Artist Residency Program
A space to belong and become
Now in its tenth year of artist residency programming, FTGU elevates sidelined voices, sparks essential community dialogue, and champions the creation of stories that are too often overlooked. By bringing these stories to the forefront, and by centering the artists behind them, the organization creates spaces that empower, challenge norms, invite the unusual, and forge new pathways that uplift individuals and communities.
Applications for 2027 Open August 1st, 2026
the basics:
This six month Artist Residency Program is a 6 month program that offering artists and community members alike the space, resources, support and visibility needed to bring their imaginings, ideas and unique vision to life!
Led by Katherine Murphy Lewis, who is not simply the nonprofit’s founder; she is a director and dramaturg with a singular creative methodology refined over a decade of practice. Her work spans physical theater, contemporary dance, storytelling, clown, and stand-up comedy — frequently within a single production. Critics note the way her process yields work that is “real and raw yet polished and top-tier.”
Under Katherine’s leadership, with support for our Program Director and our dynamic team of Associate Artists, each resident will be given the mentorship, training, support and resources to fully realize their project. In this process driven program Katherine has developed a curriculum and creative approach that centers each participants authentic voice - giving everyone who enters ‘the room’ the opportunity to create work from their most authentic self!
“I had the chance to find my courage to speak my truth. Doing things I’d never done before - which often ended up being far more rewarding than I could’ve imagined. I can’t imagine where my creative life would be right now without having found From the Ground Up.”
Incoming residents will engage in workshops, structured feedback sessions, one-on-one sessions with our Artistic Director and artistic team, while drawing upon a dynamic and inspiring cohort of other artists and makers. In this residency you will receive:
Personalized Direction
Creative Mentorship
Access to open studio time
Production support (ticketing, marketing, design and tech support)
Promotional materials (Production Photos and Video)
25 % discounts on our community workshops and intensives (CLICK HERE to see our workshops/intensives page for this years schedule)
Professional mentorship during and after you leave the program
A dynamic creative community of people all working towards the same goal.
You will leave having presented your emerging work in our annual New Works Festival, with greater self producing/directing skills, ongoing mentorship from From the Ground UP and their team and a production packet for your emerging work that is ready to enter the next stage of development.
OUTCOMEs
Few organizations of any size can point to a clear, replicable pathway from residency to nationally recognized performance; FTGU can. Several alumni have continued success post Residency Program including moving onto the Liminal Series to fully realize their piece.
Andrea Parson entered the 2022 residency cohort, premiered work in the New Works Festival, developed through the Liminal Series with Katherine’s direction and dramaturgy, toured the Pacific Northwest, and won Best Physical Theater at the Fall United Solo Festival 2024 in New York City, all through FTGU’s pipeline. This is a working model.
“Working within this community for the last six months has revitalized a sense of belonging and a yearning to keep creating, to keep waking up and believing there is beauty and meaning and connection to be found.”
Program Details
WHEN:
February 2027-July 2026
WHERE:
TBA
COST:
The costs of creating, rehearsing and presenting new live art is at best prohibitive if not totally out of reach for most individual artists locally and nationally. This program is designed to support artists in getting their work up and out into the world. By working inside a cohort and within a festival model FTGU is able to reduce the costs of presenting new work.
We have estimated that to fully produce one weekend of a Solo or small cast show here in Portland - with a full artistic and production team (aka director, tech team, marketing- press, printing etc), rehearsal and performance space would cost roughly 10K. By consolidating our resources through the festival we are able to produce each artists for roughly $7500.
Since FTGU operates on a foundational conviction: the room only does its job when it is built for the people who most need to be in it. To make sure we meet this marker we automatically subsidize $2500 of the cost for each artist and have created a sliding scale payment model to create accissible for our flagship program.
SLIDING SCALE PRICE POINTS
SUPPORTING —- $5000
SUSTAINABLE —- $3750
ACCESSIBLE —- $2500
From the Ground UP is committed to ensuring that our programming remains accessible to all those interested. If the cost of this program is a barrier please email Katherine at katherineftgu@gmail.com.
Please note that our financial assistance programs prioritize communities and individuals who would otherwise not be able to afford this program, including but not limited to BIPOC, low income, single parents, seniors living on a limited budget, and students