Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 which brings lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, intersex and queer identifying emerging visual artists to Fire Island— a place long-steeped in LGBTQ history— to create, commune, rest, reflect and contribute to the location's rich artistic history.
Each summer FIAR provides free live/work space to visual artists who work, socialize, and immerse themselves in the Fire Island community for four weeks, during which time they are visited by renowned artists and scholars, who interact with residents through intimate studio visits, dinners, and discussions, providing support and feedback. The greater Fire Island community, as well as visitors from New York City and Long Island, are invited to attend free public lectures by these esteemed guests. This has been made possible through a partnership with Arts Project Cherry Grove, who invites FIAR to hold our programming in the historic Cherry Grove Community House, a landmarked LGBTQ historic site.
In this way, FIAR hopes to bring both new creative perspectives and prestigious art professionals together in this extraordinary location to foster the creation—and preservation—of queer art-making in contemporary art, creative writing and scholarship.