September 14-20, 2026 | New York, NY

The purpose of the Residency is simple: To help Latter-day Saint artists make their best work.

Each year, the Center brings a group of artists (writers, composers, choreographers, designers, filmmakers, and visual artists) to New York. Artists soak in the city’s abundance, have dedicated time to work on new projects, and form a community with other Latter-day Saint artists.

The Residency offers a tailor-made experience for each participant's creative and professional development. Those interested will describe the project they intend to work on in their application materials, and the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts will curate workspaces to facilitate the participants' specific needs. (For instance, a composer may work in a Juilliard practice studio while a painter requires a sunlit studio in SoHo.)

We are interested in artists who are working at all stages of their career.

Selected artists will receive travel to and from New York City, living accommodations, tickets to curated group and individual events and entertainment, and a daily stipend to cover food and travel in the city for those accepted to the Residency.

A key feature of the Artists Residency is the community built between cohort members throughout the week of their stay. In addition to their individual time working, artists-in-residence bond over meals, outings, and end-of-day gatherings and share their ideas and experiences together.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Artistic Excellence &
Creative Community

What’s in store at the Residency?

This special program is designed to bring six LDS artists to the heart of New York City to create at the intersection of cultural relevance and divine creativity.

AT A GLANCE

2026 Application

APPLICATION ELEMENTS

  • Personal information

  • Narrative application (3 short-essay responses)

    • Tell us about yourself

    • Describe your residency project

    • What makes your artistic approach unique?

  • (1) letter of recommendation from professional in your discipline

  • Resumé or professional CV

  • Discipline-specific work samples

  • Acknowledgments and confirmations

Questions about the Residency or your application can be sent to residency@centerforlatterdaysaintarts.org.

KEY DATES

  • 2026 Residency Dates: September 14-20, 2026

  • Applications open: February 9 2026

  • Application Deadline: March 15 2026 11:59pm EDT

  • Announcement of 2026 Residency artists: June 15 2026

Meet the Jury

OF THE 2026 ARTISTS RESIDENCY

Astrid Tuminez

SCHOLARSHIP

President, Utah Valley University (Utah)

Cameron King

DESIGN

VP of Creative at CASE design agency (New York)

Curt Holman

CHOREOGRAPHY

Chair, BYU Department of Dance; Artistic Director, BYU Ballroom Dance Company; 2026 Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer (Utah)

Jared Cardon

FILM

Emmy-winning writer, director, producer, and game designer (Utah)

Jenny Oaks Baker

MUSIC COMPOSITION

GRAMMY-nominated violinist, producer and founder of SoulFill Music Foundation (Utah)

Monica Heslington

VISUAL ART

Head of Goldman Sachs Family Office Art & Collectibles Strategy (New York)

  • America’s Violinist, Jenny Oaks Baker, is a GRAMMY-nominated, Billboard No. 1 performer and recording artist. She received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Bachelor’s degree from The Curtis Institute of Music. Jenny has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Library of Congress, and as a guest soloist with The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and the Jerusalem, Pittsburgh, Utah, and National Symphonies. Jenny has released twenty albums, including her latest, The Redeemer Deluxe Edition, which have sold over a million copies and consistently chart on Billboard. Music from her Grammy nominated album, Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to Walt Disney is featured at Disney World and Disneyland to introduce the nightly fireworks show.

    In her efforts to share the light of Christ with more of God’s children, Jenny is now producing and touring Christ-centered shows across the US. She also recently founded SoulFill Music Foundation to enable her faith-based productions, educational initiatives and musical diplomacy endeavors to reach wider audiences and bring more communities together. Jenny, her husband, Matthew, and their four children (musical group Family Four) are from Salt Lake City, Utah.

  • Monica received an undergraduate degree in Art History from the American University of Paris in France. She then worked at an international auction house and a major art gallery in New York City prior to obtaining a JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and an LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law. She currently leads the Goldman Sachs Family Office Art & Collectibles Strategy practice, where she advises collectors on a wide-range of art-nuanced tax, philanthropy and estate planning issues. She is a member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market) and also serves as a Director on the Board of the American University of Paris Foundation.

  • Cameron King is an advocate for collaborative creative communities and is obsessed with branding.

    As the son of a creative director and dad to three NYC art students, design runs in the family. After graduating with a BFA in Graphic Design, he directed photoshoots and helped design Martha Stewart Living magazine, earning multiple awards from the Society of Publication Designers.

    Currently as VP of Creative at CASE, Cameron pushes the creative team, hosts weekly inspiration share-outs, and co-creates with global megabrands and small start-ups to produce strategy-driven, award-winning, visually rich design solutions.

