Special Programs
Here’s our selection of special programs that connect us with institutions and communities all over the world. This is a way for us to be constantly expanding our international and local network and to be involved in different art forms at different times of the year, from Spring to Winter! While the Policromia Poetry Workshop and the Drawing as Seeing program are open to applicants of all ages and from all backgrounds, if you wish to apply to the Brandeis or SAIC special programs you must directly contact the Study Abroad offices of those universities. If you are a musician and wish to apply to the SienAgosto Academy, please go through the appropriate website.
May 2026
Landscape Stories: Art and Ecology in Siena
Landscape Stories: Art and Ecology in Siena is a unique four-week long program organized by the University of Ohio State in collaboration with the Siena Art Institute. It will be launched for the first time during the Summer Term I in May 2026.
This course provides students opportunities to refine artistic, sustainable, and intercultural skills in exploring the cityscapes and cultural heritage narratives of innovation in Siena. Through an interdisciplinary spirit, it features art studio assignments and visits to cultural institutions, sustainability initiatives and ecology, and variety of discussions on food, the arts, and cultural land history.
Students will explore the ways in which we seek new forms of “mapping” in redefining the relationship between an evolving landscape, people, and history.
Resident Directors:
May 18-24 2026
Policromia
POETRY WORKSHOP
In May 2026, the Siena Art Institute and the Policromia Festival will launch the second Policromia Poetry Workshop led by poets Mairéad Byrne and Will Schutt.
The Workshop offers immersive and productive mentorship and critique for poets of all ages and backgrounds. Workshop participants will also have the opportunity to attend Policromia 2026 (May 21-24), an international poetry and translation festival in Siena, and to learn from guest poets and translators. During our weeklong program, participants will write poetry, join a dedicated community of writers and artists, and get to know Siena, a medieval city in the heart of Tuscany, rich in cultural tradition, architecture, and early Renaissance art.
Workshops will meet daily Monday May 18 through Thursday May 21, and will be supplemented with individual conferences, faculty-run Master Classes, and an introduction to the art and culture of Siena. Participants will share their poems in a workshop setting, receive guidance for writing new poems, confer individually with both workshop leaders, and participate in a group reading. We welcome applications from poets writing in English as a first or second language, or working with English in translation.
AUGUST 2026
SIENAGOSTO ACADEMY
Michael Chance’s annual residential summer music academy for singers and continuo players will be hosted once again by the Siena Art Institute in collaboration with the Siena School for Liberal Arts.
This limited enrollment course offers world-class tuition in vocal communication. Students are invited to apply for eleven days of intensive teaching, coaching, workshops and masterclasses, as well as public concerts, in the intensely stimulating city of Siena, where the senses are bombarded, minds opened, and aspirations raised. SienAgosto covers all periods of classical repertoire, but shows how mastering the vocal craft through the study and celebration of earlier repertoire greatly enhances the understanding of all songs. We welcome applications from instrument players, whether they’ll be playing piano, harpsichord, lute, theorbo or guitar, etc., who would also like to work with singers.
Over 160 students from some 30 countries around the world have been warmly received in the courses so far held in Siena. Teachers, coaches and accompanists make up the SienAgosto international faculty of highly experienced performers and instructors.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2026
DRAWING
AS SEEING
From August 31 to September 12 2026, explore Siena through multi-sensory artmaking using touch, verbal description and experimental materials taught by artist Pamela Lawton.
Using Siena as our studio, this 12-day intensive class will provide an unusual, interactive drawing experience. Engaging with the rich heritage of Siena and Tuscany through drawing using varied tactile materials, this class is geared towards students with a range of vision, including fully sighted students wishing to experiment with an alternative approach.
Students will make discoveries about their own perceptions, about Siena and about the drawing process. These methods provide unique tools and skills useful to all. We will meet four mornings a week to draw in the studio and in the surrounding cities’ locales, in museums, churches, and views and walking tours.
Location visits in Siena will include the Siena Cathedral, the Pinacoteca Nazionale, and the Palazzo Pubblico. Students will have additional independent studio/exploration time, both on and off campus. During the first week, Italian language courses will be offered.
For more information contact drawingasseeing@gmail.com or pamela@pamelalawton.com
JULY / AUGUST 2026
BRANDEIS
IN SIENA
Brandeis in Siena is a collaborative partnership between Brandeis University and the Siena Art Institute consisting of two courses taught in English, one Studio Art course and one Art History course. Faculty from Brandeis and the Siena Art Institute work together each summer to deliver an integrated, multi-faceted academic program.
Brandeis University’s faculty for the program are Professor Joseph Wardwell and Professor Jonathan Unglaub, while Siena Art Institute’s are Professor Roberto Fineschi and Professor Franca Marini.
JanuAry 2026
LIVING THE PAST IN THE PRESENT: THE ART OF ARCHIVE
Through a partnership with the Siena Art Institute, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) students will experience the history, tradition, and culture of Siena, Italy’s loveliest medieval city, home to numerous Renaissance works of art and architecture, and a wide array of archives, collections, and study centers. Students will develop insight into how historical study may spark their growth as contemporary artists, designers, and visual scholars. SAIC’s faculty for the program are Amy Yoes, Susan Giles and Brian Sikes.