Opportunities for Nature-Loving Artists
Looking for a way to combine your love for nature and art? We’ve compiled a list of the best upcoming opportunities around the world for artists who love nature, ranging from residencies, to exhibitions, grants and more.
Folly Tree Arboretum | Dancing Tree Award for Unorthodox Environmental Projects
This annual award is awarded to projects using an unexpected method to communicate environmental awareness. Folly Tree is seeking work that explores the complexity of our connection with the natural world in ways that are hopeful, inspiring, humorous, daring, exciting, quirky, provocative, weird, experimental, playful, irreverent, or surprisingly effective.
Deadline: February, 2 2026
Rewards: This annual award offers $2,500 to a completed project.
Grafted Hoop Sycamore. Image: Folly Tree Arboretum
North Country Rural Development | Permanent Flower Sculpture
North Country Rural Development Coalition (NRDC) and the Essex County Land Bank, is issuing an open call for artists and artist teams to create large-scale floral/botanical installations for Blossom Reverie Fair in April 2026. A durable, outdoor-ready sculpture with floral inspiration to serve as a long-term downtown landmark.
Rewards: Artist fee, materials budget, travel, & accommodation.
Deadline: February, 7 2026
European Marine Board | EMBracing the Ocean Residency
The European Marine Board is looking for two new artists for the 2026 – 2027 edition of their ‘EMBracing the Ocean’ artist-in-residence programme. The programme provides grants for creative individuals/groups from a wide-range of disciplines to engage in a two-way co-creation of artwork in collaboration with Ocean scientists
Deadline: February, 16 2026
Rewards: 10,000 euro grant
Elise Guillaume. Image: European Marine Board.
University of British Columbia | Woodhaven Artist in Residence Program
At this paid residency, artists stay between 2–4 weeks at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre over the summer months. The program is primarily designed to support site-specific artistic practice that engages with the space at Woodhaven (which includes forested areas and a creek), the Okanagan region more broadly, or local knowledge and expertise. Totally immersed in nature, this program is perfect for a nature lover.
Deadline: February, 19 2026
Rewards: Artist fee of $5000 & accommodation.
Image: Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre.
Rabbit Island | Residency 2026
The Rabbit Island Residency provides financial support, time, and pristine natural spaces to challenge creative practices in a wilderness environment. Artists live and work on the island for 2-4 weeks, engaging directly with the landscape, responding to notions of conservation, ecology, and sustainability via their research and cultural works.
Deadline: February, 22 2026
Rewards: Artist honorarium & accommodation.
Image: Rabbit Island
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