Residencies/Fellowships

La Muse has offered residencies since 2008 and barter residencies since 2001.

JANUARY: The La Muse/Univeristy of Iowa Fellowship, offered to an alum of the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program.

2009: Brendan Wolfe. Brendan is a writer and editor (Kirkus, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, Colorado Review, et al.) who has edited two alternative weekly newspapers, worked on the copy desk of a daily newspaper, and taught. We were delighted to hear that the book Brendan was working on during his time here at La Muse about the jazz musician Bix Biederbecke will be published next year. You can check out Brendan's cool blog The Beiderbecke Affair which to quote Brendan "concerns itself with things literary while also indulging its proprietor's rather unrelated interests in the early jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke and Korean culture, history, and politics about all things."

2008: Tom Montgomery-Fate. Tom was the first winner of the Iowa Fellowship. Tom was recently on National Public Radio in Chicago, reading the introduction of the book he's writing right now. Here's a link to the audio snippet. It's about Thoreau's Walden, relaxation and seeing things as they really are. Tom is a professor of English at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. You can check out his other books here on Amazon.

JUNE: The La Muse/University of Wisconsin Fellowship, offered to an alum of the University of Wisconsin Creative Writing Department.

AUGUST: The La Muse/An Foras Feasa fellowship, a summer research fellowship offered through An Foras Feasa in Ireland, a a research consortium of four institutions: National University of Ireland Maynooth, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dublin City University and St PatrickÕs College Drumcondra.

NOVEMBER:Wildcard Residency, open to anyone who'd like to apply.

We are still exploring through which avenue to offer a residency (although we have hosted many visual artist barters) to a visual arts candidate, and to citizens of the EU and the rest of the world.

In the:

1. A potential September residency with cultural organizations in Ireland (Foras Feasa), France and Australia.

2. Our "Distinguished Visitor" residency: our way to thank and support artists and writers whose work we admire.

3. "Adopt an Artist": We will present portfolios of writers and artists who are seeking residencies. These are remarkably talented individuals that we would dearly love to see sponsored to do a retreat at La Muse. Many of them are young and emerging artists from developing countries, such as Africa and Eastern Europe. Please email us if you, or someone you know, would be interested in making this happen.

These residencies are not currently underwritten by any foundations; we are simply giving a room to writers and artists who apply. We hope that with our new non-profit association we will be able to broaden our residency program.

What we offer is one month in our retreat to work on a specific project. Application requirements consist of:

1. an approximately 250-word description of the work you hope to accomplish at La Muse.
2. an up-to-date CV or resume.
3. a one-page sample or photo of your work.
4. the names and contact information for two references, one personal and one professional.
Click here for more info