Organizer Information
Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency (JTHAR) is a nonprofit artist residency founded in 2007 by James Berg, a screenwriter, and Frederick Fulmer, an artist and gallerist, who began hosting resident artists on a five-acre property they purchased in Joshua Tree in 2000. The organization invites artists from around the world to create work amid the landscape surrounding Joshua Tree National Park and to connect with the local artistic community, and it has hosted more than forty domestic and international artists since its founding. JTHAR is governed by a board that includes writers, curators, and arts administrators, and is supported by an advisory board that includes Alma Ruiz, former senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, after whom the organization's Latin American/U.S. Latino fellowship is named. Each year the organization selects six artists to take part in its residency program.
Title & Description
JTHAR Seven Week Artist Residency, 2027–2028
JTHAR offers seven-week residencies to artists working in any medium, providing dedicated housing, studio space, and a scholarship to support their stay in the high desert near Joshua Tree National Park. Selected artists are expected to be in residence for the full seven-week period, take part in a mid-residency review of their work-in-progress with JTHAR board members, and have the option of an open-studio exhibition of their work at the JTHAR studio at the end of the residency. Applications for the 2027–2028 cycle will be accepted from September 15 to December 15, 2026.
Categories
- Residency
- Visual Arts
- Drawing
- Painting
- Photography
- Sculpture
- Video/Film
- New Media
- Installation
- Fiction
- Nonfiction
- Interdisciplinary Arts
- Architecture
Eligibility
- Open to all U.S. and international artists
- Applicant must be 18 years of age or older
- Open to artists working in drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, film, video, new media, installation, fiction and non-fiction writing, interdisciplinary and social practice, and architecture
- Musical submissions are not being accepted for this call
- Selected artists must be able to attend the full seven-week program, with no exceptions
Program Benefits & Awards
- $1,500 scholarship to help offset costs of participating in the program (art supplies, transportation, meals, etc.)
- Dedicated studio space, either in an assigned house or in the JTHAR shared studio
- Private housing accommodation (own house) for the length of the residency, located in the Highlands near the West Entrance of Joshua Tree National Park
- Houses are air-conditioned
- Option of an open-studio exhibition of completed work at the JTHAR studio
Application Fee
$45.00
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 15 December 2026
- Residency Session 1: May 2027 – June 2027
- Residency Session 2: August 2027 – October 2027
- Residency Session 3: January 2028 – March 2028
Location
California, United States
Additional Details
- Selection is made by JTHAR Board Members and selected jurors based on the merit of the artist's portfolio and residency proposal
- Selected artists must donate one completed work to the JTHAR collection
- A mid-residency review with board members is required to discuss work-in-progress
- Visitors are permitted but limited to a two-night stay; the residency cannot accommodate family members, partners, or pets, and hosts must be notified of planned visitors in advance
- Summer sessions can be very hot in the high desert; all houses are air-conditioned
- A separate, juried Alma Ruiz Artist Fellowship awards a JTHAR residency position specifically to a Latin American or U.S. Latino/a artist of exceptional ability, chosen by advisor Alma Ruiz (former senior curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) — this is a distinct award track from the general residency call