About Us
We offer multidisciplinary artists’ the gift of time and space through a range of residencies. By supporting the creative process and practice, we enrich lives, foster connections, and engage communities: works that would not otherwise be possible are realized.
History
1973-PRESENT
Founded in 1973 and located at “Steepletop,” the historic estate of poet/activist Edna St. Vincent Millay (one of the first women to win a Pulitzer Prize), Millay Arts is a nonprofit organization that offers multidisciplinary artists residencies on our campus as well as in the community. Located in the Hudson Valley, nestled against the Berkshire foothills of Austerlitz, New York, our sylvan seven acres border Vincent’s house and gardens (maintained by the Millay Society, a separate nonprofit) and the beautiful Harvey Mountain State Forest. Learn More >
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We honor and acknowledge the Mohican people, the ancestral caretakers of this place; we understand fully the acts of violence, displacement, and unjust treatment toward these caretakers, that have occurred over many generations. We offer our respect and gratitude to the elders of the past, to those living today, and to those who will come in the future, for their careful stewardship of this land and its resources and for the rich cultural legacy they will continue to create here.
Residencies
CORE RESIDENCY
In Summer, Artists-in-Residence enjoy inspirational walks along shaded trails and lush meadows fragrant with wild thyme, flowers and blueberries; Autumn presents bright bursts of color from the falling leaves; gazing out at the snow-covered hills in Winter, the mountains are dreamlike while the sun glistens and glitters; Spring brings blossoms in the trees and pale green shoots from the ground, along with the hungry locals: owls, hawks, foxes, bears, bobcats and coyotes.
To date, we have hosted 3,000 artists from around the country and the world. The shared experience of “working alone together” forges collaborations and insights, cemented by the delicious communal chef-prepared dinners after a long day’s work in the studio. Friendships formed while in residence continue long past departure and often spark professional collaborations as well as life-long networking opportunities.
Consistently recognized, our alumni are the recipients of National Book and MacArthur Awards, Guggenheim Fellowships, Pulitzer and Lambda Literary Prizes, as well as other prestigious honors. Works created while in residence — that may have not otherwise have been realized — affect and enrich lives and communities around the world.
OTHER MILLAY PROGRAMS
We also present workshops, place Teaching Artists in the schools in partnership with classroom specialists (our “Poetry in Translation” program focused on ESL and ELL learners is a smash hit with the Bangladeshi population and their English teachers at Hudson City MS/HS). In 2022, we launched our FollyFields Festival in collaboration with the Hawthorne Valley CSA, where NYC-based sculptor Patti Harris worked with the community there during her month-long stay, hosting workshops and researching and installing the beautiful “Milkweed Morphology” permanent art installation along the cow path. Our community outreach initiatives seek out connection with our rural neighbors as well as other organizations in the region, whenever and wherever possible.
Our low-fee Wintertide Rustic Retreat and partially-subsidized Steepletop Residency allow us to welcome the public and expand our “community of creators” to experience the “Millay magic” for themselves.
What We Believe In
MISSION
Millay Arts supports the work and creative process of multidisciplinary artists through a range of residencies that enrich lives and communities locally and globally.
VALUES
We are committed to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion. We take seriously our critical responsibility as a supporter of a wide range of leading artistic voices. We pledge to continue to use our platform in the effort to realize a nondiscriminatory, equal and just world.
VISION
We believe that the role of art and artists is essential to a just and habitable society. Artists and their works forge connection, challenge boundaries and reflect a multiplicity of voices that reveal what it is like to be alive in the world today. The gift of time and space is vital to create work that acts as a crucial catalyst for transformational change and evolution.
