Fellowship Overview
VisArts’ Sanctuary Studio Fellowship provides support for a promising contemporary visual artist who’s emerging and/or a recently relocated refugee or asylee.
The Fellowship includes a one-year studio residency; a $500 monthly stipend; a solo exhibition; opportunities to share and exchange with the public through teaching, workshops, open studio visits, and artist talks; and a community of artist peers.
The Sanctuary Studio Fellow joins a community of artist peers who are part of VisArts’ Studio Artist Program. The program provides individual artists or collaborative artist teams with opportunities for experimentation, creative exploration, professional development, public exchange, and critical dialogue in a supportive, inclusive, and respectful environment.
A mentor will assist the Sanctuary Studio Fellow with the development of creative and professional goals; access to resources and services; navigation of local artist opportunities for exposure of the Fellow’s work; and an exchange of ideas.
How Does Selection Work?
Currently, Sanctuary Studio Fellows are selected through nomination and invitation only.
The Sanctuary Studio Fellowship alternates with our Next Generation Fellowship.
VisArts is really a sanctuary. For an artist, there is nothing more important than a place to work. It has given me peace, and at the same time, I found another community.
Current Fellows
Sughra Hussainy
Sughra Hussainy
Sughra Hussainy
VisArts’ Sanctuary Studio Fellow, Sughra Hussainy, is a painter, educator, and textile artist currently based in Baltimore Maryland. Hussainy studied traditional painting and wood carving at the Turquoise Mountain School in Afghanistan. After being invited to the US to exhibit her work at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (Freer | Sackler Galleries), she received her Masters in Fine Art from the Community Art program at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). 
sughrahussainy.com
2023 - 2026
Want to Help?
Host an Artist
Currently, we aren’t able to provide housing for our Studio Artists, which may limit applications from those who live outside the Washington, DC metro area.
Interested in hosting an artist? Please submit the Host an Artist form and we’ll contact you when an artist needs a local place to stay.