Ucross Announces Key Leadership Promotions

Ucross, the acclaimed artist residency program and art gallery located on a 20,000-acre ranch in northern Wyoming, has announced  the promotion of Caitlin Addlesperger to Deputy Director and Tawni Shuler to Residency Director.

“I'm happy to announce the promotion of these two talented, dedicated and extraordinary members of our team,” Ucross President and Executive Director William Belcher said. “As leaders and creative professionals, Caitlin and Tawni are committed to our program's excellence and our role in supporting artists, the artistic process and the creation of new work. We have benefited from their vision and expertise, and I look forward to their continued success.”

Addlesperger, previously Ucross's Director of External Relations, is an arts administrator with experience in nonprofit leadership, marketing, development and community building. In her new role, she will work closely with the President and Board of Trustees to carry out the mission of the organization, while creating and implementing a new five-year strategic plan. 

Since joining the Ucross team in 2020, Addlesperger has expanded the nonprofit's outreach, engagement and external relations efforts, which, in turn, led to the successful completion of its $5 million 40th Anniversary Campaign. In addition to her communications, marketing and media relations work, Addlesperger has managed the Ucross Art Gallery, expanded the Gift Shop and launched the Ucross Café; produced Ucross's annual Founder's Day and other community-based events; coordinated “The Ucross Cookbook” project from conception to publication; and directed major events across the U.S., including the 2023 galas in Wyoming and Texas, a performance and awards ceremony with three-term U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo at the WYO Theater in Sheridan, Wyoming, and a poetry event featuring M.L. Smoker at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Addlesperger holds a degree in modern languages and literature from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Her professional experience includes work with national and international organizations who value arts, culture, and community. Throughout her career, Addlesperger has worked to foster engagement with arts and culture at Umbra Institute, an American school in Perugia, Italy; the national headquarters of Eataly USA in New York City; and The Sheridan Press. A 2023 graduate of the Leadership Wyoming program, she currently serves on the boards of Wyoming Arts Alliance, WYO Performing Arts and Education Center, Bighorn Arts Collective and Sheridan County Travel and Tourism. Addlesperger lives in Sheridan with her husband and their three-year-old daughter.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to support contemporary artists from around the world, while living in the beautiful corner of Wyoming where I grew up,” Addlesperger said. “It's an honor to take on this role to help usher in the next chapter of Ucross alongside Bill Belcher, our Board of Trustees and our staff. We are energized for the future as we work to sustain and grow our residency program, further connect to our ranch and engage our local and national communities.”

As Residency Director, Shuler is charged with maintaining and developing artistic and programmatic excellence at Ucross. Shuler brings her experience as a former artist-in-residence at Ucross — as well as Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts and Jentel — to the leadership team. She joined the staff as Residency Manager in January 2022 and has been instrumental in supporting the 115-plus international writers, visual artists, composers and choreographers who travel to Ucross for uninterrupted time and space.

Born on a ranch in Wyoming, Shuler was enticed to paint and draw early on by the art of western painters Frederick Remington and Charlie Russell. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana, Missoula, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from Arizona State University. Shuler has since served as the Programming Director for the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana, an Assistant Professor in Watermedia at Utah Valley University, an Instructor of Art at Sheridan College and Media Specialist for the Arizona Natural History Association. She is currently creating artwork for a solo exhibition at Sheridan College that will open September 19, 2024.

"I have been so happy to be back home, where I am inspired by the innovative works being done on the wide-open plains of Wyoming,” Shuler said. “Magic happens when creative minds are given the gift of solitude, community and space that Ucross provides."

Since 1983, Ucross has provided more than 2,700 residencies to distinguished fellows such as Annie Proulx, Terry Tempest Williams, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Ricky Ian Gordon, Bill Morrison, Theaster Gates, Anthony Hernandez and Tayari Jones. 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 three-term United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. 

A public component of the mission, the Ucross Art Gallery presents the artwork of former artists-in-residence through exhibitions guest curated by alumni or outstanding contemporary artists and arts administrators. Currently on view is “Celebrating Complexities,” featuring recent recipients of the Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists, through May 17. The gallery and onsite café, located at 30 Big Red Lane, are open with free admission Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

Learn more at ucross.org.

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