Residency Partnerships 

AIRIE.Foundation is entering a new chapter.

For twenty-five years, AIRIE.Foundation has supported artists whose work explores the relationship between art and ecology within the Everglades.  Now, in its 25th Anniversary season, AIRIE.Foundation expands its mission and scope with the creation of Environments Everywhere, a residency partnership initiative designed to support artists across distinct ecological regions, cultural landscapes, and environmental communities.

The initiative builds on the foundation’s legacy in the Everglades while opening new pathways for artists to engage with environments beyond South Florida. Through Environments Everywhere, AIRIE.Foundation will partner with aligned residency programs and cultural organizations to create opportunities for artists to explore ecology, memory, stewardship, and share through their work the evolving relationship between people and land.

AIRIE.Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural Environments Everywhere residency partnership with Emerson Dorsch Artist Residency (EDAR) located in Western North Carolina. AIRIE.Foundation and the team behind EDAR bring decades of experience supporting artists and cultural initiatives. The Environment Everywhere residency collaboration emerges from a mutual belief that artists play a critical role in helping communities think through environmental change. Together, AIRIE.Foundation and EDAR supports a spirit of inquiry and exchange while opening new opportunities for artists to engage distinct ecological regions and communities.

 “Throughout our 25 years of work, we have seen the vital role artists play in connecting communities to the environments they inhabit. While the conversations we have fostered began in the Everglades, their relevance extends far beyond it. We are excited to launch the Environments Everywhere residency partnership with EDAR, an organization that shares our commitment to artists and the environment, and to expand our mission into new landscapes and communities.”
- Cornelius Tulloch, Global Artistic Director AIRIE.Foundation

Inspired by place-based learning and interdisciplinary experimentation associated with Black Mountain College and artist and pedagogical communities throughout Southern Appalachia, EDAR has become a site where artists engage ecology, cultural memory, and contemporary creative practice. In just a few years since relocating from South Florida to Western North Carolina, EDAR has partnered with universities, museums, archives, and cultural organizations throughout the region.

EDAR is more than a residency program. It is also a creative and intellectual project in which partners and artists participate in what we become. It is embedded in the environment, as we experiment with how to steward the land, feed ourselves, and support our programs. It is a cultural organization that serves as a dynamic connector in a place rich in history, innovation, and opportunity.

Through the Environments Everywhere residency,  AIRIE.Foundation Fellows will enter EDAR’s growing network of ecological, cultural, academic, and artistic collaborators. Furthermore, Fellows coming to EDAR will be immersed in a landscape unique for Southern Appalachia.

The first artists to participate as Environments Everywhere fellows are Sheherazade Thénard and Coco Villa in June 2026.

For more details, please visit www.airie.foundation or visit us on instagram @airie.foundation

About AIRIE.Foundation

AIRIE.Foundation supports artists working at the intersection of art, environment, and community. Through strategic funding, curatorial platforms, and public programs, we cultivate stewardship, elevate underrepresented narratives, and expand environmental dialogue locally and globally.

About Emerson Dorsch Artist Residency (EDAR)

Emerson Dorsch Artist Residency (EDAR) invites artists and thinkers to renew, reflect, and create on a 68-acre refuge in Western North Carolina. EDAR unites artmaking and ecology as a learning program where creative practice and environmental stewardship meet in dialogue with the land.