Ucross Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Ucross Foundation, located in Ucross, Wyoming
, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers and choreographers working in all creative disciplines.
. The name Ucross comes from the original brand of the Pratt and Ferris Cattle Company in the 1880s, which operated a large ranching concern with Big Red as its headquarters. Along with James Pratt and Cornelius Ferris, one of the early partners in the ranch was Marshall Field
.
Residents live in the historic Ucross School House or the Clearmont Train Depot which have been renovated to include four bedrooms each, with the dining area, living area, and main kitchen in the School House. Lunch and dinner are prepared five days a week by a professional chef. Residencies are provided at no cost to the artist.
Ucross has hosted over 1,400 artists-in-residence from across the United States and the world. The Foundation participates in a number of long-term collaborations with other arts organizations including the Sundance Institute
Theatre Program, the Alpert Award in the Arts (administered by CalArts and supported by the Herb Alpert Foundation), and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
for First Fiction. Ucross also collaborates with the Alley Theatre
, University of Wyoming
's MFA Program in Creative Writing and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
’s Elaine Lebenbom Award for Female Composers.
The Ucross Foundation Art Gallery operates year-round at no cost to the public, typically featuring exhibitions by Ucross Fellows. The Barn Loft provides space for occasional conferences and public concerts. The Foundation was named a recipient of the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2005.
, the Tony Award
, the National Book Award
, the Guggenheim Fellowship
, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Whiting Writers' Award
, and inclusion in the Whitney Biennial
and Venice Biennale
, among many other achievements. Distinguished works created at Ucross include:
Other notable Ucross Fellows include: Ron Carlson
, Lan Samantha Chang
, Joshua Ferris
, Robert L. Freedman
, Francisco Goldman
, Ricky Ian Gordon
, Jessica Hagedorn
, Ha Jin
, Byron Kim
, Verlyn Klinkenborg
, Tania Leon
, Steve Lutvak, Bill Morrison
, Sigrid Nunez
, Ann Patchett
, Sarah Ruhl
, Mark So
, Andrew Solomon
, Manil Suri
, Jean Valentine
, Paula Vogel
, Terry Tempest Williams
, Charles Wuorinen
.
. In 2010, the Ucross Ranch, currently leased by the Apache Foundation, was named a finalist for the Leopold Conservation Award, given by the Sand County Foundation
. The newest land initiative at Ucross involves the creation of a community park which honors the Ucross founder’s commitment to land stewardship, along with that of his sons, Roger Plank and Michael Plank.
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers and choreographers working in all creative disciplines.
History
Founded in 1981 by Raymond Plank, Ucross is located on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch in northeastern Wyoming. The Big Red Complex, which includes the Foundation’s main offices and a renovatedbarn which houses a public art gallery, was built in 1882 and is listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The name Ucross comes from the original brand of the Pratt and Ferris Cattle Company in the 1880s, which operated a large ranching concern with Big Red as its headquarters. Along with James Pratt and Cornelius Ferris, one of the early partners in the ranch was Marshall Field
Marshall Field
Marshall Field was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores.-Life and career:...
.
Residency and Outreach
Through its Residency Program, art gallery, and associated activities, Ucross actively seeks to support an appreciation for vibrant human creativity and aims to cast a reflection into the future from the cultural mirror of our lives and times. The Foundation provides living accommodations, studio space, uninterrupted time, and the experience of the extraordinary High Plains landscape to competitively selected individuals, who are awarded residencies of two to eight weeks. Ucross seeks individuals whose work reflects innovative thinking, a depth of creative exploration and the potential for significant future accomplishments. Up to nine individuals are in residence at any one time. The Foundation has four writing studios, four visual arts studios (including one with an Elephant etching press), and two composer’s studios, both with baby grand pianos. The renovated barn loft serves as a choreography studio. Approximately ninety-five individuals are supported annually.Residents live in the historic Ucross School House or the Clearmont Train Depot which have been renovated to include four bedrooms each, with the dining area, living area, and main kitchen in the School House. Lunch and dinner are prepared five days a week by a professional chef. Residencies are provided at no cost to the artist.
