What disciplines do residencies accept?

Most residencies are multidisciplinary, but the operating definition of "discipline" varies. Major retreat residencies like MacDowell, Yaddo, and Bogliasco accept artists across visual arts, writing, music composition, film, performance, and curatorial practice — sometimes interdisciplinary cohorts of all six are in residence simultaneously. Discipline-focused residencies do exist for specific media. Photography residencies (Lightwork, Penumbra Foundation, FotoVisura), film/video residencies (UnionDocs, the Sundance Labs), sound and music residencies (Atlantic Center for the Arts has specific composer residencies), and craft-focused residencies (Penland School, Haystack Mountain) target artists working in particular materials or traditions. These are usually smaller than the multidisciplinary residencies and have specific facility expertise — Penland has equipped studios for clay, glass, metals, textiles, and book arts that no general-purpose residency can match. A growing category is interdisciplinary or "expanded practice" residencies — programs that explicitly welcome work that doesn't fit a single discipline (Rhizome's commissions, Pioneer Works, certain MIT and Stanford lab residencies). These are often the right fit for artists whose work moves between media and would feel constrained by a discipline-specific framework. The practical implication is that most artists can find a residency that fits, but the search needs to start with what you actually make rather than what label you use. A photographer can apply to general residencies and specific photography residencies; a writer can apply to MacDowell-style retreats and to writers-only residencies (Hedgebrook, Anderson Center). The application strategy is different for the two — multidisciplinary programs want to see the work and the practice; discipline-specific programs additionally want technical fluency in the medium. Filter the OpenCall Radar catalog by your primary discipline to see programs that explicitly accept that medium, and also include "multidisciplinary" or "open" programs that don't restrict by discipline.