2025 Volland Residency Program
Applications are now closed.
If you have a question, please contact us here
The Volland Foundation is committed to providing time and space for creative practitioners of a wide range of disciplines to gather in a community setting for work, thought and exchange of ideas, and to experience immersion in a unique ecosystem and rural culture.
Volland is located in the Flint Hills of Kansas, a place of extraordinary beauty and exquisite subtlety: rolling hills, distant horizons, and a sky full of stars. It is the largest remaining contiguous area of tallgrass prairie in North America that once stretched from Texas to the Canadian border, from the western edge of Indiana to eastern Kansas. Only 4% of it remains. The Flint Hills is the most endangered ecosystem in the world.
The Railroad Tracks at Volland, photo by Tielin Ding, Fall 2023 Resident
I am leaving gloriously bewildered and deeply mystified and fully in awe of the raw magic of connection and proximity—to others, to art, and to the world. – Lindsey Drager, 2023 Volland Resident
from “Embracing the Enigma, an Account of the Volland Residency Experience”
Volland provides three rarities in today’s world: quiet, darkness, solitude.
If you’re looking for an artist residency that offers quiet in a singularly beautiful landscape, the freedom to structure your own time, and a surrounding community that’s friendly and embraces art and artists, then The Volland Foundation residency is for you. During my residencies there as a poet, I found a quality of concentration and openness that I’ve not experienced elsewhere. Ever. It has influenced me and my work in the deepest possible ways. – Mary Pinard, Poet
The Residency
In 2025, Volland is again offering residencies across the spring, summer, and fall seasons. The distractions of daily life often drift away at Volland, leaving meaningful time for work, personal discovery and engagement with nature. In addition to time and space, other resident artists, staff, and local residents endow a sense of community to the residency program.
Volland seeks applicants in all stages of their career (emerging, mid-level, professional) and all areas of the globe: local, national and international. The Foundation is committed to equity and welcomes people from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. Residents who enjoy solitude, working independently and are self-guided will do well in this residency. Applicants should consider whether this is the right environment for them. Volland is located 8 miles outside of Alma, a town of 900 people. The nearest grocery store is a 30-minute drive.
If you are especially sensitive to noise and distractions, please note that Volland is near the railway, and the Foundation holds public programming during residencies.
Applicants are encouraged to visit “Where Residents Live and Work” and read below to better understand the conditions of this rural setting.
Volland Provides
- Housing and studio space
- $500/$1000 stipend for two/four week residents, respectively
- Local library access
- Occasional group meals
- Free admission to Volland Foundation programming during the residency
- Assistance with connections needed to aid a residency project
Residents Provide
- Transportation and associated costs
- A vehicle for the duration of their residency
- Art materials and shipping costs
- Meals
- A $25 residency application fee
The Volland Foundation does not require residents to complete or show work during their residency, believing they are best suited to determine how this offering of time and space is used. Volland encourages some degree of public interaction during residencies. Past examples include group open studios or a presentation, trips to the local museum for research or participation in a group activity, and attendance at local gatherings. The foundation asks residents to determine their level of public engagement.
2025 Residencies
Spring
April 15 – April 29 | 2-week residency | 4 openings
May 6 – May 20 | 2-week residency | 4 openings
Summer
June 10 – July 9 | 4-week residency | 1 opening
June 10 – June 24 | 2-week residency | 1 opening
June 25 – July 9 | 2-week residency | 1 opening
Fall
September 16 – October 15 | 4-week residency | 1 opening
September 16 – September 30 | 2-week residency | 1 opening
October 1 – October 15 | 2-week residency | 1 opening
Stipulations
Because of the remote location, it is necessary for all participants to have a car during their residency, plus a valid driver’s license. Residents must arrive and depart on the stated times of the residency.
Residents are responsible for their own meals. Evening meals are a pleasant time for interaction, and shared meals may be arranged by residents at their discretion.
Spouses interested in their own residency should apply separately.
A collaborative team may apply for a residency.
