Jess Ambler, 2026

Pedantic welcomes artists from all parts of the globe and has hosted many residents who are based outside of the United States. We recognize that traveling into the U.S. has become a larger challenge due to the current administration. Pedantic will support visa applications and offer assistance as needed and able. However, we encourage prospective residents to research their country’s immigration and travel policies ensuring there is a potential path forward prior to applying.

Pedantic Arts Residency is a 4 week collective program that welcomes 3 creatives in visual art, organizing, and writing. It emphasizes an exploratory experience and fostering connections with the Pittsburgh arts community. It is not production-focused.

Pedantic Research Grant is a 1-2 week independent program for a creative in visual art, organizing, or writing. It is an opportunity to conduct self-motivated and Pittsburgh-related research on a specific subject or project.

Visual Artist: Anyone working in a creative field of the Fine Arts be it painting, craft, performance art, social practice, etc.

Organizer: Anyone working professionally or independently in a role centered on organizing, curating, producing, or facilitating Fine Arts exhibitions and/or programs.

Writer: Anyone working in a creative field of Writing be it nonfiction, cultural criticism, memoir, poetry, etc.

Pronouns are used to refer to a person when we’re not using their name. These might be he/him, she/her, they/them or other pronouns.

In English, pronouns are gendered, which means that the pronouns often refer to that person’s gender. However, because we can’t always tell someone’s gender just from looking at them, we can’t really know what pronouns to use for someone until we ask them.

Please list all pronouns that apply to you so we can know which to use and respect who you are.

For art objects PDF should include 5–10 high-res images (JPEGs, 300dpi at 3000×3000 max on either side) of 5–10 different artworks along with an image sheet detailing object titles, creation dates, medium descriptions, and dimensions.

For video or performance-based work PDF should include 3 links to video excerpts or documentation. We will watch up to 6 minutes of video per link.

For organizer applicants PDF should include 5–10 high-res images (JPEGs, 300dpi at 3000×3000 max on either side) documenting 1–5 exhibition(s) or curatorial program(s), along with the exhibition or event title, descriptive text (i.e. proposal brief or introductory text), checklist of artists and/or objects included, as well as the venue name and year of each exhibition or program.

For writer applicants PDF should include writing sample texts with any related illustrations as well as mention of where each piece has been published, if applicable. We will read up to 10 pages of content total (examples do not have to be full texts). Note that translation is not available at this time. Texts must be submitted in English.

NOTE: We require applicants to send PDF or compressed ZIP files of application materials. To learn how to create a ZIP file on your operating system, please read the instructions here.