MacDowell Colony
Encyclopedia
The MacDowell Colony is an art colony
in Peterborough, New Hampshire
, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell
, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell
. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds. She led the colony for nearly 25 years, against a background of two world wars, the Great Depression and other challenges.
Over the years, an estimated 6,000 artists have been supported in residence, including the winners of at least 61 Pulitzer Prize
s. The colony has accepted writers, poets, playwrights, artists and composers.
Stays average four to five weeks and are limited to two months. Room and board are free, and some residents receive help with travel expenses as well. Each artist is assigned one of 32 studios for personal use available on a 24-hour-a-day basis. Each studio is a separate building with power, heat, simple amenities, lunch delivered, and no telephone. Artists allow interruptions by invitation only. In nearly every case, the studios are out of view of each other.
The colony is a community of between 20 and 30 artists, who generally share breakfast and dinner in a common dining room. They frequently engage in group activities in the evenings.
The colony was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1962.
In 1997, the colony was awarded the National Medal of Arts
.
In 1896, Marian MacDowell bought Hillcrest Farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, as a summer residence for herself and her husband. She had always been careful to give him a quiet room for his work. Edward MacDowell found that the New Hampshire landscape enhanced his work of composing music.
The couple formulated a plan to provide an interdisciplinary experience in a nurturing landscape by creating an institutionalized residential art colony
in the area. In 1904 Edward MacDowell began to show signs of a mental illness or dementia that ended his composing and teaching career. He died in 1908.
In 1907 Marian MacDowell deeded their farm to the Edward MacDowell Association, and founded the MacDowell Colony. The first guests were Helen Mears, a sculptor, and her sister Mary Mears, a writer. Marian and friends raised funds among a wide variety of people for the colony, which was supported by former U.S. President Grover Cleveland
, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
, the financier J. P. Morgan
, and other prominent people, as well as many others across the country. MacDowell said the most consistent support came from women's clubs and professional music sororities.
At the age of 50, MacDowell began lecturing to women's groups to raise funds, resumed her performing career and became a noted interpreter of her husband's work.
The first residents came in 1907. Through the years more separate studios were built. MacDowell began by inviting applicants personally, but had consigned the admission process to a committee by the 1920s. The program continues in dozens of buildings scattered over 450 acres (1.8 km²) of land.
(local-government executives) decided to challenge MacDowell's charitable status and billed the colony for a "payment in lieu of taxes". A lawyer for the town argued that "the colony certainly benefits its artists-in-residence, but that doesn't strike us as being the general public."
The colony's board of directors paid the bill, then successfully challenged the charge. A 2007 Superior Court
opinion found that the MacDowell Colony, by promoting the arts, was a charitable institution, a ruling that was upheld by the Supreme Court
in a subsequent appeal. The appeal court found that "Contrary to the Town's assertions, MacDowell's articles of incorporation oblige it to use its property for its stated charitable purpose."
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
in Peterborough, New Hampshire
Peterborough, New Hampshire
Peterborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,284 at the 2010 census. Home to the MacDowell Art Colony, the town is a popular tourist destination....
, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell
Marian MacDowell
Marian MacDowell was a pianist, and in 1907 the founder and developer of the MacDowell Colony, an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States...
, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell
Edward MacDowell
Edward Alexander MacDowell was an American composer and pianist of the Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites "Woodland Sketches", "Sea Pieces", and "New England Idylls". "Woodland Sketches" includes his most popular short piece, "To a Wild Rose"...
. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds. She led the colony for nearly 25 years, against a background of two world wars, the Great Depression and other challenges.
Over the years, an estimated 6,000 artists have been supported in residence, including the winners of at least 61 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
s. The colony has accepted writers, poets, playwrights, artists and composers.
Stays average four to five weeks and are limited to two months. Room and board are free, and some residents receive help with travel expenses as well. Each artist is assigned one of 32 studios for personal use available on a 24-hour-a-day basis. Each studio is a separate building with power, heat, simple amenities, lunch delivered, and no telephone. Artists allow interruptions by invitation only. In nearly every case, the studios are out of view of each other.
The colony is a community of between 20 and 30 artists, who generally share breakfast and dinner in a common dining room. They frequently engage in group activities in the evenings.
The colony was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1962.
In 1997, the colony was awarded the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
Notable works
- DuBose HeywardDuBose HeywardEdwin DuBose Heyward was a white American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was the basis for the play by the same name and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin.-Life and career:Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina and was a...
worked on PorgyPorgyPorgy is a novel written by American author DuBose Heyward in 1925, as well as a play Dorothy Heyward helped him to write which debuted in 1927....