Ucross has hosted over 1,400 artists-in-residence from across the United States and the world. The Foundation participates in a number of long-term collaborations with other arts organizations including the Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
Theatre Program, the Alpert Award in the Arts (administered by CalArts and supported by the Herb Alpert Foundation), and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award
The Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award is awarded annually to a novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, which has been administered by the Hemingway...
for First Fiction. Ucross also collaborates with the Alley Theatre
Alley Theatre
The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning indoor theatre in Downtown Houston, Texas, and hosts two stages. The "Hubbard" is the main stage with seating for 824; the more intimate "Neuhaus" seats 310. Nine towers and open-air terraces give the Alley Theatre a castle-like quality. Inside, a staircase...
, University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
's MFA Program in Creative Writing and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood...
’s Elaine Lebenbom Award for Female Composers.
The Ucross Foundation Art Gallery operates year-round at no cost to the public, typically featuring exhibitions by Ucross Fellows. The Barn Loft provides space for occasional conferences and public concerts. The Foundation was named a recipient of the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2005.
Fellows of Note
A number of Ucross Fellows have been honored by such recognition as the Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, the Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Whiting Writers' Award
Whiting Writers' Award
The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...
, and inclusion in the Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
and Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, among many other achievements. Distinguished works created at Ucross include:
- Annie Proulx worked on her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Shipping NewsThe Shipping NewsThe Shipping News is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning novel by American writer E. Annie Proulx which was published in 1993. It was adapted into a film of the same name, released in 2001.-Plot summary:...
, and her first novel, Postcards, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award - Elizabeth GilbertElizabeth GilbertElizabeth M. Gilbert is an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist and memoirist. She is best known for her 2006 memoirs, Eat, Pray, Love, which as of December 2010, has spent 199 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was also made into a film by the same...
wrote the bestselling Eat, Pray, Love and The Last American Man, which was nominated for the National Book Award - Adam GuettelAdam GuettelAdam Guettel is an American composer-lyricist of musical theater and opera . He is best known for the musical The Light in the Piazza, for which he won two Tony Awards, for Best Score and Best Orchestrations, and two Drama Desk Awards, for Best Music and Best Orchestrations.-Early years:Guettel...
worked on his Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza - Doug WrightDoug WrightDoug Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play, I Am My Own Wife.-Early years:Wright was born in Dallas, Texas...
wrote his Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own WifeI Am My Own WifeI Am My Own Wife is a play by Doug Wright based on his conversations with German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. The one-man play premiered Off-Broadway in 2003 at Playwrights Horizons. It opened on Broadway later that year. The play was developed with Moisés Kaufman and his Tectonic... - Award-winning Emily JacirEmily JacirEmily Jacir is a Palestinian artist. Born in Bethlehem, Jacir spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, attending high school in Italy. She divides her time between New York and Ramallah....
's work was represented at the 52nd Venice BiennaleVenice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years... - Jason MoranJason Moran (musician)Jason Moran is a jazz pianist and composer who debuted as a band leader with the 1999 album Soundtrack to Human Motion. Since then, he has garnered much critical acclaim and won a number of awards for his playing and compositional skills, which combine elements of stride piano, avant-garde jazz,...
won a 2010 MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship.
Other notable Ucross Fellows include: Ron Carlson
Ron Carlson
-Life:Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, and grew up in Salt Lake City. He received a masters degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, where he began his first novel....
, Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang , born 1965, is an American writer of novels and short stories. She is Professor of English at the University of Iowa and Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop- Life and career :...
, Joshua Ferris
Joshua Ferris
Joshua Ferris is an American author best known for his debut 2007 novel Then We Came to the End. The book is a comedy about the American workplace, told in the first-person plural...
, Robert L. Freedman
Robert L. Freedman
Robert L. Freedman is an American screenwriter, playwright, and lyricist. He is probably best known for his teleplays for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and the acclaimed 2001 miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, for which he was nominated for Emmy Awards as both writer and...
