Helene Wurlitzer Foundation
The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico (HWF) is a private, 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational and charitable organization committed to supporting the arts.
Founded in 1954, the HWF manages one of the oldest artist residency programs in the USA. The Foundation’s mission is to “Support the artist and the creative process” and serves as a haven for visual artists, literary artists and music composers.
The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation is located on fifteen acres in the heart of Taos, New Mexico, a multicultural community renowned for its popularity with artists.
Artist Residency Program
The Foundation offers three months of rent-free and utility-paid housing to people who specialize in the creative arts. Our eleven artist casitas, or guest houses, are fully furnished and provide residents with a peaceful setting in which to pursue their creative endeavors.
The Foundation accepts applications from painters, poets, sculptors, writers, playwrights, screenwriters, composers, photographers, and filmmakers of national and international origin.
Applications are reviewed by a selection committee consisting of professionals who specialize in the artistic discipline of the applicant. Numerous jurors serve on committees for each: visual arts, music composers, writers, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers. Jurors, who know nothing about the artist’s demographics, score in five categories based purely on the merit of the applicant’s creative work samples.
Artists in residence have no imposed expectations, quotas, or requirements during their stay on the HWF campus. The HWF’s residency program provides artists with the time and space to create, which in turn enriches the artistic community and culture locally and abroad.
Touching Artist Lives
For 67 years the HWF has committed to perpetuating Helene’s legacy of supporting artists by providing charitable assistance to thousands of artists from all over the world. When artists come to Taos to create in one of our adobe casitas they bring creativity and artistic influence, perpetuating Taos’ rich history as an art community. After their residency, they take a little piece of Taos back to where they’re from.
Past grantees have included painter Agnes Martin, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer N. Scott Momaday, award-winning composer Andrea Clearfield, painter and independent filmmaker Cynthia Madansky, among many others.
