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Applications are now being accepted for Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels’ new Artist-in-Residence Program, a photography residency that will create the first coordinated visual archive of Palm Springs’ boutique hotel legacy.
Photographers will live, work, and create within Palm Springs’ celebrated collection of boutique hotels, beginning in Fall 2026.
While individual hotels have hosted artist residencies in the past, this is the first residency program dedicated to documenting Palm Springs’ boutique hotel community as a whole. Palm Springs is home to approximately 80 boutique hotels, many of them historic properties that helped define the city’s global reputation for architecture, hospitality, and design.
Live and work in beautiful Palm Springs
Practicing plein air art at The Trixie Motel. Photo courtesy of Terry Hastings
The inaugural program will select up to 12 photographers for three residency sessions between Fall 2026 and Winter 2027. Artists will spend one to two weeks living among participating hotels, capturing approximately 18 properties through their own creative lens.
“For decades, artists have been drawn to Palm Springs by its extraordinary light, architecture, and landscape,” said photographer Terry Hastings, the program’s artistic director and owner of The Hastings Gallery. “We hope the creative spirit of this place inspires those who see life differently.”
“Boutique hotels play a significant part in the unique mosaic that makes Palm Springs such a special destination,” said Michael Green, executive director of the Palm Springs Cultural Center and chair of Palm Springs Preferred Small Hotels. “By creating this residency, we hope to create a comprehensive and creative visual record of the city’s independently owned small hotels.”
The program seeks Southern California photographers whose work explores architecture, placemaking, cultural preservation, storytelling, and the desert environment. Traditional, documentary, architectural, historical, fine art, experimental, multimedia, and AI-assisted photographic practices are all welcome.
“The most interesting artists don’t just record a place; they reveal it. This residency invites artists to look more deeply at Palm Springs. The work they create won’t simply document our hotels and neighborhoods — it will help us rediscover them,” said Gary Armstrong, chair of the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission.
Leave your mark in Palm Springs
Many Palm Springs hotels, like Holiday House, are filled with art. Photo courtesy of Holiday House
Selected artists will receive lodging at participating hotels, transportation assistance, attraction passes, and a weekly stipend. They will also have opportunities to connect with fellow artists, preservationists, writers, and community leaders while developing independent bodies of work inspired by Palm Springs.
Applications will be juried through the CaFÉ (Call for Entry) platform. The inaugural call will focus on photographers from Southern California, with future expansion planned to include national and international artists in other creative disciplines.
Beyond supporting artists, the residency is designed to create a lasting cultural resource. Images produced through the program will contribute to exhibitions, publications, historical archives, educational initiatives, and future storytelling projects focused on Palm Springs’ boutique hotel heritage.
At the conclusion of each season, participating photographers will be featured in a public exhibition and sales showcase. Selected works may also be presented through multimedia installations, digital exhibitions, community displays, and future publications documenting the history and evolution of Palm Springs’ small hotels.
Under a licensing agreement, selected residency work will also become part of an interactive online exhibition hosted at PSArtistResidency.com and may be contributed to regional archives, including those focused on architecture, preservation, and local history.
The residency is being developed in collaboration with partners from Palm Springs’ arts, preservation, hospitality, and cultural sectors, including the Palm Springs Cultural Center, Palm Springs Public Arts Commission, Palm Springs Life, The Hastings Gallery, and the Desert Art Center, among others.
