Jacky Winter Gardens Residency

OK. So we don't want to panic you, but you have very little time to apply for a 24-carat rad opportunity. 

Jacky Winter Gardens, an artist-run bed and breakfast in Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges have just announced a free Artist-in-Residence Program. 

Each month from March to November, the caretakers have set aside five days (Sunday afternoon through Friday morning) to accommodate a working artist who can use the time to start, sustain or finish a commercial project. Nine residencies are given out every year to professional artists of all disciplines. Applications are free, and are taken four times per year. The first round of applications, including an inaugural residency November 15-19 2015 closes October 31, so get cracking.

The only stipulations are that you cannot smoke indoors (and who would, anywhat? Yuck!), are asked to ackowlege the residency as part of any completed projects, and that your creative project is not noisy. There aren't many creative pursuits less noisy than writing. 

If you could handle a week in The Dandenongs (like heaven, but with more ferns and a steam train) to work on a creative project, then click here to visit the Jacky Winter Gardens website and find out more. 

Jacky Winter Gardens is owend and run by practicing artists Jeremy Wortstman and Lorelei Vashti, who have lived in the Dandenong Ranges since 2012. Jeremy is the director of The Jacky Winter Group, and Lorelei is a freelance writer, editor and author. To read Lorelei's Writers Bloc piece on what she did for a living before founding an idyllic mountain retreat, click here.