Ucross Kickstart Fundraiser Exceeds Goal

Sixteen hours ahead of the Kickstarter deadline, on September 14, The Ucross Foundation, an artist residency nonprofit in northern Wyoming, exceeded its crowfunding goal and raised $44,179 for “The Ucross Cookbook: Cooking for Artists on a Wyoming Ranch”.

“Kickstarter has an all-or-nothing protocol, so if we had not received the full amount by 7:45 a.m. on the dot on the 14th, we would not have been able to keep any of the funds we had raised,” said Sharon Dynak, Ucross president and executive director. “We are grateful to the 261 backers across the country who believed in our cookbook project.”

“The Ucross Cookbook” will feature the most popular recipes by Cindy Brooks, the artist residency program’s longtime chef. Brooks worked with acclaimed novelist and cookbook author Cree LeFavour, a New York City-based Ucross alumna, to transcribe her recipes and stories from more than a decade of cooking for artists.

“The projected publication date is sometime in December,” Caitlin Addlesperger, Ucross Communications Manager, said “We are still working with the design firm on the selling price. We are planning to feature the cookbook on Dec. 4th at The Black Box Theatre in the WYO Performing Arts and Education Center. Steve Lutvak, former resident and singer/songwriter from New York, will provide music. We will continue to celebrate “The Ucross Cookbook” at the December 11 Ucross Community Christmas Celebration.”

Anyone wishing to put their name on a mailing list to pre-order the cookbook can go to the ucross.org webpage.

The book will be seasoned with creative essays by 10 additional Ucross alumni, mirroring the residents’ experience of sitting around a dinner table after a long day in the studio. The contributing artists include author Sigrid Nunez; writer, poet and former chef Brendan Basham; visual artist Munson Hunt; composer and playwright Michael R. Jackson; choreographer Ann Carlson; playwright and screenwriter Doug Wright; investigative journalist and novelist Suki Kim; writer, multi-disciplinary composer and performer Karma Mayet; operatic baritone Nathan Gunn; and novelist and nonfiction writer Judith Freeman. The book will also feature photographs of the Ucross grounds, located on a 20,000-acre working Wyoming ranch, captured across seasons by photographer and Ucross alumna Martirene Alcántara.

“‘The Ucross Cookbook’ will really give the reader a taste of life at our artist residency program,” Dynak said. “We feel fortunate to have been able to work with so many acclaimed former artists-in-residence to complete this project. And, thanks to the success of our Kickstarter campaign, we will be able to design and print a beautiful, hard-cover book and distribute it to readers across the country.”