Time, Space, & a Place to Make: Inside the Crosstown Arts Artist Residency

In Crosstown Concourse, a repurposed, one-million-square-foot Sears & Roebuck distribution warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee, artists are given something increasingly rare: uninterrupted time and a room of their own to make work.

What is the Crosstown Arts Artist Residency

In a repurposed, one-million-square-foot Sears & Roebuck distribution warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee, artists are given something increasingly rare: uninterrupted time and a room of their own to make work.

What the Residency Offers

Crosstown Arts hosts residencies across visual arts, music, film/media, and writing in all genres. There are no rigid project requirements, residents are simply encouraged to experiment, explore new ideas, or push forward work already in progress. It’s an open invitation to focus, offered to artists at every stage of their careers.

Three-month residency sessions run in spring and fall, with a two-month session in summer, and select specialized residencies (including dedicated Composer and Film/Video tracks with specialized equipment and software) are offered each year as part of the application process. Anyone 18 or older is welcome to apply, from any artistic background, anywhere in the world.

For the duration of an awarded residency, artists receive:

– A private studio workspace

– A furnished private bedroom/bathroom next to a common living area and kitchen (live/work residencies)

– A free membership to Crosstown Arts’ on-site Shared Art workspace, which includes a wood shop, multiple CNC/laser cutters, a Mac-based computer lab, large-format digital printing, a silkscreen/print shop, a small recording studio, and individual audio/video editing bays

– Free reservations to the Musician & Artist Services Production Suites

– A free membership to the Church Health YMCA

– Free access to all Crosstown Arts-hosted shows in the Green Room and Theater

– And more

All of this is offered at no cost to residents, who are responsible only for their own materials and travel to and from Memphis. In exchange, residents take part in a limited number of public engagement activities during their stay, such as informal artist talks and open studio events, a chance to share their process with the local community.

Photo credit: Jamie Harmon

Why Memphis, Why Concourse?

Crosstown Concourse is more than a studio building. It’s a small ecosystem: a walk-in health clinic, a fitness facility, restaurants, a grocery store, a coffee shop, a pharmacy, and a mix of commercial, retail, and residential tenants, all under one roof alongside the residency program. For an artist arriving from out of town, that density means less time spent solving logistics and more time spent working.

Founded in 2010, Crosstown Arts built this residency program as one piece of a larger mission: giving artists across disciplines the time, space, and resources to accomplish their goals, regardless of where they’re starting from or what kind of work they make.

How to Apply

A complete application includes:

– An artist statement

– Goals for your residency in Memphis

– 5 to 8 work samples

– A $20 application fee (fee waivers are available for applicants with financial need, just reach out)

Applications for 2027 residencies are open now, with separate applications for each discipline (music, writing, visual arts, and film/media). All applicants also have the option to have their work reviewed by an additional reviewer in a separate field.

Applications close Friday, July 31st at 11:59pm CDT.

Apply here: https://crosstownarts.slideroom.com/#/Login

Questions about the program or the application process can be directed to residency@crosstownarts.org.