Ucross Welcomes Artists to Wyoming

This week, artists from across the nation began the seasonal migration to Ucross for the start of the artist residency program’s Fall 2022 session.

From August through early December, 55 visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers and interdisciplinary artists will be at Ucross, which is located on a historic 20,000-acre ranch in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming. An independent jury comprised of artists and leaders in the field selected the fellows from nearly 400 applicants, as well as a dozen partners.

Notable Ucross Fellows this session include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer Michael R. Jackson of New York, New York; acclaimed visual artist Kunlin He of San Francisco, California; writer, poet and critic Gabriela Jauregui of Mexico City, Mexico; famed singer-songwriter Ceci Bastida of Pasadena, CA; PEN/Hemingway Award finalist Regina Porter of Brooklyn, New York; multidisciplinary creator and director of site-specific experiences Annie Saunders of Los Angeles, California; and award-winning novelist Dana Spiotta of Syracuse, New York.

“Ucross is thrilled to welcome this inspiring group of artists to the majestic High Plains of Wyoming,” said Ucross President William Belcher. “This session’s artists will travel here from 17 states, as well as Mexico and England. We are honored to provide uninterrupted time and space in an unparalleled setting to these artists to further their artistic vision.”

Ucross residencies range from two to six weeks, with a maximum of 10 artists in residence at one time. Fellows receive a private studio, living accommodations, meals by a professional chef, and cross-cultural and interdisciplinary conversation among the cohort, as well as the experience of working in northern Wyoming. In addition, Ucross continues to provide invited applicants with a $1,000 stipend to defray the cost of travel and other expenses.

This session’s roster includes general Ucross residents who applied through the open call to artists across disciplines; recipients of the Ucross Fellowships for Native American Visual Artists and Writers; and residents joining the program through partnerships with esteemed national organizations, including the Aura Estrada Prize, Yale School of Music, the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, the Alley Theatre, Toi Derricotte/Cave Canem, the Ford Family Foundation, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Blank Theatre, Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and UCLA Center for the Art of Performance.

The Fall 2022 Ucross Fellows are:

LITERATURE: Liz Duffy Adams, Playwriting, Northampton, MA; Alley Theatre; S. Erin Batiste, Poetry/Interdisciplinary, Brooklyn, NY; Toi Derricotte/Cave Canem ; Eric Glover, Dramaturg/Drama Critic, New Haven, CT; David Geffen School of Drama at Yale Katherine Gwynn, Playwriting, Chicago, IL; Blank Theatre Chad Harbach, Fiction, Charlottesville, VA; PEN/Hemingway Award Esther Hayes, Fiction, Fort Collins, CO: Ella Hickson, Playwriting, London, U.K.; Philip Howze, Playwriting, Brooklyn, NY; Alley Theatre: Gabriela Jauregui, Fiction, Mexico City, Mexico: Lee Clay Johnson, Fiction, Granville, NY: Jessica Kahkoska, Playwriting, Poughkeepsie, NY; Alley Theatre; Meghan Kenny, Fiction, Lancaster, PA; PEN/Hemingway Award; Sonali Kohli, Nonfiction, Los Angeles, CA; Ellen Shirazi Liu, Nonfiction, Potomac, MD; Madison McCartha, Poetry, Santa Cruz, CA; Cindy Juyoung Ok, Poetry, Iowa City, IA; Tochukwu Okafor, Fiction, Worcester, MA; Regina Porter, Fiction, Brooklyn, NY; PEN/Hemingway Award; Natanya Pulley, Nonfiction, Colorado Springs, CO; Ucross Fellowship for Native American Writers; Lauren Russell, Poetry, East Lansing, MI; Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Nonfiction, Brooklyn, NY; Aura Estrada Prize; Shaina Shealy, Nonfiction, Washington, D.C.; Mary South, Fiction, New York, NY; Dana Spiotta, Fiction, Syracuse, NY; David Ulin, Nonfiction, Los Angeles, CA; David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Fiction, Highlands Ranch, CO

MUSIC/DANCE: Ceci Bastida, Music Composition, Pasadena, CA; Andrew Raffo Dewar, Music Composition, Tuscaloosa, AL; Guillermo Galindo, Music Composition, Oakland, CA; Herb Alpert Award; Michael R. Jackson, Music Composition, New York, NY; Florrie Marshall, Music Composition/Violinist, Hamden, CT; Yale School of Music Alexander Noice, Music Composition, Los Angeles, CA; Shamie Royston, Music Composition/Pianist, Piscataway, NJ; Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice; Andrew Samarasekara, Violinist, Surrey, U.K.; Yale School of Music

VISUAL ARTS: Karl Burkheimer, Drawing/Sculpture, Portland, OR; Ford Family Foundation; Dee Etzwiler, New Genre/Digital Art, Eugene, OR; Marsha Goldberg, Painting/Drawing, Highland Park, NJ; Monica Goldsmith, Painting, Carbondale, CO; Marcie Miller Gross, Multimedia, Kansas City, MO; Kunlin He, Multimedia, San Francisco, CA; Vesna Jovanovic, Drawing/Painting/Mixed Media, Chicago, IL; Joanne Lefrak, Drawing, Santa Fe, NM; Regina Martinez, Film/Video, Chicago, IL; Gail D. Panske, Printmaking/Drawing, Oshkosh, WI; Mikayla Patton, Installation/Mixed Media/Sculpture, Roswell, NM; Ucross Fellowship for Native American Visual Artists; Liza Phillips, Painting/Mixed Media/Drawing, Narrowsburg, NY; Annie Saunders, Multidisciplinary/Performance, Los Angeles, CA; UCLA CAP; Jane Schiffhauer, Sculpture, Portland, OR; Ford Family Foundation; Andrew Schneider, Interdisciplinary, Brooklyn, NY; Matthew Thomas, Draw/Mixed Media/ Performance, Taos, NM; Shane Tolbert, Draw/Mixed Media/Painting, Santa Fe, NM; Seth Tummins, Painting, Waverly, TN; Mel Watkin, Drawing/Painting, Cobden, IL; Fumiyo Yoshikawa, Installation/Painting, Albany, CA.

Since Ucross’s first residencies were awarded in 1983, more than 2,500 artists have received the gift of time and space. Distinguished Fellows include 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 winner Colson Whitehead and three-term U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

Ucross is currently accepting applications for the Spring 2023 session. More information about the artist residency program is available at ucross.org.