    Clients include: e.l.f. Beauty, Havaianas, Disney, Pepsi, Herman Miller, Johnson & Johnson, Bloomingdale’s, W Hotels, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sheraton, Estée Lauder Companies, and Shiseido.

    He serves the local design community on the education workgroup of the AIGA NY Board of Directors, partnering with local design leaders to champion emerging talent.

    You can usually find him getting inspired by a long run in Central Park.

  • In 2018, following a rich and storied career in business, philanthropy, and academia, Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez became the seventh president of Utah Valley University. She is the first woman to serve on a full-time basis as UVU president. Raised in the slums of the Philippines, Tuminez rose to become a world leader in the fields of technology and political science, most recently serving as an executive at Microsoft. She is also the former vice dean of research and assistant dean of executive education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

  • Jared Cardon is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker whose productions have garnered over 3 billion views worldwide and the praise of the New York Times, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and many others. Cardon co-created the Webby-Award-honored interactive conspiracy thriller, "The Book of Jer3miah", which The New York Times called, “a tight, suspenseful series...real drama, with real stakes and real consequences''; wrote and created the original comedy series "Pretty Darn Funny" and launched the hit family sketch comedy series "Studio C". His sitcom "Higher Ed" was named a Semi-Finalist in NBC’s national Comedy Playground competition, and his drama "La Linea" was selected as a Finalist for Sundance Institute’s Episodic Story Lab. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation in partnership with NASA and the Smithsonian, Cardon co-created two interactive experiences/ARGs, "DUST" and "The Tessera", the latter of which was an Official Selection at Indiecade.

  • Curt Holman is Chair of the Department of Dance at Brigham Young University and Artistic Director of the internationally renowned BYU Ballroom Dance Company. He is widely recognized as a leading choreographer in ballroom dance, noted for integrating large-scale theatrical production with traditional ballroom technique. His peer-reviewed and juried works have been presented internationally across Europe, Asia, and South America, including a recent commissioned production presented for the King and Queen of Thailand. Holman’s choreography has earned an unprecedented number of World Championship titles, and he is regularly sought by top professional ballroom dance couples to create competitive works. He is the recipient of BYU’s highest faculty honor, the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Faculty Lecturer Award, and is a frequent invited lecturer on the intersection of the arts, faith, and disciple scholarship.

Zinta Jaunitis

VISUAL ART

Artist, Creative Producer at Historic Royal Palaces, and 2025 Center Artist-in-Residence (United Kingdom)

Tara Westover

LITERATURE

American memoirist, essayist, historian, and New York Times-bestselling author (New York)

  • Zinta Jaunitis is a London-based artist and creative producer whose practice spans drawing, print and public facing contemporary art projects. With a background in art and design—holding a BA in Graphic Design and MAs in Visual Culture and Visual Arts—her practice draws on art history, literature, memory, and the everyday.

    Blurring the boundaries between observation and imagination, Zinta works with responsive materials such as ink, charcoal, and pastel, allowing movement and mark-making to arise. She is particularly drawn to folding formats—including the leporello and, more recently, the folding screen—which enable imagery to unfold through space and time. These structures invite associative narratives to emerge, revealing and concealing meaning through rhythm and sequence inherent in the fold.

    The interplay between chance and control significantly informs her practice. Zinta uses playful constraints—such as drawing with her non-dominant hand or responding to arbitrary prompts—to build up layers and invite the unexpected into her process.

    Since 2020, she has exhibited nationally and internationally. Alongside her studio practice, Zinta is a creative producer with Historic Royal Palaces, commissioning major public-facing, cross-disciplinary art projects within historic sites, including the Tower of London. She is represented by Woolwich Contemporary Editions for her original prints, and her work is held in private and public international collections. In 2025, she was awarded the national Women in Print prize. Zinta is also a member of Monday Night Collective, an international group of artists who met online producing collaborative zines focused on art and storytelling.

  • Tara Westover is an American historian and memoirist. Her first book, Educated, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the list, in hardcover, for more than two years. A memoir of her upbringing in rural Idaho, the book was a finalist for a number of national awards, including the L.A. Times Book Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. To date it has been translated into 49 languages. The New York Times named Educated one of the 10 Best Books of 2018, and the American Booksellers Association voted Educated the Nonfiction Book of the Year. In 2019, Time Magazine named Westover one of the 100 Most Influential People. Westover holds a PhD in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 2019 she was the Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard University. In 2023, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Biden.

Application Resources

PREPARE TO APPLY

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes—all artists are welcome and encouraged to apply again! Four members of our 2025 cohort had applied previously.

  • Yes. The residency is open to artists at all career stages, and emerging artists are encouraged to apply. For the purposes of this program, an emerging or early-career artist is someone whose first professional work was within the past three years, or who is a current or recent student. In keeping with the Center’s commitment to fostering rising talent, two seats in the 2026 residency cohort will be designated for artists who meet this definition.

