Classic form
Artist residency application form with a portfolio and work list
A residency panel looks at the images first and reads afterwards, so the portfolio instructions matter more than anything else on the form. This twelve field application caps the upload at ten images with a minimum resolution, pairs it with a numbered work list, and asks for a proposal that could only happen at this studio.
The form itself
A static copy of the finished form, exactly as it renders. Nothing here can be filled in or submitted, so read it as a reference and build your own from the button above.
Every field, and what it collects
The complete field list, in the order respondents meet it.
- Your name, or the name you work underNameRequired
- EmailShort textRequired
- City and country you are based inShort textRequired
- Website, portfolio or social accountShort text
- DisciplineMultiple choiceRequired
- Options: Painting and drawing · Printmaking · Sculpture and installation · Ceramics · Textiles and fibre · Photography · Moving image and sound · Writing and text based work · Socially engaged and participatory practice · Something that does not fit these
- Which residency period are you applying for?Single choiceRequired
- Options: Autumn, 2 March to 12 April · Winter, 1 June to 12 July · Spring, 7 September to 18 October · Summer, 30 November to 10 January · Any of them, whichever is available
- Artist statementLong textRequired
- Proposed projectLong textRequired
- What would you need the studio to provide?Multiple choiceRequired
- Options: Wet area and a sink big enough to wash screens · Ventilation for solvents or resin · A kiln, shared and booked in advance · Bench space and hand tools · A blackout space for projection · Quiet for recording · Wall space to hang work in progress · Nothing beyond the studio as it is
- Ten images of recent workFile uploadRequired
- Images only, up to ten files, 5 MB each, at least 1,500 pixels on the long side. Work from the last three years, one image per work unless a detail shot is essential. Name each file with the work title so it matches the list below. Do not send a PDF portfolio, because it is opened last and often not at all.
- Work sample list, in the order the images should be viewedTableRequired
- Columns: Title · Year · Medium and dimensions
- Access needs, or anything that would make the residency workable for youLong textRequired
About you
Your practice
Portfolio
Access and practical things
The portfolio field does most of the selecting
A panel looks at images before it reads anything, so the upload instructions here are longer than any other field description on the form. Ten images, 5 MB each, at least 1,500 pixels on the long side, work from the last three years, one image per work unless a detail is essential, file names matching the work list, and a plain statement that a PDF portfolio is opened last and often not at all. Each of those is a rule that improves what the panel sees, and none of them can be enforced by the upload control itself.
Asking for a proposal that needs this place
Residency proposals fail in a predictable way, by describing work the artist would do anywhere. The paragraph above the project question answers that with specifics: the studio sits on an estuary, it is 60 square metres with a concrete floor and north light, and the nearest town is twenty minutes away. Handing an applicant those details is what lets them write a proposal that uses them. The what would you need the studio to provide tick list works the same way, turning a vague technical requirement into eight things a studio manager can actually check.
How to adapt this form
A writing residency drops the studio requirements list and the image portfolio, and replaces both with a 3,000 word work sample upload and a question about the stage the manuscript is at. A funded residency with a selection fee adds a fee waiver question rather than a payment field, since a form cannot take money and a waiver is the part that needs recording. A residency for local artists only adds a postcode and a residency eligibility tick, which is a faster filter than reading every application first.
What makes this form work
The upload instruction carries seven rules
Ten images, 5 MB each, 1,500 pixels minimum, work from the last three years, one image per work, file names matching the list, and no PDF portfolio. None of those can be enforced by the control, so they are written where the artist is looking.
The studio is described before the proposal is asked for
An estuary, 60 square metres, a concrete floor, north light, and a town twenty minutes away. Giving an applicant those facts is what makes a site specific proposal possible to write.
The work list is ordered and numbered
Ten rows of title, year and medium in the order the images should be viewed. A panel gets a catalogue rather than a folder, and the numbering matches the file names the upload note asks for.
Questions people ask
How many portfolio images should a residency ask for?
Ten is the usual ceiling and it is what this form allows, because a panel viewing thirty applications is looking at three hundred images already. The field takes up to ten files with a five megabyte cap each and a minimum of 1,500 pixels on the long side, which is enough to project without asking artists to upload full resolution masters.
Why pair the upload with a work list?
Because an image file on its own has no title, year or medium, and a panel comparing two applicants needs all three. The ten row table supplies them in viewing order, and the upload instruction asks for file names that match. That pairing turns a folder of images into a readable set without asking anybody to caption inside the files.
Can this form accept a PDF portfolio instead?
The field is set to images only, deliberately. A PDF portfolio flattens the images, arrives at whatever resolution the artist exported, and is opened last, which the instruction says plainly. Being specific about it is kinder than accepting PDFs and then quietly ranking them lower, which is what happens on most open residency calls.
Why is the access needs question required?
Because an optional access question is skipped by the people who most need to answer it, and a blank is then ambiguous. Making it required with an explicit none option means every application carries a clear answer. The placeholder names step free access, a carer staying, refrigerated medication and travel arrangements, which signals the question is genuine.
Should a residency ask for a fee?
This one does not, and the intro says so. On the practical side, a form of this kind does not take payments, so a fee would have to be handled separately anyway. Where an application fee exists, the honest design is a question about a waiver, so the record of who asked for one sits with the application.
How do the studio requirement ticks get used?
By the studio manager, before the shortlist. Eight options covering a wet area, ventilation, a kiln, bench space, a blackout room, quiet for recording, wall space and nothing beyond the studio as it is. A resin practice arriving in a room with no ventilation is a problem discovered in week one, and this is the question that prevents it.
Build your own in about a minute
The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.
Make my artist residency application form with a portfolio and work listOther form examples
Art exhibition proposal form with a works list and install needs
A gallery programming committee is deciding whether a show fits a specific room, which is a question about dimensions as much as about ideas. This eleven field proposal form publishes the wall length, the ceiling height and the doorway width, then asks for a works list with sizes so the answer is checkable before the meeting.
Mentorship program application form for mentors and mentees
Running two separate forms for mentors and mentees means two sets of answers that cannot be compared, which is the hardest part of matching. This thirteen screen form asks both sides the same questions, including what they want out of it, and caps the expectations question at three ticks so a match has something specific to be built on.
Board member application form with a skills matrix on it
A nominations committee is filling gaps, not collecting resumes, so a board application has to produce something comparable across twenty candidates. This fourteen field form puts a six row skills matrix at the centre, asks for directorships as dated rows, and makes the conflicts declaration a required box that will not accept silence.
Want the steps in the builder? Read Every form field and when to use it, then Design your welcome and thank you screens. For everything this generator can do, see the form maker.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .