New York September 2025 Application — Seven Gardens Residency

Seven days in New York filled with rug making, Persian poetry and much more.

Our main space for the week will be the (Persian co-owned!) Queens Collaborative craft studio in Long Island City, Queens. The studio is stocked with everything needed for all five residents to make and finish tufted rugs. Residents can choose to use their studio time to make as many tufted rugs as they want. They will use some of their studio time to collaborate on a mural design to be painted on an outside wall of our residency in Iran (photo of mural location below).

The basic structure of our days will be:

9am-5pm Studio time and residents-only workshops (Persian rug making and rug-tufting)

5pm and later we will have evening workshops or events that are open to the public (Persian poetry writing, Patteh embroidery, performative picnics, artist talks etc). We hope these evenings will lead to our artists sparking personal connections with the local Iranian community. Some of our activities will be facilitated long-distance by artists living in Iran. We will know our residency is successful if residents and facilitators end the week feeling more connected to the Iranian art world and beyond.

Some group meals and refreshments will be provided, but not every day.

Residency fee includes a small custom-made Persian rug, made in Iran that residents will receive upon arrival in New York in September. Send in initial rug ideas below, with final designs due by June 30.

Name

First Name

Last Name

Website

Please link to art portfolio website or artist social media account

http://

Statement of Interest

Please describe your interest in attending our Iranian art program in New York

Workshop Idea

Optional: If you want to lead a paid community workshop during the residency pitch it here

I understand that lodging is not included in the residency fee, and will secure my own housing for the duration of the 7 day program

Yes

Where did you first hear about Seven Gardens Residency?

Example of a rug we have had made by an Iranian weaver. Please keep designs simple and be flexible with things like color accuracy for these rugs. We plan to offer more custom rug commission opportunities in the future.

Studio partner Queens collaborative, where we will spend most of our time together

Our collaborative mural will go on this walL in Mahan, Kerman. The wall still needs to be finished/smoothed. We estimate the mural will be painted by december 2025, by our team in iran.

Important Dates and Deadlines

Applications due June 20, 2025. Only successful applicants will be contacted, within one week of due date.

Residency fee of $775 (includes all workshops, materials, custom rug and some meals) due by the end of July 2025 and can be paid in installments.