About the Core Program
Applications for the Core Residency Program 2025–2026 term open on January 1, 2025, and close on April 1, 2025. If you have questions, please contact Joe Eldredge, Core Residency Program Coordinator: jeldredge@mfah.org
The Core Residency Program awards residencies to exceptional, highly motivated visual artists and critical writers who have completed their undergraduate or graduate training and are working to develop a sustainable practice. Residents engage with a wide range of leading artists, critics, curators, and scholars who are invited to meet individually with the residents, lead seminars, and deliver public lectures.
Fellows are expected to be active in their own creative and/or critical practice, whatever form that takes. Core fellows come together as a community of thinkers and makers to engage in an ongoing dialogue, the content of which is driven by contemporary concerns, the interests and work of the fellows, and the Core lecture series and visitors.
The residency term is nine months (September to May), and fellows may apply for a second term. Tuesday mornings are reserved for group discussions, and public lectures take place on Thursday evenings. Each spring the program mounts an exhibition of work produced during the current residency term, accompanied by a publication featuring essays by the critical-studies residents and documenting the work of all the residents. Critical-studies residents may apply for support for a curatorial project in their second year.
Residents receive a $21,500 stipend, 24-hour access to a private studio or office, and borrowing privileges at the MFAH Hirsch Library and Rice University Fondren Library. Limited administrative and financial support is available for successful international applicants seeking J-1 visas through the program’s partner organization, International Arts & Artists. No support is provided for other visas.
More Information
Contact Joe Eldredge, Core Residency Program Coordinator, at jeldredge@mfah.org
Margo Handwerker, Dean of Core Program
Margo Handwerker
Margo Handwerker is the dean of the Core Residency Program. She holds a PhD from Princeton University’s School of Architecture and a master's degree in art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to joining the MFAH, Handwerker served as the director of the Texas State Galleries at Texas State University. She is also a member of M12 STUDIO, an interdisciplinary collective dedicated to creating artworks, research projects, and educational initiatives focused on context and place.
Joe Eldredge, Core Residency Program Coordinator
Joe Eldredge
Joe Eldredge provides assistance to the Core Program and its residents, aiding them in their projects and ensuring they have ample space to focus on their practice. A student of the arts and humanities with extensive experience in curating, archives, and administrative work, and an artist himself, Eldredge led presentations and curated several exhibitions during his time at the Special Collections & Archives at Brigham Young University–Idaho.
Support the Core Program
The Core Program relies on generous patron support, which provides resources for Fellow stipends and supplies, exhibitions, and lectures related to the program’s activities. Contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated, and, to engage further with the program and the Core Fellows, membership in the Core Salon offers a variety of exclusive benefits. Membership is offered at the levels listed below.
CORE 10X10
$10,000 (FMV $1,000)
All of the benefits of CORE SALON plus:
- A limited-edition work of art by a former Core Fellow
Past editions have featured the work of alumni such as Mark Allen, David Aylsworth, Nick Barbee, Amy Blakemore, Sharon Engelstein, Francesa Fuchs, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Demetrius Oliver, Karyn Olivier, Sergio Torres-Torres, and Brad Tucker.
CORE SALON
$2,500 (FMV $200)
- Invitations to up to three exclusive Salon events.
- Recognition at the annual Core Exhibition and in the annual Core publication.
- A complimentary copy of the annual Core publication
For more information, or to contribute, please contact Haley Horan: hhoran@mfah.org
The Core Program at the Glassell School of Art receives generous funding from The Joseph & Sylvia Slifka Foundation; The Powell Foundation; and The Glassell Family Foundation.
Core fellowships have been underwritten by Anchorage Foundation of Texas; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc.; Mr. Brad Blume; Mr. Ronald A. Logan; McClain Gallery; Karen S. Pulaski; and The Arch and Stella Rowan Foundation, Inc.
Additional support is provided by: Ellen and David Berman; Ms. Karol Kreymer and Dr. Robert J. Card; Ms. Bettie Cartwright; Mrs. Jereann H. Chaney Mr. and Mrs. Jamal H. Daniel; Heidi and David Gerger; Cecily Horton; Scott and Judy Nyquist; Mr. and Mrs. Howard C. Robinson; Marc Schindler; Alana R. Spiwak and Sam L. Stolbun; and Cynthia Toles;
Endowments for the Core Program have been provided by Leslie and Brad Bucher; gifts in memory of Laura Lee Blanton; the estate of Margaret Gillingham; Rusty Burnett; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Eliza Lovett Randall; Herbert C. Wells; and Warren A. Hadler.