Ucross Foundation Artist Residency Fall 2027: A Free Two- to Six-Week Wyoming Residency With Studio Space, Meals, and a $1,500 Stipend
Ucross Foundation’s Fall 2027 residency offers working visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, dancers, interdisciplinary artists, performance artists, and collaborative teams two, four, or six weeks of living accommodations, meals, private work space, and uninterrupted creative time at no residency charge, plus a $1,500 stipend. The call opens November 1, 2026 and closes January 15, 2027.
Ucross Foundation Artist Residency Fall 2027: A Free Two- to Six-Week Wyoming Residency With Studio Space, Meals, and a $1,500 Stipend
Ucross Foundation’s Fall 2027 Artist Residency is an announced upcoming call for working artists who need sustained time, a private place to work, and a small community of other artists. The residency is based at Ucross in northern Wyoming. A successful applicant receives living accommodations, meals, work space, and time away from ordinary obligations. Ucross also provides a $1,500 stipend, while stating that there is no charge for the residency itself.
The Spring 2027 call has closed. Ucross’s official residency page says that the next open call is for the Fall 2027 session and will open on November 1, 2026. The official application information gives the Fall call a closing date of January 15, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. This page therefore describes the announced Fall cycle, not the closed Spring cycle. The Submittable portal may show no open call until the announced opening date, so applicants should use the time before November to prepare rather than assume that the form is already available.
Key details
| Item | Current detail |
|---|---|
| Host | Ucross Foundation |
| Program | Ucross Residency Program |
| Cycle covered here | Fall 2027 |
| Application window | November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027 |
| Deadline time | January 15, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time |
| Residency season | August through early December |
| Residency length | Two, four, or six weeks |
| Residency cost | No charge |
| Stipend | $1,500, paid by check at required orientation on the second day of the residency |
| Application fee | $40 nonrefundable fee for the general studio residency; Ucross says it does not waive this fee |
| Accepted-resident deposit | $50 refundable deposit |
| What Ucross provides | Living accommodations, meals, private work space, linens, towels, and weekly bedroom housekeeping |
| Applicant disciplines | Visual art, writing, music or composition, choreography, dance, interdisciplinary work, and performance |
| Application platform | Ucross’s Submittable portal |
| Official program page | ucrossfoundation.org/residency-program.html |
The residency charge and the application fee are different things. Ucross describes the residency as free, but a general applicant still needs to account for the $40 application fee. An accepted resident also pays a $50 deposit, which Ucross says is refundable if it is not used during the session. Travel to Sheridan, Wyoming, and the working materials needed for a project remain the artist’s responsibility.
What the residency provides
Ucross is designed around a separation between making work and managing daily logistics. Each resident receives living accommodations and private work space. The foundation supplies linens and towels and provides weekly housekeeping for bedrooms. Wireless internet and cell phone service are available throughout the residency facilities. These details can be important for an applicant deciding whether a rural residency will support a particular practice: Ucross offers basic connectivity, but it does not promise to supply specialized materials or equipment for every project.
Food is part of the residential structure. A professional chef prepares lunch and dinner Monday through Friday. Lunches are delivered to individual studios, and residents gather for dinner at 6 p.m. Ucross keeps provisions available for breakfasts and weekends, so artists do not need to plan every meal around a grocery trip. The official program page also makes clear that artists are responsible for their own travel to Sheridan and for their working materials.
Accepted artists receive the stipend check at the required orientation during the second day of their residency. It is useful support, but it should not be treated as a full travel budget or project-materials budget. The foundation’s terms place those expenses with the artist. Applicants should work out transportation, supplies, and any accessibility-related arrangements before selecting a preferred period.
Who can apply
The Fall 2027 call is open to visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, dancers, interdisciplinary artists, and performance artists. Collaborative teams may apply, and the current application information allows groups of up to four people. International artists may apply as well. Ucross asks applicants to exhibit professional standing in their field while also encouraging both established artists and emerging artists of promise.
Students at any level are not eligible for the general residency. That restriction is easy to miss if you rely on a broad description of the program, so applicants should assess their status against the current application language before preparing a submission. The program is intended for working artists rather than for a class, degree, or student-project placement.
An applicant may submit only one application per session. If the proposed project crosses disciplines, choose the Interdisciplinary category only when multiple disciplines are integrated into one cohesive project. Ucross says an application placed in that category can be disqualified if the project is actually based in only one discipline. Someone working in two unrelated disciplines should choose the category that best represents the project and where the need for development is greatest.
