GREATER COLUMBUS ARTS COUNCIL ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF 2026 ARTIST EXCHANGE IN DRESDEN, GERMANY
The Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) has selected two artists for its annual international artist exchange in Dresden, Germany. The 2026 Artist Exchange Program recipients are Drew Johnson and Quianna Simpson.
The selected artists will travel to Dresden sometime between March 1 and Nov. 30, 2026 for 60 to 90 days. Drew and Quianna are the 56th and 57th artists to head to Dresden as part of the program.
Martin Höfer Visits Columbus
In July 2025 we welcomed Martin Höfer to Columbus. Martin is a German artist and representative of contemporary conceptual and media art.
Read more about Martin’s work and watch a video
2 Columbus Artists Visited Dresden in 2025
Columbus artists Joan Madison and Lydia Smith have been selected as the two artists for residencies in Dresden in 2025.
Lydia Smith is in Dresden in July and will be having an open studio event on July 26 at the Raskolnikow Gallery. MDR, the local public radio station in Dresden, also wrote an article about Lydia’s art and stay in Germany.
Note: The articles linked above are in German and can be converted to English using a web browser translate feature.
Artist Residency Program Overview
Columbus and Dresden are both vibrant cities for the arts.
Every year two artists from each city visit their respective sister for a three-month residency. The program is managed by the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) in Columbus and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony (Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen) in Dresden.
To learn about the program from the Columbus perspective, visit GCAC’s page about the Dresden Artist Exchange. GCAC’s website lists the Columbus artists who have participated in the program since 1995.
2024 Artist Residency Program
Felix Brenner and Benjamin Dittrich, two artists from Leipzig, Germany, came to Columbus for an artist residency in 2024.
Felix is a photographer who focused on replicating the photographs his art professor in Leipzig, Joachim Brohm, took in Columbus in 1983 and 1984 while studying at The Ohio State University.
To see Benjamin’s art, visit his website and Instagram
Program Partners
Greater Columbus Arts Council
https://www.gcac.org/
Kulturstiftung Sachsen
http://www.kdfs.de/
Program History
The program started in 1994 and the first Dresden artists to visit, work in and exhibit in Columbus were Rainer Zille, Veit Hofmann and Stefan Plankers. The next year, two Columbus artists – Linda Fowler and Richard Harned – spent three months in Dresden and Leipzig.
Numerous projects and exhibitions have resulted from this exchange program that has been enriching the artists’ lives and work for over 25 years.
Additional information about the program’s history can be found on the GCAC website.
“This exchange benefits Columbus in several ways,” said Ray Hanley, the former President of the Greater Columbus Arts Council.
“First, it exposes Columbus to international guests who add artistic and intellectual resources to our cultural community during their visit. Second, the program increases Columbus’ international profile as a city with a vibrant artistic community. Third, and most importantly, the program enriches Columbus by stimulating the individual artists at the center of the Columbus arts community.”
Dresden Sister City 