Rain Season Art Residency

A self-guided women’s artist residency in Cambutal, Panama

For women artists longing for time, space, and a softer rhythm to create, Alma Residencia offers a rare kind of refuge.

Tucked away in the tiny coastal town of Cambutal, where the jungle meets the Pacific, this is a place for slow mornings, creative flow, and the kind of spaciousness that lets your work come back to life.

Writers, photographers, painters, ceramicists, musicians, and multidisciplinary artists are all welcome.

This is not a retreat with a packed itinerary.
It is not a workshop with constant structure.

It is a self-guided residency designed to give you something increasingly rare: uninterrupted time to create.

A place for creative flow

At Alma, mornings begin slowly.

Coffee or cacao in hand.
Incense wafting through the air.
A notebook opening before the day fully begins.
The sound of birds waking, distant waves, and the soft hush of a place that asks nothing from you but presence.

There is nowhere to rush to here.

No meetings.
No endless notifications.
No pressure to perform.

Just space to write, compose, create, imagine, or simply sit long enough for the next idea to arrive.

Some days begin in deep creative flow.
Some begin with a walk to the ocean.
Some begin with a bike ride through town before settling into the ceramic studio or a quiet corner to work.

The rhythm here is its own kind of inspiration: morning light, afternoon rain, evening stars.

About Alma Residencia

Alma Residencia is a creative refuge in Cambutal, Panama — a remote coastal town known for its wild beauty, peaceful energy, and inspiring natural landscape.

Cambutal is still blissfully off the beaten path, with jungle, ocean, wildlife, and a slower pace of life that many artists find deeply nourishing.

Over the years, artists and creative women have passed through Alma’s arched doors to write, rest, photograph, paint, dream, and reconnect with their artistic voice.

Among them are internationally recognized artists such as Jenna Dixon, a Canadian fine art photographer known for her cinematic storytelling, and Jennifer El-Hage, a Lebanese art director, graphic artist, and creator of cult brand Jen Tonic, whose internationally acclaimed work spans brand identities and creative collaborations across Beirut, Paris, Dubai, London, New York, and beyond.

What’s Included

Each resident artist receives:

Private accommodation at Alma Residencia
Membership to Studio Mano ceramic studio
Membership to La Colectiva co-working space
A bicycle for exploring Cambutal
A self-guided residency experience rooted in spaciousness, nature, and creative freedom

What’s not included

Flights
Meals
Art materials
Travel insurance
Local transport beyond the included bike

Who this is for

This residency is for women artists of many kinds, including:

Writers
Photographers
Painters
Ceramicists (Studio Mano Ceramic Studio Membership included)
Musicians
Illustrators
Mixed media artists
Digital creatives whose work can travel (La Colectiva Co-Working Membership included)

It is especially well suited for artists who are:

craving uninterrupted time for a project
moving through a creative transition
seeking inspiration, quiet, and natural beauty
longing to reconnect with their inner world and creative practice

Both emerging and established artists are welcome.

Residency Opportunities

Alma Residencia takes place during the green season, when Cambutal is lush, vibrant, and alive.

There will be three 2026 cohorts only:

September 2026
October 2026
November 2026

Artists may apply for 2, 3, or 4 week stays.

Pricing

2 Weeks — $2,750 USD
3 Weeks — $3,600 USD
4 Weeks — $4,500 USD

A $500 deposit is required to reserve your place.

Why Alma

Creativity needs spaciousness.

At Alma, that spaciousness is woven into everything: the quiet mornings, the tropical rain, the ocean air, the slower pace, the small creative community, and the feeling of being held by a landscape that gently invites you inward.

This residency is for the artist who knows that sometimes the most important thing for the work is not more strategy, more noise, or more pressure.

Sometimes it’s simply the right place.

About the founder

Alma Residencia was created by Monique Pantel — international photographer, mother, educator, and lover of stories, human connection, and their power to transform. Monique’s work lies at the intersection of creativity and women’s inner landscapes. She fell in love with Cambutal as an artist and created Alma Residencia to experience that same magic and space to create.