Join the list of generous funders, and support this important project, by making a bid or a donation to ARTS Southeast's Ossabaw Island Residency! Check out our Auction Items by clicking Auction at the top of this page. To learn more about becoming a Founding Sponsor of the Ossabaw Island Residency, please see details below

Ossabaw Island Residency Fellowship $5,000

Name an Artist Fellowship for the inaugural residency session. Your named fellowship sponsors one artist’s full participation including travel, lodging, meals, and a week of uninterrupted creative work on Ossabaw Island.

We are proud to announce the Suzanne Fitzallen Jackson Foundation Fellowship! The SFJF will support artists in 2026, 2027, and 2028.

Ossabaw Dinner Host $2,500

Dine with the first cohort of artists invited to the Ossabaw Island Residency. Enjoy a shared meal at Municipal Grand with creatives from around the country and Savannah, and be part of this defining moment for the residency program. (October 23 and October 31, 2026)

Local Residency Transport Sponsor $1,000

Sponsor the boat and ground transportation that carries artists from Savannah to Ossabaw Island

Provisions Sponsor $500

Support the meals that sustain the artists throughout their week on the island

With great thanks to our Founding Sponsors:

National Endowment for the Arts, the Judith Alexander Foundation, the Suzanne Fitzallen Jackson Foundation, Laney Contemporary, Betsy Cain, Helen Hamada, Karen Karp, Joshua Milliken, and Jo Ann Miles.

Your support will go directly towards costs associated with the first residency cohort, including: Private housing on Ossabaw Island, all meals during the residency period, and transportation from Savannah to and from the island.

About the Ossabaw Island Residency

Beginning this fall, two cohorts of artists will be selected to spend focused time on Ossabaw, Georgia’s third-largest barrier island. Just south of Savannah, Georgia, and accessible only by boat, Ossabaw features 26,000 acres of undeveloped maritime forest, tidal wetlands, and Atlantic shoreline. It is protected by the State of Georgia as a heritage preserve to be used for natural, scientific, and cultural study. The Ossabaw Island Residency both advances ARTS Southeast’s commitment to deep creative inquiry by providing artists time and space on Ossabaw and continues the island’s tradition of multidisciplinary study rooted in nature, culture, and reflection first established in 1961 by Eleanor Torrey West and Clifford B. West.

The residency is intended for artists’ ideas to emerge and take shape, free from urban distractions. It is open to emerging, mid-career, and established artists across disciplines who are encouraged to pursue self-directed work shaped by solitude, a sense of place, and the pace of natural rhythms.

Thank you for taking part in the release of IMPACT Magazine, Vol. 5 No. 1 at Laney Contemporary!

The latest issue of IMPACT is dedicated to Ossabaw Island and the artist residencies that thrived there in 60's and 70's. Those who have been to Ossabaw can attest to it's mystery and wild beauty - there is something divine in its feral nature and storied past. This year, ARTS Southeast is announcing the Ossabaw Island Residency program, launching this October. Rooted in the artistic legacy of the historic Ossabaw Island Project, the residency will bring artists to one of Georgia’s most significant barrier islands for a period of focused retreat, research, and creative exploration.

Ossabaw Island Residency Silent Auction