Family is welcome to visit on the weekends, but must acquire their own accommodations offsite.
The rural nature of Volland means the Foundation cannot ensure the safety of pets. As a result, we ask they stay home for the duration of your residency.
Feedback during and after your time at Volland is appreciated so that we may learn from your experience.
Volland encourages its residents share their experience on their social media channels.
Information and photos describing residents’ experience at Volland will be shared on our website and on social media.
More from former residents –
2024 Residents
It’s so important that art isn’t only valued in cities and urban areas. Residencies and arts spaces in rural areas, such as Volland, allow for new connections for both artists and rural communities and for people to inspire each other through culture and creativity.
–
Tori Lawrence and Ellie Goudie-Averill, 2024 Volland Resident collaborators
spoke with Sheridan Wimmer, editor,
Kansas Living,
about their time at Volland.
It has been an amazing journey and a very productive one, even beyond my expectations.
-Isabelle Hayeur, Volland Resident, Fall 2024
What a residency it has been!
Fieldwork (September): 1,932 mile
Fieldwork (October): 1,598 miles
September/October: 122 Post Office Portraits, 85 of those in the Flint Hills
–
Mary Welcome, Volland Resident, Fall 2024
2023 Residents
Further Context
ABOUT VOLLAND | About 100 miles west of Kansas City, Volland is located in a picturesque valley of the Kansas Flint Hills. Its home county, Wabaunsee County, is highly agrarian, but is nestled in between several small population centers.
It was the exceptional quality of tallgrass prairie that brought cattle by train to the Flint Hills from points farther south. The deep roots of the tall grasses defied drought, and cattle could graze and fatten up before being shipped on to market. Shipping points were established every eight to ten miles along the railroad to replenish coal and water for steam engines, and small towns grew up around them.
Volland was one of those shipping points in the early 20th century, and two brothers, Bill and Otto Kratzer, opened Kratzer Brothers Mercantile there in 1904. Otto, the young storekeeper, relished bringing the newest and best of everything to Volland, and it quickly became the social and cultural center of the ranching community that surrounded it.
The brothers prospered, and in 1913 they built a big brick store (now The Volland Store) to add to their enterprise. Cattle pens, a robust train schedule, and the Kratzer Brothers Mercantile made Volland a lively place, but this all changed after trucking cattle became the predominant method of shipping. By 1971, the economy had changed, the population had declined, and the Store closed upon Otto’s death. It sat vacant for forty years and was in danger of being torn down. By 2011, a small remnant of the town remained: the boarded-up Kratzer stores (original and “new”), a few houses and outbuildings, two residents, and then one. Learn more about the history of Volland here .
Today, the Volland Foundation revives that sense of community through the arts with exhibitions, programming and its residency program.
ART AND COMMU NITY | In 2015, The Volland Store reopened after substantial renovations. It was re-purposed as an art gallery and gathering place for the community. It became a destination for visitors from near and far, building a community of supporters from across the country and attracting artists, poets, and musicians. An architectural award-winning space, it thrives on good art and friendly conversation.
In 2017, the Volland Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established to own the properties and oversee activities at Volland, including art exhibitions and community programming in t he gallery, performances at an outdoor venue called the “Ruin,” , the History, Nature, and Sculpture Trail, the M.T. Liggett Sculpture Park , and guest accommodations in the Loft and the Little House. For a fuller sense of what happens at Volland, visit our Current Happenings page.
In 2023, the official Volland Artist Residency program was established.
From the founders, Patty and Jerry Reece: “A number of artists, writers, poets, musicians, designers, and scientists have spent time in Volland since it first reopened. We observed how they connected deeply to this place, and we understand the power of the tallgrass prairie to inspire and refresh. The Volland Foundation offers space and time for creative practitioners of various disciplines to live and work, to step outside their daily lives, to dream, and let creative juices flow.”
We believe that the gift of time and space in this wide-open landscape can create a change in the creative trajectory of those who participate in the residency program at Volland.
We welcome your application.
