The mission of the Roman J. Witt Residency Program is to support an artist in the production of new work in association with the University of Michigan’s Stamps School of Art & Design. The program awards one residency per academic year to a visiting artist/designer to create new work at the school while engaging the university community.
During the Witt Residency it is expected that the resident actively engages with the Stamps and IH community. To this end, a portion of the resident’s time at the university will be spent in direct interaction with students and faculty. Possibilities for interactions include but are not limited to: students working directly with the resident on artistic production; students interviewing resident; students observing resident’s process; resident dialoguing with students and faculty both in and outside of classes; resident providing critiques of student work; resident giving public talks/lectures/workshops; resident hosting open studio hours.
The Institute for the Humanities will provide their renowned contemporary gallery as an installation and project space. The gallery has long been a nimble and progressive place, a space for critical inquiry with the ability to respond to complex and timely issues. Each exhibition offers a point of accessibility for public engagement, making more visible the connection between humanities research and real-world problems, with a deliberate commitment to social practice. The Institute for the Humanities Gallery presents five to six visually driven art projects annually which can include artist residencies, community and student engagement, cross-campus collaborations and artist/curator led classes.
The residency is expected to culminate in the realization of the proposed work, as well as its presentation. The cumulative exhibition will open in Fall 2027 and will occupy the IH Gallery — with possibilities for additional programming to extend beyond the gallery space. Plans should show consistency conceptually regarding the inherent overall structure of the project, have a strong visual impact and potential for engagement. This, along with the proposed exhibition, will strongly determine selection of the artist/designer.
It is expected that a significant portion of time during the residency will be spent in direct interaction with students. Ideas for student interactions include but are not limited to: allowing students to work with the artist/designer; be in dialogue with the artist/designer; provide critiques on student work; engage in student-led interviews; or allowing for student observation of artist/designer’s process. Creative methods of engagement to animate the gallery space as a focal point of campus activity are highly encouraged. The exhibition stage of the residency project will also include artist/curator led class visits to the IH Gallery, artist talks and public engagement.
The 2026 – 2027 resident will conduct planning sessions remotely during the Fall 2026 academic semester; they will be on-site in Ann Arbor during the Winter 2027 academic semester, with the exhibition opening in Fall 2027. The exhibition component includes a second residency of a minimum of one week, to include installation, exhibition opening, and engagement. The IH Curator and IH Gallery Coordinator will work collaboratively with the artist, providing curatorial and installation support. De-installation is the responsibility of the Institute for the Humanities: the work created is the property of the artist. Please see the gallery floor plan for reference.
Guidelines for Witt Residency Proposals
Eligibility
The Witt Residency is open to both established and emerging artists/designers. The residency provides students an alternative learning opportunity to engage with practicing artists/designers who can make use of resources across campus, therefore the ideal candidate must value collaboration, have good social and communication skills and be interested in generating creative partnerships across disciplines. It is the goal of the Witt Residency to foster an atmosphere of inventive creative activity that extends throughout the University community.
Honorarium
Witt Residents receive an honorarium of $20,000 for up to twelve weeks in residence served over an academic year. In addition to the honorarium, residents will be provided with housing, studio space, and up to $10,000 materials, research and development funding to support the creative process. Applications are encouraged from individuals as well as from artist collectives or creative teams, but please be advised that the resources listed above are finite, including the travel budget. If teams apply, the award will be shared between its members.
How To Apply
https://um.slideroom.com/#/login/program/87042/8TsG8iD4S4
Application Schedule
Proposals due – January 15, 2026
All applications must be submitted by this deadline.
Selection committee review – February/March, 2026
Selection Committee reviews materials and selects a shortlist of candidates for further review, and from the shortlist selects a slate of finalists to present their projects and interview. Applicants will receive email notification, so please be sure to include your correct email address in your proposal.