, the basis of Porgy & Bess. He met playwright Dorothy KuhnsDorothy HeywardDorothy Heyward Dorothy Heyward Dorothy Heyward (née Kuhns, (June 6, 1890 – November 19, 1961) was an American playwright.Born in Wooster, Ohio, she was married to the author DuBose Heyward, and adapted several of his scripts for the stage, including Porgy.-External links:...
there; they subsequently married. - Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
wrote his play Our TownOur TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
which won a Pulitzer in 19381938 Pulitzer Prize-Journalism awards:* Public Service:** Bismarck Tribune for its news reports and editorials entitled, Self Help in the Dust Bowl.* Reporting:...
. - Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
worked on composing Appalachian SpringAppalachian SpringAppalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite...
, a 19451945 Pulitzer Prize-Journalism awards:*Public Service:**Detroit Free Press for its investigation of legislative graft and corruption at Lansing, Michigan.*Reporting:**Jack S...
Pulitzer winner. - Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
worked on composing Mother of Us All. - Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
finished his Mass. - Ruth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford Seeger , born Ruth Porter Crawford, was a modernist composer and an American folk music specialist.-Life:...
worked on composing 5 Songs Set to Poems by Carl Sandburg. - Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
worked on The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayThe Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a 2000 novel by American author Michael Chabon that won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. The novel follows the lives of two Jewish cousins before, during, and after World War II. They are a Czech artist named Joe Kavalier and a Brooklyn-born...
(Pulitzer Prize) - Spalding GraySpalding GraySpalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
worked on his novel The Impossible Vacation, and later chronicled his experiences at MacDowell Colony in his extended monologue, Monster in a BoxMonster in a BoxMonster in a Box is a monologue originally performed live on stage by the writer Spalding Gray then subsequently made into a 1992 film starring Gray and directed by Nick Broomfield....
.
History
The composer Edward MacDowell was one of the first seven members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He believed that interdisciplinary associations among artists were valuable.In 1896, Marian MacDowell bought Hillcrest Farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, as a summer residence for herself and her husband. She had always been careful to give him a quiet room for his work. Edward MacDowell found that the New Hampshire landscape enhanced his work of composing music.
The couple formulated a plan to provide an interdisciplinary experience in a nurturing landscape by creating an institutionalized residential art colony
Art colony
right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...
in the area. In 1904 Edward MacDowell began to show signs of a mental illness or dementia that ended his composing and teaching career. He died in 1908.
In 1907 Marian MacDowell deeded their farm to the Edward MacDowell Association, and founded the MacDowell Colony. The first guests were Helen Mears, a sculptor, and her sister Mary Mears, a writer. Marian and friends raised funds among a wide variety of people for the colony, which was supported by former U.S. President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, the financier J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
, and other prominent people, as well as many others across the country. MacDowell said the most consistent support came from women's clubs and professional music sororities.
- see MacDowell Club (New York)MacDowell Club (New York)The MacDowell Club of New York was one of many women's clubs by the same name around the country supporting the MacDowell Colony, the artists’ retreat in Peterborough, New Hampshire...
At the age of 50, MacDowell began lecturing to women's groups to raise funds, resumed her performing career and became a noted interpreter of her husband's work.
The first residents came in 1907. Through the years more separate studios were built. MacDowell began by inviting applicants personally, but had consigned the admission process to a committee by the 1920s. The program continues in dozens of buildings scattered over 450 acres (1.8 km²) of land.
Medal Day
Every year, the colony presents the Edward MacDowell Medal to an artist who has made a significant cultural contribution. Residency at the colony is not a requirement. Medal Day is one of the rare occasions when the colony is open to the public. The ceremony includes a keynote speech, after which the artists open their studios to visitors.Property-tax exemption dispute
The colony, a non-profit organization, enjoys the status of a charity, entitling it to exemption from local property taxes, among other things. However, in 2005, the town of Peterborough's selectmenBoard of selectmen
The board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms.-History:...
(local-government executives) decided to challenge MacDowell's charitable status and billed the colony for a "payment in lieu of taxes". A lawyer for the town argued that "the colony certainly benefits its artists-in-residence, but that doesn't strike us as being the general public."
The colony's board of directors paid the bill, then successfully challenged the charge. A 2007 Superior Court
New Hampshire Superior Court
The New Hampshire Superior Court is the statewide court of general jurisdiction which provides jury trials in civil and criminal cases. There are 11 locations of the Superior Court, one for each county and two in Hillsborough County.-Jurisdiction:...
opinion found that the MacDowell Colony, by promoting the arts, was a charitable institution, a ruling that was upheld by the Supreme Court
New Hampshire Supreme Court
The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices appointed by the Governor and Executive...
in a subsequent appeal. The appeal court found that "Contrary to the Town's assertions, MacDowell's articles of incorporation oblige it to use its property for its stated charitable purpose."
Further reading
- Siegel J. The blood sucking vampires are circling: a victory for charity that should make all charities nervous at Charity Governance Consulting LLC, March 18, 2008
External links
- MacDowell Colony
- The MacDowell Colony 1907–2007. Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
exhibition (2007) - Dec. 21, 2006 AP story about tax case
- Story from NPR All Things Considered program, March 6, 2007