05/13/2026
The City of Pittsfield has announced its 2nd Annual Artist-In-Residence Recipient, Elizabeth Nelson. Elizabeth will be working out of a studio at the city-owned Lichtenstein Center for the Arts!!! The artist-in-residence program offers an exciting opportunity for Elizabeth to gain creative space and exposure while engaging with the local arts community.
The program provides a free 11-month studio space at the Lichtenstein and includes a group exhibition in October 2026, giving the resident artist a platform to showcase their work alongside the other artists at the Lichtenstein. Elizabeth will also be the “Art in the Park” artist during a First Fridays at Five this season.
“This residency is designed to foster artistic development and collaboration,” Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti said. “It allows the artist to focus on creating new work or refining existing pieces while interacting with arts professionals. It’s a wonderful chance to immerse oneself in the vibrant arts community of Pittsfield and make lasting connections.”
Elizabeth Nelson is a writer, visual artist, and marketing & communications professional. She has produced multiple women-focused art events in the Berkshires, including PERSIST, a visual arts show at the Daniel Arts Center; DEFY: Words in Bloom, an evening of new work at WANDER Berkshires; and Working Women Make Art at the Lenox Chamber. Her writing has been published in The Raven Review, Heartland Society of Women Writers, Canyon Voices, Black Box Press, and Stage Rights, among others. Her short story collection was a finalist for the 2024 Tartts Fiction Award, and her play, I Am Not A Lady, was a semifinalist for the 2024 Dramatist Guild Virtual Playwriting Fellowship. Colors Inside the Body received a reading at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in NYC as part of Texas Wesleyan's 2019 Playmarket. The Golden Hour, a two-hander set to music, was workshopped in Denver by The Athena Project’s 2018 Plays in Progress Series. Fugue, a 10-minute play, has been produced worldwide since its publishing in 2008, and The Going Price, published in the first edition of Red Bull Shorts, was selected as part of Red Bull Theatre’s inaugural new play festival in 2011. Elizabeth was the original art director and managing editor for SDC Journal, a craft magazine published by Stage Directors and Choreographers Society in NYC. Her passions include making paper flowers, baking, reading, practicing and teaching yoga, caring for nearly 50 houseplants, and all things Taylor Swift. She lives in the Berkshires with her husband and two rescue pups, Harper Lee and Penelope. Elizabethnelson.net
