News
Ucross Welcomes Anne Pendergast as Trustee
On April 24, Ucross announced that Anne Pendergast of Big Horn, Wyoming, has joined the artist residency program’s Board of Trustees. Born and raised in Maine, Pendergast earned a BA from Bowdoin College and an MS in geology from Oregon State University, then moved to Wyoming in 1983 to work with an oil and gas exploration company in Casper. She served on the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy Wyoming for 16 years and the National Advisory Council for The Brinton Museum for six years.
“Anne Pendergast is an accomplished leader who understands the connection between the arts, community, and land conservation here in Wyoming,” said Ucross President William Belcher. “As Ucross celebrates our 40th anniversary, we are honored to welcome Anne to our Board of Trustees, and we look forward to her input and guidance as we plan for our next 40 years.”
Pendergast joins current Trustees Jim Nelson, chair, of Big Horn, Wyoming; Susan Miller, vice president, of Sheridan, Wyoming; Charlie Hart, secretary, of Big Horn, Wyoming; Tracy Boyle of Sheridan, Wyoming; Kim Cannon of Big Horn, Wyoming; Chad Deaton of Jackson, Wyoming, and Houston, Texas; Steve Farris of Ucross, Wyoming, and Houston, Texas; Greg Hill of Wilson, Wyoming, and Houston, Texas; Jesse Marion of Houston, Texas; Roger Plank of Ucross, Wyoming, and Houston, Texas; Kate Schutt of New York, New York; and Scott Manning Stevens of Syracuse, New York.
“It is an honor to join the Ucross Foundation Board,” Pendergast said. “Having lived in Big Horn for 32 years, I have seen how valuable the work of Ucross is to the cultural enrichment of this county and the state of Wyoming. It’s a win-win: Artists from all across the U.S. visit our beautiful state and practice their creative endeavors, while our community members have the opportunity to attend the artists’ concerts, art shows, readings, dance recitals and more.”
Currently, Pendergast sits on the Board for the Center for a Vital Community in Sheridan and the Board of the Coldwater Conservation Fund, an arm of Trout Unlimited. A graduate of Leadership Wyoming in 2017, she enjoys fly fishing and world travel, as well as dogs, horses, gardening and hiking. Pendergast has two grown children.
Since the residency program began in 1983, Ucross has supported nearly 2,600 artists, including 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. 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.
Ucross participates in more than a dozen creative partnerships with national organizations that enhance its ability to support outstanding individual artists with residencies. National partners include the Sundance Institute, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, the Ford Family Foundation, the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Alley Theatre, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, Yale University, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Houston Ballet and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
