Applications for 2026 Deer Lake Artist Residencies are Now Open!

Photo of Christine Sinclair Fine Art Studio via the City of Burnaby.

Attention local artists of all ilks: how does spending several weeks throwing yourself into your passion amid the serene natural backdrop of Deer Lake Park sound? What if you were also shacked up in a beautiful heritage home, and granted access to plenty of nearby valuable creative resources, in the meanwhile? We bet it sounds pretty dang great! Good news: applications for the 2026 Deer Lake Artist Residencies are now open.

Up for grabs: several two-to-six-week-long stints including accommodations – in either the 1963 Arthur Erickson designed Baldwin House or the 1929 Eagles Estate homestead – plus nearby studio and rehearsal spaces (equipped for dance, music, theatre, ceramics, and visual arts), and access to other cultural amenities such as the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby Village Museum, and Burnaby Public Library, along with their supportive staff.

As for who exactly can apply: whether you’re already well-established in your field or are still on the come-up, any visual artist, performer, musician, poet, writer, or ceramicist is welcome to submit their application for a residency. Engaged in some other sort of creative pursuit that can’t be put down so concisely? Go for it! Whatever your discipline or level of experience, all artists are encouraged to submit themselves for a spot in the program. So quit second-guessing yourself! Opportunities like this are meant to be taken advantage of. Besides, it’s a win-win scenario: artists get the time, space and support to foster their talents and focus on their projects, and the community benefits from a more culturally enriched and diverse landscape as a result.

Now that we’ve said our piece, you’ve got until Saturday, March 29th at 5pm to get yourself sorted, and put in your request for a residency falling between March 1st and December 5th, 2026. More important details can be found on the Deer Lake Artist Residencies website; and if after doing a thorough scour of the website you’ve still got questions left unanswered, then simply shoot the organizers an email at [email protected]. Get on it! And best of luck to everyone who applies!