Shortlist candidate follow-up – March/April 2026
Finalist presentations and interviews – April/May 2026
Notification – June 15, 2026
About the Organizers
The Stamps School of Art & Design
The undergraduate and graduate programs in the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan each offer a non-media specific degree at the intersection of art and design. Free of traditional concentrations, the undergraduate program challenges students to define their own pathways and undertake robust, self-defined culminating projects in their final year. Our dynamic two-year MFA program integrates creative production with rigorous academic studies, international study with regional community engagement, and theoretical grounding with skills development. It is structured to expand the intellectual reach of creative work and utilize a comprehensive process for bringing creative work into the world.
Stamps has a current enrollment of 700 undergraduate and 24 graduate students. Forty-one full-time faculty, a cohort of part-time faculty, and a strong administrative and technical staff to support the School’s programs. Additional information about the School and its programs is available at stamps.umich.edu.
University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities
Research into the human condition — how we live in the world and how we live with each other — is vital to the cultivation of a just and equitable society. At the Institute for the Humanities, we facilitate work that examines humanities traditions broadly across space and time, deepens synergies among the humanities, the arts, and disciplines across the university, and brings the voices of the humanities to public life.
Each year we provide fellowships for Michigan faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars who work on scholarly and artistic projects. We also offer a wide array of public and scholarly events, including public lectures, workshops, discussions and art exhibitions.
Since 1987, when Arthur Miller read from his memoir Timebends at our inauguration, the institute has granted fellowships to over 350 Michigan faculty fellows, Michigan graduate student fellows, and visiting fellows and artists.
The Institute for the Humanities:
Encourages fellows to talk and debate, informally and formally — all in an effort to reach beyond the assumptions of a given discipline.
Promotes innovative teaching in the humanities, encouraging fellows to add perspectives from other disciplines to the courses they teach.
Brings nationally and internationally known artists to Michigan to participate in fellowships, exhibitions, and artist/curator led classes, supporting interdisciplinarity and the synthesis between scholarship and the arts.
Brings nationally and internationally known scholars to Michigan to participate in programs, conferences, and fellowships.
Offers programs reaching out to university and public audiences.
Brings together those who create — artists, musicians, writers — with those who analyze these art forms.
Facilities
The Stamps School’s facilities are geographically distributed in Ann Arbor and Detroit. The main facility is located on the University’s North Campus, and includes well-equipped media studios for drawing, painting, printmaking (lithography and intaglio), clay, wood, fibers, hot metals (welding, casting, brazing), cold metals (machine tools), video, and photography (large and small format printers), and a wide variety of digital fabrication tools. The school also maintains faculty/graduate studio facilities off-campus at 1919 Green Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. This 33,000 square foot facility accommodates all of the school’s faculty and graduate students in one building, with 66 private studios, large, shared working and meeting spaces, wood, metal and multi-purpose shops and a digital media studio.
The Institute for the Humanities Gallery, located in the South Thayer Building on Central Campus, provides an additional venue for creative and scholarly engagement within the University of Michigan community. Dedicated to exploring the intersections of art, culture, and contemporary society, the gallery presents rotating exhibitions by local, national, and international artists whose work aligns with the Institute’s mission to foster interdisciplinary dialogue. Exhibitions are free and open to the public, offering opportunities for students, faculty, and community members to encounter thought-provoking works in an accessible setting. The gallery’s central location — adjacent to the Museum of Art and other key cultural institutions — positions it as a vital space for cross-campus collaboration and public humanities programming.
Engagement with the extensive scholarly, human, and technical resources of the University of Michigan is encouraged and facilitated. Comprised of 19 schools and colleges, Michigan is one of the world’s foremost public research universities. Current enrollment on the Ann Arbor campus totals 43,651 graduate and undergraduate students. Additional information about the University is available at umich.edu.
Location
Ann Arbor, located 40 miles west of Detroit on the Huron River, is an intellectually and culturally rich community, with a current population of 117,082. Additional information about Ann Arbor is available at annarbor.org.Contact InformationAddress: Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, 2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 – 2069Application PortalEmail: chrissti@umich.edu
