OFFICIAL CALL FOR APPLICATION: Union Hall Arts Residency
DETROIT, MI - The UAW Education Department is proud to support the UNITE HERE Education and Support Fund (501c3) and Talking Dolls Studio to pilot the Union Hall Arts Residency this summer in Detroit, MI. This four-week artist residency program will bring together 4-6 union members from various unions to hone their artistic skills and unleash their creative expression to make art for our movement.
Candidates for the residency program will be paired with mentors from within the movement and adjacent artist communities who will support knowledge exchange with emerging creative practices. Participants will move between the practical and the imaginative through hands-on studio training and experiential learning. Developing skills gained during their residency, artists will learn individual and collective creative practices, gain exposure to historical approaches, contemporary strategies, and novel creative ideas informed by the values and history of the union movement.
Every successful movement for lasting social change requires arts and culture. Artists give us joy and life in dark times, cutting through the noise and fostering the creative thinking that allows us to imagine a better future. So much of the most enduring and popular forms of art and culture have come from working-class communities.
Detroit’s autoworkers made Motown.
Spirituals sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Quilters unveiled the truth about HIV/AIDS.Workers Create a Better World
SPONSORSHIP
UAW members who are selected candidates are eligible to receive a travel and lodging sponsorship from the UAW. Applicants must be able to take a union leave of absence from their workplace, and attend the entire 4-week residency program, August 10- September 7, 2026. Additional rules and eligibility information can be found in the call letter, brochure, and website (links below).
INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS
Union Hall Arts will host several virtual information sessions about the program in advance of the application deadline. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend a session to meet the program organizers and learn more about what the residency will entail. Please visit www.unionhallarts.org to sign up for an information session. In addition to contacting Union Hall Arts directly, questions about this program can be referred to education@uaw.net.
DEADLINE TO APPLY:
June 1, 2026
