BREWSTER, N.Y.: After 13 years, the creative and agricultural haven SPACE on Ryder Farm introduced at present that its present writers’ residency, the Working Farm, might be its final for the foreseeable future. The nonprofit artists’ residency program and natural farm is positioned on the ancestral land of the Wappinger individuals in modern-day Putnam County, on the grounds of a 227-year-old household homestead. Its different applications have included Come to the Desk, a five-year inventive residency; institutional residencies nonprofits to collect and strategize; the Greenhouse Residency, a one-week program for playwrights and lyricists; and a household residency which provided mother and father and their youngsters time and house to work. The listing of artists and organizations who’ve benefited from SPACE’s numerous applications is lengthy and distinguished.
The group’s farming operation will proceed by the tip of 2024, fulfilling a contract with the Putnam County Cornell Cooperative Extension to contribute 50,000 kilos of recent produce to emergency meals suppliers all through New York state, along with its native farmstand members. The group will then droop operations, however not dissolve, whereas the board investigates choices for SPACE’s future sustainability.
“Now we have labored tirelessly to maintain this extraordinary group alive, however the challenges of the final 4 years, together with the pandemic and the lack of main funding sources, have turn into insurmountable,” mentioned board co-chair Janet Olshansky in an announcement. “We’re extremely pleased with the work accomplished and created right here, and unendingly grateful to everybody who has supported it. And whereas this chapter of SPACE is completed, our hope is that, with time, SPACE will develop once more.”
Those that wish to keep in contact with SPACE throughout this time of transition are invited to fill out the contact kind on the farm’s web site.
“Over the previous couple of years, we’ve witnessed closures and contractions of lots of of arts organizations, from residencies to main producing theatres,” continued board co-chair Lee Seymour in an announcement. “That is terrible to confront, however SPACE will not be alone, and we didn’t make this determination calmly or shortly. We spent months crunching numbers and pursuing all our potential choices, however the plain fact is that we aren’t resistant to the identical funding drought that’s crippling the broader arts sector. And although the board and employees labored endlessly to fill the hole, we merely couldn’t generate sufficient funds to help operations by the summer season. If something, I hope that SPACE can encourage others to rethink the way in which America helps its arts and cultural establishments, and make them extra sustainable.”
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