  • No. Projects do not need to be explicitly spiritual or religious to be considered. The Center understands artistic creation itself as a meaningful, even spiritual, act, and welcomes projects across a wide range of subjects and approaches.

    Projects are evaluated primarily on artistic quality and potential. In keeping with the Center’s mission, jurors may also consider how an applicant’s work engages questions of divine creativity and cultural relevance, but exclusively devotional content is not required.

  • No. While the residency provides lodging, workspace, and travel, the Center is not able to supply additional personnel such as dancers, photographers, actors, musicians, or assistants. Artists are welcome to arrange their own collaborators.

    That said, in your application, feel free to describe your ideal or “dream” version of the project. It’s also helpful to let us know whether there’s a scaled or alternative version that could work with limited human resources, so we can better understand how feasible your project is within the residency.

  • No. While the residency provides lodging, workspace, and travel, the Center cannot guarantee access to specialized equipment. However, we will make best efforts to place artists in workspaces that meet their needs (such as natural light, sink access, non-precious floors, or a piano).

    In your application, feel free to describe your ideal or “dream” version of the project. It’s also helpful to note whether a scaled or alternative version could work with limited equipment, so we can better understand how feasible your project is within the residency.

  • Your project does not need to be New York–specific. The residency is held in New York City to offer artists access to a rich and varied cultural landscape, and jurors often appreciate when applicants think intentionally about how place might inform their work, whether through research, inspiration, engagement with the city’s artistic communities, or simply time and focus to create.

  • This week-long residency is designed for work, and intended to aid you in advancing your artistic practice. You might start, extend, polish, or continue a project during the duration of the residency.  

  • The writer of your recommendation letter should be someone who can speak to the quality of your work, the potential impact of this Residency on you, and your contributions to your chosen discipline.

  • Applicants must be at least 21 years of age, speak english, and self-identify as part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints community, whether by faith, heritage, and/or culture. We also ask that selected residents are able to provide their own supplies for their work, and agree to be photographed or filmed during their time at the residency.

  • Fluency in English is required for all participants.

    Participants should be confident conversing in English in a variety of settings, such as attending a live Broadway show, having group conversations with many people, and following written navigation or itinerary instructions.

    The Residency cannot provide an English-language interpreter for artists.

    If your application has work samples submitted in a language other than English, they will be translated via Google Translate.

  • Send an email to residency@centerforlatterdaysaintarts.org and we’ll get back to you soon.

Can a residency in the nation’s art capital of one week change an artist’s life? Of course it can, but it probably won’t take the full week to do it.
— Glen Nelson, Center co-founder, dir. of special projects

Meet the Artists of Past Cohorts

2023 | 2024 | 2025

The 2025 Residents

The six artists selected for the third annual Artists Residency at the Center, taking place September 2025 in New York City. They were selected by the following jury: Vanessa Cook, Tim Boyle, George Handley, Emily Larsen, Julián Mansilla, Jeff Simpson, and Doug Thomas.

The 2024 Residents

Meet the six artists of the 2nd annual Residency at the Center, October 9-14, 2024. They were chosen by a notable jury: Tacey M. Atsitty, Richard Bushman, Rose Datoc Dall, Nancy Heuston, Susan Elizabeth Howe, Jared Oaks, and Aaron Toronto.

Meet the artists and discover their works, below.

The 2023 Residents

Six artists comprised the inaugural cohort of the Residency, October 15-22, 2023. They were selected by a notable jury: Sheri Dew, Stanley Hainsworth, Melissa Leilani Larsen, Lance Larsen, Deon Nielsen Price, Walter Rane, and Ricardo Rendón.

Meet the artists and discover their works, below.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the many people who have provided assistance for the Residency, including the Center’s donors.

2023:

Application screeners

Guest speakers: Tara Bench, Allyson Chard, Walter Rane, and Joël René Scoville

Host: Stanley Hainsworth

Residency photographer: Sam Zauscher

Marketing and communications: Emily Larsen Doxford

Illustration: Isabelle Walton

Special event donors: Georgia and Warren Blosil family

2024:

Application screeners

Guest speakers: Richard and Claudia Bushman, Stanley Hainsworth, Walter Rane

Residency filmmaker: Chris Moore

Residency photographer: Veronica Harvey

Residency headshots: James Ransom

For the Center:

Mykal Urbina, executive director

Richard L. Bushman, emeritus chairman of the board

Stanley Hainsworth, chairman of the board

Glen Nelson, director of special projects

Veronica Harvey, director of marketing & communications

Emily Spung, residency project manager

Ron Schneider, finances