’s waterways. Adverse effects on the natural environment or waterways will not be permitted.  

Open House Info Sessions

During the application period, Glen Foerd will offer three (3) info sessions highlighting the unique experience of being an Artist in Residence at Glen Foerd. These sessions are not required and are meant to orient artists to the historical and environmental context of Glen Foerd so that they can produce rich, site-specific project proposals.

Virtual Artist Residency Info Session and Q&A 
Tuesday, 9/10/24, 6:00pm – 7:00pm 
Location: zoom meeting link sent to registrants 

Artist Residency Main House Tour and Q&A
Saturday, 9/21/24, 11:00am – 12:30pm 
Location: Tour meets at Sunporch- 11am

Artist Residency Main House Tour and Q&A
Saturday, 10/5/24, 11:00am – 12:30pm 
Location: Tour meets at Sunporch- 11am
Register Here

Themes to consider

Artists are encouraged to create works inspired by the historic and natural elements of the estate. Overarching themes may include:  

  • Private / Public (transition from private estate to public park; the private vs. public lives of the estate’s owners) 

  • Order / Disorder (humanity imposing order on the natural landscape when the estate was first established, and then nature reclaiming it when the grounds were neglected, the order and disorder of the estate’s collections)  

  • Nature / Industry (Foerderer leather industry juxtaposed with the natural beauty of the estate; the effects of industry on the environment)  

  • Social Inequality / Immigration (privilege of the Macalesters and Foerderers as opposed to the working classes, which include those who worked on the estate)

For any questions please reach out to the Arts and Culture Program Manager, Alice Thompson. athompson@glenfoerd.org / 215-632-5330 x13.


This residency is made possible by the National Endowment of the Arts.