Make the home your muse: apply for the Caroline Simpson Library Creative Residency
Published on Wednesday 26 November 2025
Take rich inspiration from the home and unlock creative possibilities with the inaugural Caroline Simpson Library Creative Residency. Located on Gadigal Country in the heart of Sydney’s Macquarie Street precinct, the Caroline Simpson Library invites cultural practitioners and creatives to immerse themselves in one of Australia’s most distinctive collections.
What does the residency offer?
Residents receive ten months of fully subsidised studio access at The Mint, a multidisciplinary creative hub just steps from the library. Here, you’ll be encouraged to delve into the Caroline Simpson Library Collection – a treasure-trove centred on the history of houses, interiors, gardens and everyday living – to spark new work, experiment across forms, and engage in a meaningful creative exchange.
Research Librarian Dr Matthew Stephens explains that one of the biggest opportunities for residents would be to ‘stretch their creative practice by digging deep into the library’s rich palette of formats and then exploring ways of communicating their discoveries with Museums of History NSW’s programming’.
Why apply?
The Caroline Simpson Library holds a vast array of objects, stories and photographs that speak to the idea of the ‘home’, what it means, how it can be imagined and how it has evolved over time. There is much to inspire among the collection, which includes vibrant wallpapers, architectural pattern books and trade catalogues, domestic sheet music, oral histories and letters, and spans the textures, stories and history of domestic life.
Mel Flyte, Collection Discovery Assistant, hopes that residents will explore and get to know the library collection:
There’s a potency that comes with engaging with physical objects, with original material, and I hope this will be inspiring and stimulating and result in new ways of appreciating our collection.
Who can apply?
This non-residential program is open to NSW-based creative practitioners aged 18 or over, at any career stage, who are excited by the opportunity to work with the Caroline Simpson Library Collection to develop new ideas and produce fresh creative outcomes.
Applications are now open for the 2026 program, commencing in February. Applications will close on 14 December 2025.
For any questions, please contact Kristina.Stankovski@mhnsw.au.
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Creative residency program – Caroline Simpson Library
Let the home become your muse and be inspired by the unique collection of the Caroline Simpson Library, located in the heart of Sydney’s Macquarie Street precinct on Gadigal Country