Ucross also accepts collaborative applications in which one artist submits the main application and the other artists complete the additional forms required within that submission. Teams may use individual and collaborative work samples, but the proposal should explain the group’s workspace requirements. A spouse or partner may apply as part of a collaborative group or submit a separate application for the same period; separate applications do not guarantee that both people will be accepted together.
How to apply
Create a single, complete Submittable application. Ucross requires every applicant to apply through its Submittable platform and does not accept mailed application materials. When the Fall 2027 form opens, read its live instructions as well as the foundation’s linked guidelines, because the platform controls acceptable file formats and upload limits.
Choose the category that matches the proposed work. Select one discipline when the project belongs to one discipline. Select Interdisciplinary only for a genuinely integrated multi-discipline project. A collaborative group should identify every participating artist and complete the additional forms requested inside the original submission.
Write a specific project proposal. The work sample and project proposal are the most significant parts of the application. Explain what you plan to make, research, revise, compose, rehearse, or write during the residency. Connect the requested time and workspace to a concrete stage of the project rather than describing a general wish for inspiration.
Prepare current work samples that relate to the proposal. Ucross requests current work and says that samples should represent the genre or genres in which you plan to work in residence. The official guidelines list discipline-specific limits, so do not assemble one generic portfolio for every category.
Follow the sample rules for your discipline. The currently linked guidelines ask dancers for two or three videos of no more than eight minutes each, or up to three Vimeo links. Music or sound applicants may submit three to five audio files of no more than eight minutes each, or up to three Vimeo links. Performance and film/video applicants may submit one to three videos of no more than five minutes each, or up to three Vimeo or YouTube links. Longer videos need a viewing timestamp.
Format writing and visual-art samples carefully. Playwriting and screenwriting applicants submit one complete play and identify the 20-page section reviewers should read. Fiction and nonfiction applicants submit 20 pages, and poetry applicants submit six to ten poems in one PDF of no more than 15 pages. Writing samples must be in English. Visual artists submit 10 images at 4 by 6 inches and 300 dpi in JPG or TIF format, not PDF, plus a data sheet listing each image’s title, medium, size, and year of completion.
Pay the application fee and submit before the cutoff. The general studio residency has a $40 nonrefundable application fee, and Ucross says that fee is not waived. The Fall 2027 deadline is January 15, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. Uploading early leaves time to correct a rejected file, confirm that links work, and check that the final submission is actually complete.
Planning for the Fall session
The Fall session runs from August through early December. Residencies are offered for two, four, or six weeks, and Ucross tries to accommodate scheduling requests but cannot guarantee a first choice. Applicants should state both their preferred period and any dates they cannot attend. A strong proposal still needs a workable calendar: a six-week request should have enough substance to justify six weeks, while a focused two-week project should explain what can realistically be completed in that time.
The foundation says it contacts applicants about their status within roughly four to five months after the call closes. That review period means applicants should not plan around an immediate decision. If accepted, the artist must be ready to travel to Wyoming, bring or arrange the necessary working materials, and participate in the required orientation. The Ucross FAQ says artists may apply every session if they have not attended a residency. Previous residents must wait three years from the first day of their session before applying again, with the application information noting eligibility to reapply in two and a half years.
A practical preparation checklist
- Confirm that you are applying as a working artist, not as a student, and that your chosen category matches the project.
- Decide whether you are applying alone or with collaborators. A group can include up to four people, and the proposal should describe shared workspace needs.
- Select recent work that is directly related to the proposed residency project.
- Convert files to the formats and limits specified for your discipline; test every video, audio file, and external link.
- Draft a project proposal that names the work and explains what the Ucross setting and length of stay make possible.
- Budget for the $40 application fee, travel to Sheridan, project materials, and the $50 refundable deposit if accepted.
- Mark November 1, 2026 as the expected opening date and January 15, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time as the submission deadline.
- Recheck the live Submittable form when the call opens for any application-specific instructions.
Final assessment
Ucross is a strong match for an artist whose work benefits from private studio time, a small residential community, and distance from ordinary demands. It is less suitable for a project that depends on supplied fabrication materials, an urban collaborator network, or a student enrollment structure. The no-charge residency, living accommodations, weekday meals, private work space, and $1,500 stipend make the financial terms unusually supportive, but the artist still needs to fund travel and working materials and pay the application fee.
The next action is preparation, not submission: the Spring 2027 cycle is closed, and the official page identifies Fall 2027 as the next call. Assemble the relevant work sample, proposal, and scheduling information before the Submittable form opens on November 1, 2026. Then verify the final category, file requirements, fee, and deadline in the official application before submitting by January 15, 2027.
For the authoritative terms, consult the Ucross residency program page, the Ucross FAQ, the official application guidelines, and the Ucross Submittable portal.