SPACE on Ryder Farm--a nonprofit residency program for artists and activists housed on a 223-year-old working organic farm in Putnam County, New York--has announced the eight residents for its February 2019 Season Extension Residency. The residents are Will Arbery (Plano), Cusi Cram (Saint Vincent’s Project), Leslie Gauthier (“Shooing Carolers Away for a Love That Stays”), Monet Hurst-Mendoza (Veil’d), C.A. Johnson (Thirst), Emily Kaczmarek (Jonathan Larson Grant), Jason Platt (Empire Travel Agency) and Ikechukwu Ufomadu (Ike at Night).
The Season Extension Residency highlights SPACE’s commitment to supporting alumni of its annual residency programs, which serve nearly 175 artists--working in theatre, music, film, visual art and creative writing--as well as activists, community organizers and nonprofit organizations. The residency offers alumni of SPACE’s Working Farm, Family Residency, Creative Residency or Creative Solutions Symposium the opportunity to return to Ryder Farm for a two-week or month-long residency to work on a project.
“After successfully piloting the Season Extension Residency in early 2018, we are welcoming a whole new cohort of SPACE alumni to Ryder Farm in 2019 to inspire and be inspired, to reinvigorate and reignite, to share and collaborate, to think and do,” said Co Founder and Executive Director Emily Simoness. “This is one of the longest continuous residences SPACE has been able to offer to date, and I am thrilled to be able to use this program to invest more deeply in some of our most exciting alumni, who I am sure will make relevant and lasting contributions to our culture and the national conversation through their respective projects.”
SPACE is deeply committed to the belief that inclusion, equity, support and radical hospitality are not only important to creating art, but are vital in creating dialogue that leads to lasting change. In support of these values, as of 2017, all individual and small group residences are free to participants, and SPACE grants at least 50% of residencies to persons of color and other underrepresented voices.