Residents for the Fall 2025 Session
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Residents for the Fall 2025 Session *
BIAC supports two artist programs on Block Island : Sea Breeze Artist and Writer Residency, and Low Season Artist Projects. The Sea Breeze Artist & Writer Residency and Low Season Projects are two distinct but collaborative arts initiatives serving the Block Island community. While both programs share fiscal sponsorship and co-host select public events, each maintains an independent mission and structure. The Sea Breeze Residency operates as a juried working residency designed to provide dedicated studio time for artists and writers. Low Season Artist Projects is an artist-led residency that centers creative research, community dialogue, education, and professional development to accepted artists.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Block Island Arts Council, The RI Foundation, Roosa Foundation, Block Island Tourism Council, Block Island Arts and Crafts Guild, The Spring Street Gallery, The Island Free Library, and private donations.
Sea Breeze Artist & Writer Residency
A Juried Working Residency
Prioritizing creative development, process, and sustained artistic inquiry.
The Sea Breeze Artist & Writer Residency provides dedicated time and space for artists and writers to focus deeply on their work. Selected through a formal and diverse jury process that includes members of the Block Island community, professional artists and writers, and past residents. The residency hosts 1–2 visual artists and 1 writer per session, twice annually. Residents are provided accommodations and meals at the Sea Breeze Inn, studio space for visual artists, and dedicated writing space for writers. The program is intentionally structured to offer uninterrupted time for creative research, experimentation, and production within a supportive environment.
In addition to dedicated studio time, residents take part in select public programs that engage the broader island community. These include a welcome dinner, public reception, artist and writer talks at the library, classes and workshops at the local school, and a studio tour.
Low Season Projects
A Community Engaged Artist Residency
Emphasizing accessibility, education, and critical engagement.
Making space for creative research, community connection and professional development, Low Season Artist Projects is an artist-led residency that brings artists to Block Island during the low season for creative work, public exchange, and community connection. Artists are given dedicated time to work or recharge their artistic practice, while also offering meaningful public engagement in return. In partnership with the Block Island Arts Council, the Old Town Inn, island property owners, and local institutions, the program gives artists time to explore the island’s landscape, ecology, history, and culture. The residency is designed as a community-facing initiative that centers dialogue, education, and shared creative experience. Resident artists are hosted at the Old Town Inn and participate in public programming such as artist talks, workshops at the BI School, and open studio events. Residents are also paired with a visiting critic for feedback and professional development. These activities create meaningful opportunities for exchange between artists, community members, and the wider art world.
Capucine Bourcart, Sea Breeze Artist Resident: teaching a class at the BI School; giving an artist talk at the Island Free Library.
Erik DeLuca, Low Season Artist, teaching students at the BI High School.
Tree Abraham, Sea Breeze Writer Resident, giving a talk about her work at the Island Free Library.
Capucine Bourcart is an artist based in New York City whose work spans photography, mixed media, and public art. She transforms everyday materials through embroidery and knitting to explore the boundary between the discarded and the precious. Bourcart’s work has been shown at Art on Paper, Art Wynwood, and Flux Art Fairs, collected by museums in France and New York, and supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Uniqlo Park Expressions, and The Puffin Foundation. Sponsored by The Sea Breeze Artist and Writer Residency.
Tree Abraham is a Brooklyn-based writer, book designer, and art director who blends fragmented essays with mixed media visuals. She is the author of Cyclettes (Unnamed Press, 2022), a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and elseship (Soft Skull Press, 2025), and serves as associate art director at Grand Central Publishing. Her work has appeared in Literary Hub, Electric Literature, and The Author Journal. Sponsored by the Sea Breeze Artist and Writer Residency.
Erik DeLuca is an artist and experimental musician whose projects use sound, performance, and text to explore how power shapes memory and communication. His work has been presented at MASS MoCA, the Hammer Museum, and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and his writing appears in Public Art Dialogue, Mousse, and Boston Art Review. DeLuca is Associate Professor of Art Education and Contemporary Art Practice at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Sponsored by Low Season Artist Projects.
Residents for the Spring 2025 Session
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Residents for the Spring 2025 Session *
The Block Island Arts Council is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of our community to deliver its mission. When donating please denote how you would like the money allocated.
All donations are tax deductible.