Claremont MakerSpace Spring Artist Residency Opens With League of NH Craftsmen Grant
Claremont MakerSpace secured a League of NH Craftsmen grant to relaunch its artist residency after a state arts council defunding killed the winter program. Applications close April 6.
A League of New Hampshire Craftsmen grant is keeping Claremont MakerSpace's artist residency alive after state defunding forced a winter cancellation, with the organization opening applications for its Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence program and a tight two-week window to apply.
Claremont MakerSpace announced the Spring 2026 AiR program on March 23, backed by a Craft Education Program Enhancement grant from the League of NH Craftsmen. "CMS is honored to receive a Craft Education Program Enhancement grant from the League of NH Craftsmen to fund the spring 2026 residency," the organization stated. The selected resident will work at the space from April 13 through June 30.
The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. EDT Monday, April 6, with the selected applicant notified by April 10. Claremont MakerSpace acknowledged the compressed timeline directly: "We recognize this is an accelerated application process but we are eager to reactivate the program since the winter residency was cancelled."
That cancellation traces to the defunding of the NH State Council on the Arts in 2025. The Arts Council had awarded CMS a Community Engagement grant in late 2024 to carry the program through all of 2025, most recently hosting woodworker Margo Dunlap as artist-in-residence from October through December 2025. When the Arts Council lost its funding, the winter 2026 residency was cancelled while CMS searched for a replacement sponsor.
The program's financial history reflects the recurring challenge of sustaining arts infrastructure in a small New Hampshire city. CMS originally launched the AiR program in 2018 with support from the NH State Council on the Arts, but it went dormant in 2022. The organization relaunched it in October 2024 through a sponsorship by Maine Oxy and the Northern Borders Regional Commission before the Arts Council grant bridged the program through 2025.
Applications for the spring 2026 residency are available through the Claremont MakerSpace website at claremontmakerspace.org.
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