Ucross Announces Fall 2021 Fellows

Today, Ucross, the renowned artist residency program in northeastern Wyoming, announced its Fall 2021 Fellows.

Sixty-five artists from a variety of disciplines were selected by an independent panel of jurors for the fall session, which is operating at full capacity for the first time since March 2020. Residents include PEN/Hemingway finalist Madeline ffitch; Pew Residency Fellow Jennifer Nikki Kidwell; Toi Derricotte/Cave Canem Residency Fellow at Ucross Darrel Alejandro Holnes; and a special multidisciplinary group with Eiko Otake, Liz Sargent and Stephanie Sleeper, who came to Ucross through a partnership with UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance.

"We are gratified to once again welcome 10 artists at a time to Ucross," said Ucross President and Executive Director Sharon Dynak. "The artists are able to have the complete Ucross experience, from concentrated work time in studios to hikes in the spacious hills and communal dinners at the School House. We look forward to seeing how our unique combination of solitude and community engages the artists' creative spirits."

Each Ucross Fellow receives uninterrupted time and space to create on the nonprofit's historic 20,000-acre ranch, located in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains in northeastern Wyoming. Ucross provides each artist with meals, a studio, living accommodations, and the unparalleled experience of the majestic High Plains. To increase accessibility to the program, each Fellow receives a $1,000 stipend to defray the cost of travel and other expenses associated with a residency. The fall session opened two weeks early this year, in order to expand opportunities for artists after time lost due to the pandemic.

"After a year and a half of pandemic-related isolation and distraction, Ucross allowed me to return to that space of writing with focus and purpose and time," nonfiction writer P. Carl said at the conclusion of his residency. "I left with a solid start to my next book and new friends I was able to meet in person - not on Zoom. I reveled in the joy of being in the live company of other artists."

The Fall 2021 Ucross Fellows hail from 21 states across the country. The roster includes the most recent recipients of the Ucross Fellowships for Native American Visual Artists and Writers, as well as residents joining the program through new partnerships with Yale School of Music and Cave Canem. Additional fellowship partnerships active in Fall 2021 include The Alley Theatre, the PEN/Hemingway Award, Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Ford Family Foundation, Blank Theater, Marion International Fellowship for the Visual & Performing Arts and UCLA Center for the Art of Performance.

Ucross's Fall 2021 Fellows include:

LITERATURE

Lily Akerman, playwriting, Brooklyn, NY

Kori Alston, writing and poetry, Brooklyn, NY, and Berkshires, MA

Nick Arvin, fiction, Wheat Ridge, CO

Charlotte Bacon, fiction, Hanover, NH

Sharon L. Charde, poetry, Lakeville, CT

Madeline ffitch, fiction, Millfield, OH

Frank Goodyear, nonfiction, Brunswick, ME

Becky Hagenston, fiction, Starkville, MS

Brandon Hobson, fiction, Las Cruces, NM

Darrel Alejandro Holnes, playwrighting/screenwriting, New York, NY

Gabriel Houck, fiction, Atlanta, GA

Sara Lyons, playwrighting/screenwriting, Pasadena, CA

Ricardo Nuila, nonfiction, Houston, TX

Abbey Numedahl, fiction, Denver, CO

Dave Osmundsen, playwrighting, Pompton Plains, NJ

Paul Outlaw, playwrighting, Los Angeles, CA

Tricia Romano, nonfiction, Seattle, WA

Amelia Schonbek, nonfiction, Brooklyn, NY

Courtney Sender, fiction, Cambridge, MA

Shea Sweeney, fiction, Denver, CO

Melisa Tien, playwriting, New York, NA

Preeti Vangani, poetry, San Francisco, CA

Karma Mayet Johnson, poetry/multidisciplinary, Brooklyn, NY

VISUAL ARTS

Keri Ataumbi, drawing/mixed media/painting, Santa Fe, NM

Diana Behl, printmaking, Brookings, SD

Nika Blasser, drawing/installation/mixed media, Pendleton, OR

David Brock, painting/drawing, Sheridan, WY

Maurice Burns, painting, Santa Fe, NM

Lisa Conway, sculpture, Portland, OR

Jordan Ann Craig, painting, Placerville, CA

Dennis Redmoon Darkeem, mixed-media, Bronx, NY

Alison 'Al' Denyer, painting/drawing, Salt Lake City, UT

Eiko Otake, performance/multidisciplinary, New York, NY

Christina Fernandez, photography, Norwalk, CA

Andrea Geyer, painting/drawing/video, New York, NY

Tamiko Kawata, sculpture / drawing / mixed media, New York, NY

Kelli Scott Kelley, painting / mixed media, Baton Rouge, LA

Jennifer Nikki Kidwell, playwright/performance, Philadelphia, PA

Sunny Kim, painting / installation, New York, NY

Jeff Leake, painting, Portland, OR

Sarah Mckenzie, painting, Boulder, CO

Jessica Mehta, installation / performance art, Hillsboro, OR

Nathalie Miebach, sculpture, Boston, MA

Irina Patkanian, film/video, Brooklyn, NY

Liz Sargent, film, New York, NY

Julie Tolentino, performance/installation, Joshua Tree, CA

MUSIC/DANCE

Anya Yermakova, music composition, Cambridge, MA

Jonah Ellsworth, cellist, New Haven, CT

Michelle Ellsworth, dance/choreography, Boulder, CO

Gilbert Galindo, music composition, Sunnyside, NY

Bonnie Jones, sound artist, Providence, RI

Sophie Cash, music composition, Morgantown, WV

Khiyon Hursey, music composition, New York, NY

Stephanie Sleeper, performer and choreographer, New York, NY

Joel Thompson, music composition, Snellville, GA

Since its first residencies were awarded in 1983, more than 2,500 artists have received the gift of time and space at Ucross. Residencies, which range from two to six weeks, are awarded to 100 artists each year. Ten artists are in residence at one time, typically a mix of four visual artists, four writers and two composers.

Ucross has provided residencies to such distinguished fellows as Annie Proulx, Terry Tempest Williams, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Ricky Ian Gordon, Bill Morrison, Theaster Gates, Anthony Hernandez and Tayari Jones. Recent National Book Award winners Susan Choi, Sigrid Nunez and Sarah M. Broom have been residents, as have Academy Award and Tony winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Emmy Award winner Billy Porter, recent Pulitzer Prize winners Michael R. Jackson and Colson Whitehead and current United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

The next call for applications to Ucross's artist residency program opens on October 25, with a deadline of March 1, 2022.

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