What is included?
Weekly cohort feedback sessions for critique, accountability, and momentum
Weekly lectures on the business of art, craft and creativity, modern and contemporary art history, and the philosophy of art
Panels and interviews with guest speakers from around the art world
Process lectures, candid interviews, and presentations from Visiting Artists in Residence
4 one-on-one mentor meetings
Portfolio reviews
Writing clinics
Close-looking and discussion-based activities
Reading group discussions around essays, articles, and book selections
Private community space for conversation, feedback, and connection
Resources highlighting residency, grant, and open call opportunities
Occasional IRL meetups in select cities
When does this
take place?
Artist Commons’ year-long program takes place over four ten-week quarters. The calendar for the July-start cohorts for 2026–2027 is as follows:
Q3: Jul 5 – Aug 8 | Aug 23 – Sep 26
Q4: Oct 11 – Dec 19
Q1: Jan 17 – Mar 27
Q2: Apr 12 – Jun 19
Most quarters are separated by two-week breaks. Quarter 3 is divided into two halves with two separate two-week breaks. The complete schedule of breaks for our July-start cohorts is as follows:
Mid-Q3 Break: Aug 9 – 22 (2 weeks)
Post-Q3 Break: Sep 27 – Oct 10 (2 weeks)
Thanksgiving Break: Nov 26 – Nov 28 (3 days)
Year-End Break: Dec 20 – Jan 16, 2027 (4 weeks)
Post-Q1 Break: Mar 28 – Apr 11 (2 weeks)
Post-Q2 Break: Jun 20 – Jul 3 (2 weeks)
Where does this take place?
Artist Commons is designed as a flexible virtual campus. Live lectures and Cohort Feedback Sessions take place through weekly video calls, while our custom community app gives members a place to continue the conversation, get feedback on works in progress, respond to reflection prompts, keep up with monthly readings, watch lecture replays, find opportunities and resources, build relationships with your cohort, and connect with other artists from around the world.
The program combines the consistency of a small cohort with opportunities to engage with a wider artist community. Cohort Feedback Sessions are interactive, 10-person meetings where participation matters, while twice-weekly lectures/panels bring the larger community together for webinar-style talks and interviews. Occasional reading discussions, along with other breakout room-based activities, give students a chance to meet artists outside of your cohort.
Can’t make a lecture? Replays and transcripts are provided for async viewing for most webinar-style lectures and panels, while cohort sessions and discussion groups can only be experienced live.
What is the time commitment?
Expect to spend 5–6 hours per week engaging with class material.
Most lectures and panels are about ninety minutes long, take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and start around 1pm Eastern Time (ET), give or take an hour to accommodate the schedule of a guest speaker. A handful of discussion-based activities, such as reading groups and close looking exercises, take place on Sunday afternoons at 1pm ET. On occasion, an event may be scheduled on another day of the week when a guest speaker is unavailable during the usual Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday window.
Cohort Feedback Sessions are just under two hours long and are held weekly on a fixed day/time throughout the program year for a specific cohort. Applicants will have the opportunity to choose from a list of available days/times during the application process, and cohorts are anchored around those mandatory weekly sessions.
Below is a sample schedule of Artist Commons’ program-wide events over an average 5-week cycle (not including the weekly Cohort Feedback Session). The program moves through this cycle twice per ten-week quarter.
Next Cohorts Launch July 2026
Build better work, together.
Ready to take your art to the next level?
Stuck between too many ideas and not enough follow-through? Unsure whether your portfolio shows the right work or how to get it seen? Need clearer methods for editioning, pricing, and outreach? Want to learn from curators, working artists, and art world professionals without all the jargon? If these are your questions, Artist Commons is your answer — a cohort, a mentor, and a weekly rhythm that turns uncertainty into momentum.