The Bellagio Center Residency Program

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center Residency Program offers academics, artists, policymakers, and practitioners an opportunity to unlock their creativity and advance groundbreaking work through the completion of a specific project in a residential group setting during 4 weeks of focused time.

The Bellagio Center Residency is an unparalleled opportunity for deep exchange among leaders from a wide array of backgrounds, disciplines, and geographies. Rather than a retreat for private reflection, the Bellagio Center Residency offers an opportunity to advance a specific breakthrough project and a stimulating environment to forge cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural connections with other residents that can strengthen their work, shift their perspectives, and spur new ideas. Bellagio Center residents form lasting bonds and stay connected to each other and to The Rockefeller Foundation long after their residency ends, as members of the Bellagio Center Network.

The Foundation’s Bellagio Residency Program has a track record for identifying big bets on some of the world’s most complex challenges, supporting the development of breakthrough ideas and innovative works of art that enhance our understanding of pressing global and social issues and encourage positive action. Alumni include remarkable leaders from around the world—luminaries of the past century like Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Maya Angelou, and Dikgang Moseneke, and current trailblazers like Nikole Hannah-Jones, Akin Omotoso, and Ilwad Elman. The Bellagio Center Network spans 6 decades and includes more than 5,000 alumni, reflecting The Rockefeller Foundation’s longstanding commitment to support groundbreaking people and ideas that improve well-being and make opportunity universal and sustainable.

We are currently accepting applications for the 2024 Bellagio Center Residency Program. Apply today for our General Open Call, Reinventing Capitalism, Promoting Well-being, or Addressing Climate Change. Applicants must register to apply by Wednesday, April 26, 2023. Please read more about each opportunity below.

Our Residents Are:

• Leaders in their fields with a proven track record of professional accomplishment, who may be either very well-known in their fields or clearly up-and-coming
• Forward-looking, with a history of advancing breakthrough ideas or actions that have had tremendous impact
• Committed to the Foundation’s mission to “make opportunity universal and sustainable” through their work and create positive change at local, national or global scales
• Curious, collegial, and collaborative—open to giving and receiving input and feedback from a diverse group of fellow residents
• Excited to remain active in the Bellagio Center network after the residency

Program Offering:

• Up to four weeks at The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Bellagio Italy, Lake Como
• Room and board with a private studio for working
• A shared community of up to 15 scholars, artists or practitioners coming from all over the world
• Residents can bring a partner/significant other to join the residency for all or a portion of their stay
• Travel funding is available when there is financial need
• Future participation in an international network of Bellagio Center leaders, united in the shared purpose of creating a better world

Bellagio Center Residencies

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center encourages diversity in both the people welcomed into the community and the range of projects they work on. Examples of previous residents and their projects include leaders of nonprofit organizations rethinking organizational strategy; academics producing scholarly work to advance a body of research; and artists (musicians, filmmakers, visual artists, performance-based artists, etc.) creating new works of art. We believe that creating a diverse community of people and ideas promotes equity and inclusion and fosters opportunities for innovative thinking.

Bellagio residency projects address a wide array of topics, fields, and issues. The commonality across projects is a commitment to social impact aligned with the Foundation’s mission to “make opportunity universal and sustainable.” We look for projects that challenge established norms and approaches and have the potential for breakthrough impact at significant local, national, or global scale.

Bellagio residents are selected through two channels: 1.) a nominations process, and 2.) an annual open call for applications. In both cases, individuals must submit an application and go through a competitive review process.

This year, in addition to our General Open Call for applications on any topic, we are prioritizing three themes: Reinventing Capitalism, Promoting Well-being, and Addressing Climate Change. These themes reflect our commitment to drive action in The Rockefeller Foundation’s priority areas and develop a powerful network of truly groundbreaking people and ideas.

Applications for the 2025 Bellagio residency opened March 4, 2024, and will close April 25, 2024.

Application Themes

The applications for 2025 residencies are now open.

• Addressing Climate Change Residency 

  Under this theme, we will support leading thinkers and organizations working on solutions addressing climate change through the lens of energy systems, health systems, food systems, policy and financial systems.

• Building Vibrant, Connected, and Resilient Societies Residency 

  Humans thrive when we recognize that all of our futures are inherently intertwined. This theme focuses on how to address the core challenges to building vibrant, connected, and resilient societies.

• General Open Call Residency 

  The General Open Call is for practitioners, academics, and artists working in any discipline or area of study. Projects can be based on any topic but must demonstrate clear social impact and charitable purpose.