Wednesday Cider
March 2, 2022
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Welcome to VCCA's community newsletter focused on keeping Fellows, staff, and supporters connected.
Greetings from a sunny Mt. San Angelo on this nearly-spring day. We're one month into our current application cycle for another residency season at Mt. San Angelo in Virginia. The current application is bursting with fellowships opportunities for writers, visual artists, and composers. In France, a new season of residencies is about to begin at the Moulin Ă Nef, and we pass along a message from Resident Director Cheryl Fortier about the program there.
We're preparing for in-person events in Philadelphia later this month in concert with the 2022 AWP Conference & Bookfair. We're also planning a Spring Volunteer Day early next month at Mt. San Angelo. Additional events are on the horizon, and we look forward to sharing more news with you soon.
Today’s messages from Fellows share word of forthcoming books, ongoing exhibitions, and virtual conversation.
All this and more in today's newsletter. But first, as Black History Month came to a close this week, VCCA Board member and Fellow Rone Shavers left us with this message:
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on the future of black artists |
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A Message From Rone Shavers, February 28: |
On this last day of Black History Month, I’m hopeful for the future of Black artists. As many of you know, I proudly serve on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, an artist residency program that has supported my work and that is putting serious action behind its goals to support an ever-greater number of Black writers, visual artists, and composers.
With the creation of VCCA’s new 50th Anniversary Fund, at least 50 artists of color will receive fellowships to attend their first residency at VCCA in the coming year. I encourage everyone, especially artists of color, to apply for a chance to pursue their vital creative work at this special place. And I ask that you consider a donation to support this initiative today.
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Rone Shavers, writer, VCCA Board member, and five-time VCCA Fellow
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Cheryl Fortier Shares Word (and Wildflowers) From Le Moulin Ă Nef |
Our shutters are open, spring is around the corner, and it is almost time for our season to begin. Our first Fellows will arrive in Auvillar on March 14, and it looks like we'll have a busy season with residencies continuing until December 15.
While here, Fellows live communally in a cozy country house called la Maison Vieilhescaze situated across the street from the Garonne river in the quartier du port of Auvillar. The studios are located in an adjacent building called la Cebo. The port itself is rich in history as is the village situated above, a 10-minute walk that passes the lavoir where villagers once washed their clothes and continues through the formerly gated wall into the village square. There are many quiet corners where one can spend time reflecting, a lot of historical details to ponder, beautiful views of the river and valley from the village, and lovely walks in the country.
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Photo: Wildflowers on hillside overlooking le Moulin Ă Nef and la Garonne. |
We look forward to welcoming both first-time and returning Fellows to VCCA's le Moulin Ă Nef residency and our charming village.
A très bientôt,
Cheryl
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vcca, awp, and philadelphia |
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Join VCCA in Philadelphia Later This Month |
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Fellows & Friends Gathering Thursday, March 24, 2022
5 to 7 p.m. at Fergie's Pub
50th Anniversary Reading
Saturday, March 26, 2022
1:45 to 3 p.m. at AWP22
VCCA at Table 1229
March 23–26, 2022
AWP22 Bookfair
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Sign Up to Volunteer at VCCA on Saturday, April 2 |
Together, we'll do some light gardening and yard work on the grounds. Lunch will be provided to those who pre-register. Please sign up by Tuesday, March 29.
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apply for winter 2023 residencies |
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Applications opened on February 1 for Winter 2023 residencies at Mt. San Angelo. Winter residencies will be scheduled between January 1 and April 30, 2023.
With this application, VCCA has lowered its application fee to $30 and is no longer requiring letters of recommendation as part of the application process.
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Smitten With Meriwether Godsey |
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The Meriwether Godsey team at Mt. San Angelo continues to produce beautiful and nourishing creations each and every day to fuel the work of Fellows. A little extra love and care went into an Elvis-inspired "Burning Love" Valentines Dinner in February, complete with lovingly prepared Mississippi pot roast, portobello pot roast, house made cornbread, petite peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and more. |
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Fellows, please share your news. This is a way to tell the VCCA community about your work. We're always especially interested in stories about work created in connection to your VCCA residency.
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"Just when I thought I'd be letting fellow Fellows know about the upcoming Girl as Birch poetry book 'tour' (somewhat Zoomified) — I've learned that my novel, The Promise of a Normal Life, is going to be published by Arcade Publishing, Feb. 2023. So I'll leave you with that basket full of happy news!"
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"My project entitled Forever in Your Debt is now on view at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, following a long period of hibernation during the pandemic. I made a number of the vessels in the installation — a data visualization of the student debt crisis consisting of several hundred handmade vessels and crowdsourced coins — while I was in residence at VCCA in February 2020."
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VCCA Fellow Judith Shatin will be in conversation with musicologist and Rabbi/Cantor Marsha Dubrow about Judith’s five-decade career in music, including both Jewish-themed music and her colorful explorations of acoustic and digital media. It is part of the COZ (Conversations on Zoom) project of the International Forum for Jewish Music Studies.
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"My work will be included in Creative Quest: Art from the Holocaust's Second Generation, a group exhibition at Howard Community College, Columbia, MD, March 1 - April 28, 2022. In my installation I tell a fragment of my mother's story from her time in Prague in 1942 and then, specifically, her imprisonment in the concentration camp Terezin."
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"My new book of poems, Even When We Sleep, will be out soon from Black Widow Press. Some of the poems were written in Auvillar, at the VCCA site."
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🧡 Stay safe, and be well.
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