Vizcaya Museum and Gardens has launched its first dedicated artist residency and studio, giving one South Florida visual artist seven months and a historic building on the estate to create an original new work. The inaugural Vizcaya Arts Residency + Commission comes with a $12,500 stipend, a production budget of up to $25,000, and exclusive use of a 375-square-foot studio tucked inside Vizcaya Village, the collection of historic structures across South Miami Avenue from the main villa.
The residency runs from May through November 2027, as Miami New Times reports, with the resulting work going on view inside Vizcaya's Main House from November 2027 through May 2028. The selected artist will spend substantial time on the property, drawing on Vizcaya's architecture, landscape, collections, and staff, including consultations with museum specialists such as orchid experts, conservators, and archivists. Applications for the opportunity close at 11:59 p.m. on November 2, open to emerging, mid-career, and established visual artists based in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, or Monroe counties, according to Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.
A Century-Old Tradition, Restarted
Vizcaya's Contemporary Arts Program has commissioned site-specific work from contemporary artists since 2006, per the same reporting, but it went dark for four years after Hurricane Irma damaged the property in September 2017, with the COVID-19 pandemic further delaying its return. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens notes that the program's hiatus stemmed from both the storm damage and subsequent operational disruptions. Curator Helena Gomez joined Vizcaya in 2022 specifically to restart the program, and under her tenure it has expanded its focus from Miami-based artists to visual artists across South Florida more broadly.
The practice of commissioning art for the estate actually traces back to its construction: industrialist James Deering hired artists including sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder and muralist Robert Winthrop Chanler in 1916, according to Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. When the Contemporary Arts Program resumed in late 2022, it launched with Wish Towers, a coral limestone installation by artists Javier and Jaime Suárez Berrocal addressing sea level rise and coastal ecological preservation, built from fossilized Puerto Rican coral.
Studio Space Inside a Former Chicken House
The new residency studio sits inside what was once the Chicken House at Vizcaya Village, a 12-acre complex of 11 historic structures built in 1916 as a self-sufficient agricultural operation with staff quarters, workshops, barns, and greenhouses. Gomez said the museum added physical space for artists to work on site, the report states. Vizcaya Village is being reimagined as a place for public programming, education, and community engagement, with planned spaces including new classrooms, a teaching kitchen, conservation facilities, and workshops.
Alex Serna said the new village spaces will give the public access to museum operations usually conducted behind the scenes, per Miami New Times, and guests will eventually be able to watch conservation technicians working on objects and interact directly with museum staff. The residency artist will be expected to lead public programming and participate in open studio hours as part of that broader push toward transparency.
'Holding Time' Sets the Theme
The inaugural residency carries the theme Holding Time, which concerns changes in architecture, materials, climate, and collective memory absorbed by Vizcaya's Main House over roughly a century. Gomez said the museum hopes contemporary art will create meaningful dialogues with the past, according to the outlet's account. The selected artist will work under real constraints tied to the estate's landmark status: no drilling into walls or painting historic surfaces, and any outdoor installations must withstand Miami weather and be removable if a tropical storm or hurricane approaches.
The residency's launch follows a wave of investment in Vizcaya Village. Citadel founder Ken Griffin donated $20 million in November 2025 to establish a new Center for Learning and Discovery inside the village, as Coconut Grove Magazine reported, and the same outlet notes Vizcaya draws roughly 400,000 visitors annually across its Main House, formal gardens, and rockland hammock forest. The village also saw its first permanent commercial venue, the Village Café, open inside the historic Superintendent's House in November 2024, a milestone Hoodline covered at the time.
More Contemporary Programming on the Way
Before the 2027 residency even begins, Vizcaya's Contemporary Arts Program will open Welcome to Wonder on November 7, a site-responsive photographic installation by Miami artist Josh Aronson spanning the estate's Hammock Paths and Metrorail overpass ramp, according to Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. The Vizcaya Arts Residency + Commission is based at 3251 S. Miami Ave. in Miami, a site that was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994 and has been owned and administered by Miami-Dade County since opening as a public museum in 1953, per Historic Preservation Miami.
