Organizer Information
The Djerassi Resident Artists Program was founded in 1979 by Carl Djerassi, a Stanford chemistry professor, novelist, playwright, and art patron who shared in the discovery of the process used to synthesize the first oral contraceptive. Djerassi established the program on his 583-acre former cattle ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California in memory of his daughter Pamela Djerassi, a painter and poet who died in 1978, after he and his wife discussed how the Medici family's patronage of Renaissance artists might have looked if extended to women artists as well. The first resident, Tamara Rikman, arrived in 1979; the program expanded in the 1980s when former cattle barns and ranch buildings were converted into studios to host larger, coed groups of artists. Today it is described as the largest fee-free provider of artist residencies in the western United States, having hosted more than 2,700 artists across disciplines including writing, visual art, composition, choreography, media arts, and science over the past 43 years.
Title & Description
Djerassi Resident Artist Program — 2027 Residency Season
The Djerassi Resident Artist Program offers a one-month residency, at no cost to the artist, on its 583-acre ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The residency is designed as a retreat experience for pursuing personal creative work while sharing collegial interaction within a small community of resident artists. Applicants are evaluated competitively by panels of arts professionals within their respective discipline categories, with residencies awarded to a mix of emerging, mid-career, and established artists.
Categories
- Visual Arts
- Composer
- Choreography
- Video/Film
- Creative Writing
- Multimedia
- Interdisciplinary Arts
- Research
- Residency
Eligibility
- Open to national and international artists in the disciplines of choreography, literature, music composition, visual arts, media arts, technology, and science
- Open to emerging, mid-career, and established artists
- Applicants may apply to only one category per application cycle
- Degree-seeking students are eligible to apply
- Alumni must wait five seasons before re-applying for a return residency (e.g., 2017 residents may re-apply for the 2022 season)
- Artists placed on alternate status may re-apply for the following season
- Application form, resume, and all support materials must be submitted in English
- Residents must commit to the entire residency session awarded; no shortened or partial residencies are offered
- Collaborating artists must each submit individual applications
- Couples must apply separately and will be reviewed independently by their discipline's panel
Program Benefits & Awards
- A one-month residency at no cost to the artist
- Housing/accommodation on the 583-acre ranch for the duration of the residency
- If both members of a couple are selected, the program will make every effort to schedule them concurrently and arrange appropriate accommodations
Application Fee
$35.00
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 9 October 2026
- Application Webinar: Wednesday, September 23, 11:30 AM–12:30 PM (America/Los Angeles time zone)
Location
Djerassi Ranch, near Woodside, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California, United States
Additional Details
- Work sample requirements vary by category: visual artists submit up to 5 JPEG images; choreographers, composers, media, and film artists submit MP3/MP4 files or links (YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud); poets submit up to 10 pages combined in a single PDF; fiction/nonfiction/script writers submit up to 30 double-spaced pages in PDF; graphic novelists may exceed 30 pages; Leonardo@Djerassi applicants submit up to 5 items (images, PDFs, video, audio, or research documentation)
- Accepted general file types: images (up to 5 MB each), video (up to 250 MB each), audio (up to 30 MB each), PDFs (up to 10 MB each), and 3D models via Sketchfab
- No accommodations are available for spouses, partners, or children; friends or family may visit for the day and for dinner but cannot stay overnight; no personal pets are allowed
- Session dates are based on program availability and sustainability and are subject to change or cancellation
- The program states it does not discriminate with regard to age, race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, marital status, or nation of origin in its admissions policies