Announcing the 2026 Artists Residency Cohort
The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts is pleased to announce the six winning artists selected for The 2026 Artists Residency at the Center:
Camille Charbonneau (visual art, Canada)
Meg Dodini (choreography, Texas)
Tyler Gathro (visual art, Utah)
Laura Hatch (literature, Texas)
Emily Pack (music composition, Arizona)
Ahmed Jamal Qureshi (visual art, Norway)
With each new year, the Center’s Residency program continues to grow not only in visibility but in depth. The proposals received reflected a high level of artistic quality and creative vision across every artistic discipline.
“What stood out this year was not just the number and variety of applications, but the extraordinary level of thought, ambition, and artistic maturity behind them,” said Glen Nelson, who is the director of special projects for the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and moderated the jury’s selection process. “At the same time, we remain deeply committed to creating opportunities for emerging artists whose voices and perspectives deserve meaningful support at pivotal moments in their careers.”
The artists were chosen by a distinguished jury following discipline-specific reviews. The 2025 jury included Astrid Tuminez (President Utah Valley University, Utah), Cameron King (VP of Creative at CASE Design Agency, New York), Curt Holman (Chair of BYU Dept. of Dance, Utah), Jared Cardon (Emmy-winning writer, director, producer, and game designer, Utah), Monica Heslington (Head of Goldman Sachs Family Office Art & Collectibles Strategy, New York), Tara Westover (New York Times-bestselling author, New York), and Zinta Jaunitis (Creative Producer at Historic Royal Palaces, and 2025 Center Artist-in-Residence, UK). Glen Nelson served as jury moderator.
New Development Grants
In response to the exceptional strength of this year’s applicant pool, the Center has also announced a new round of Artist Development Grants. Underwritten and selected by the Center’s Board of Directors, these $1,000 grants are awarded to one applicant in each discipline and are intended to support promising projects that emerged from the adjudication process.
The 2026 Development Grant recipients are:
Barrett Burgin (film, Tennessee)
Talavou Fitisemanu (visual art, Utah)
James Goldberg (literature, Utah)
Bronté Hopkins (choreography, Utah)
Ellie Prisbrey (graphic design, Indiana)
Justin White (music composition, Florida)
An Artists Residency Like No Other
The 2026 residency will take place September 14-20 in New York City. The program offers selected artists travel and accommodations, a dedicated space to work, and a daily stipend. Each artist receives personalized support to develop new or existing work, using the city as both studio and stimulus.
Time spent with the other cohort members, however, often becomes one of the most meaningful aspects of the Residency. The artists will stay together in Manhattan and spend evenings at joint experiences and cultural events. “My studio practice can often feel like a silo,” said visual artist Tyler Gathro. “One of an artist’s most valuable assets is a fresh set of eyes (and hands) to test the emotional resonance of a new work before it reaches the gallery wall. So I’m excited to be with a group of artists who have a vocabulary for the sacred from whom I can receive feedback.”
Meet The 2026 Cohort
The 2026 cohort brings a vibrant diversity of voices, disciplines, and perspectives to the Residency, with projects that engage deeply with personal, cultural, and spiritual themes:
Canadian visual artist Camille Charbonneau will focus on crafting suspended sculptures that appear as drawings in space using wire and chain.
Texas-based choreographer Meg Dodini will be developing choreography that explores humans as spiritual beings and part of God's meticulous design along three themes: Intelligence, Organization, and Divine Reflection.
Tyler Gathro, a visual artist in Utah, will continue two series that are part of his current body of work– “Paternal Impressions,” which captures his experience as a father, and “Evidence of Things Not Seen,” which uses braille as a primary visual element.
Laura Hatch, a poet from Texas, will continue work on her first full-length book of poetry titled "Homemaking", which deals with issues of faith, grief, feminism, and depression.
Folk singer and songwriter Emily Pack of Arizona will create comedic folksongs about the Utah pioneers and early Utah settlement.
Norway-based visual artist Ahmed Jamal Qureshi will create illuminated texts referencing the Book of Mormon, inspired by medieval Qur'ans and Arabic Bibles.
This cohort will be the 4th group to participate in the Center’s Residency program, which began in 2023. Many artists from previous years have since cited the Residency as a meaningful experience that served as a launchpad for their continued creative work. In addition to the residency experience itself, the program has increasingly become a catalyst for new collaborations, exhibitions, performances, publications, and other creative projects that continue long after artists return home.
