[Side Arts Certified Sponsored Listing] A.I.R. Studio Paducah offers residencies of two weeks to three months year-round to visual artists, composers, architects, improvisational dancers, poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. This residency affords residents the time and space for focused, independent work, the development of new ideas and experimentation.

Click here for the application / registration

Deadline: Rolling Admissions

Applications are currently being reviewed for 2025 residencies with limited dates still available in July and August 2024.

Residents are provided with a private efficiency apartment and studio space, located in the Lower Town Arts District of Paducah, Kentucky, six blocks from the Ohio River. The cost of the residency is $700 for two weeks and $1,000 per month.

Accessibility accommodations include an accessible front sidewalk and entrance, accessible studio doorways, and a walker-accessible bathroom with handrails.

A.I.R. Studio Paducah is a residency created to offer a quiet live and work environment to a wide spectrum of creatives. The studio is in walking distance of several area cultural centers, galleries, and performance venues as well as the tranquil banks of the Ohio River. The studio features a storefront multi-purpose display space that can be used to host exhibitions or special presentations during the residency. Visiting residents not only benefit from supportive interaction with the surrounding arts community, but also benefit from joining a network of past residents with whom they can exchange ideas and form lasting professional relationships.

“The time at AIR was creative, meditative, restorative. The two of us lived a simple life, made good food, came together for meals twice a day, walked to several nearby restaurants for a change of pace. The flexibility of the space was great for writing — we were able to pitch separate camps or share space to work together according to our needs. We used the front window, the dining table, miscellaneous perches that the lightweight folding tables made possible, and, thanks to a spell of marvelous Kentucky weather, the picnic table outside, where I greeted first light, enjoyed happy hour, and sometimes wrote well past dark. Twice a day we went walking around Lower Town, enjoying the wide streets, the lovely buildings, and the friendly greetings of strangers. I did not anticipate enjoying Paducah so much.” – Bill Beverly

About A.I.R. Studio Paducah

A.I.R. Studio Paducah, now in its 19th year as an artist residency program, is situated in the heart of the LowerTown Arts District, Paducah, Kentucky. Since 2004, creatives from around the country and abroad have passed through A.I.R. doors to make the most of the space and a stretch of undistracted time as envisioned by founder Alonzo Davis, himself an artist.

Drawn to Paducah by the Artist Relocation Program, Davis initially considered LowerTown as the location for a personal studio/retreat. Inspired, however, by working retreat experiences in California, Costa Rica, Connecticut, Wyoming, Colorado, and Virginia, Davis decided instead to establish an artist residency program. Not only would visiting artists benefit, but also interaction with a changing influx of creatives from outside could lend an additional dynamic to the evolving LowerTown community. An active residency program heightens the arts district visibility in the world of artist’s communities nationally and internationally.

For more information, contact airstudiopaducah@gmail.com