, Francisco Goldman
Francisco Goldman
Francisco Goldman is an American novelist, journalist, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College. He is workshop director at , the journalism school for Latin-America created by Gabriel García Márquez...
, Ricky Ian Gordon
Ricky Ian Gordon
Ricky Ian Gordon is an American composer of songs, stage musicals and opera. The death of his lover from AIDS inspired Dream True and Orpheus and Euridice...
, Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Hagedorn
Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn is a Filipino-American playwright, writer, poet, storyteller, musician, and multimedia performance artist.-Biography:...
, Ha Jin
Ha Jin
Jīn Xuěfēi is a contemporary Chinese-American writer and novelist using the pen name Ha Jin . Ha comes from his favorite city, Harbin.-Early life:...
, Byron Kim
Byron Kim
Byron Kim is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1990s he produced minimalist paintings exploring racial identity. He also graduated from Yale University.-Works:...
, Verlyn Klinkenborg
Verlyn Klinkenborg
Verlyn Klinkenborg is an American non-fiction author. Since 1997, he has been a member of the editorial board of The New York Times. His books include The Rural Life, Making Hay, The Last Fine Time, and Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile...
, Tania Leon
Tania Leon
Tania León is a Cuban composer and conductor who has been recognized as an educator and advisor to arts organizations.-León's Music:...
, Steve Lutvak, Bill Morrison
Bill Morrison (director)
Bill Morrison is a New York-based filmmaker and artist, best known for his experimental collage film Decasia . He is a member of Ridge Theater and the founder of Hypnotic Pictures...
, Sigrid Nunez
Sigrid Nunez
-Biography:Sigrid Nunez is the daughter of a Chinese-Panamanian father and a German mother. She was born and raised in New York City. She received her BA from Barnard College and her MFA from Columbia University. After finishing school she worked for a time as an editorial assistant at The New York...
, Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...
, Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...
, Mark So
Mark So
Mark So is an American experimental composer and musician active in Los Angeles, CA. His works, numbering over 500, are mostly text-based and influenced by New York School aesthetics, Fluxus, and the Wandelweiser composers collective.His work has been described as varied and exploring open...
, Andrew Solomon
Andrew Solomon
Andrew Solomon is a New York-born bisexual writer on politics, culture, and psychiatry who lives in New York and London. He has written for publications such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Artforum, on topics including depression, Soviet artists, the cultural rebirth of Afghanistan,...
, Manil Suri
Manil Suri
Manil Suri is an Indian-American mathematician and writer, most notable for his first novel, The Death of Vishnu, which was long-listed for the 2001 Booker Prize, short-listed for the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize that year...
, Jean Valentine
Jean Valentine
Jean Valentine is an American poet, and currently the New York State Poet . Her poetry collection, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003, was awarded the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry....
, Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...
, Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams
Terry Tempest Williams , is an American author, conservationist and activist.Williams’ writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of her native Utah in which she was raised...
, Charles Wuorinen
Charles Wuorinen
Charles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
.
Land Stewardship
Ucross has also supported numerous conservation initiatives including the planting of thousands of trees on the ranch, and the placement of a conservation easement on over 12,000 acres of the ranch with the Wyoming Chapter of The Nature ConservancyThe Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
. In 2010, the Ucross Ranch, currently leased by the Apache Foundation, was named a finalist for the Leopold Conservation Award, given by the Sand County Foundation
Sand County Foundation
Sand County Foundation, located in Monona, Wisconsin, USA, is a non-profit private land conservation organization formed in 1965. Its work is inspired by world-renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold’s land management philosophy.- Landholder Leaders :...
. The newest land initiative at Ucross involves the creation of a community park which honors the Ucross founder’s commitment to land stewardship, along with that of his sons, Roger Plank and Michael Plank.
External links
- Ucross Foundation
- http://www.ucrossfoundation.org/about/ About Ucross Foundation