Millay Arts, formerly the Millay Colony for the Arts, is an arts community offering residency-retreats and workshops in

Austerlitz, New York Austerlitz is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 1,625 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report, Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&css ...

, and free arts programs in local public schools. Housed on the former property of feminist/activist poet and playwright

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

, the Colony's campus offers residencies, retreats, and classes.

History

In 1925, Edna St. Vincent Millay bought ''

Steepletop Steepletop, also known as the Edna St. Vincent Millay House, was the farmhouse home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her husband Eugen Jan Boissevain, in Austerlitz, New York, United States. Her former home and gardens ...

'', a house with a blueberry farm in Austerlitz, NY, named after a pink, conical

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

that grows there. With her husband, Millay built a barn from a

Sears Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

kit, and then a writing cabin, and a tennis court. After the poet's death in 1950, her sister Norma Millay Ellis moved to Steepletop. In 1973, she founded The Millay Colony, which was established as a nonprofit organization. Norma Millay Ellis donated the barn and surrounding acreage to The Millay Colony. The barn was subsequently renovated to provide accommodations and studio space for four resident artists. In the mid-1990s, The Millay Colony commissioned architectural firm Michael Singer Studio, in consultation with an advisory committee of six artists with disabilities, to design an additional building for the Colony using the principles of universal access and environmentally friendly design. This 3,550 square foot building currently houses The Millay Colony's offices and public rooms, and provides accommodations and studio space. The house and gardens are a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Notable residents

Composing

Linda Bouchard Linda Bouchard (born 21 May 1957) is a Canadian composer and conductor. She is also an active conductor, teacher and producer. Biography Bouchard was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was raised in Montreal, Quebec. She has a BA in music (Bennin ...

Andrea Clearfield Andrea Clearfield (born 1960) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Regularly commissioned and performed by ensembles in the United States and abroad, her works include music for orchestra, chorus, soloists, chamber ensembles ...

* Michael Harrison *

Laura Kaminsky Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph ...

* Zibuokle Martinaityte *

Alex Weiser Alex Weiser is an American composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Weiser was born in New York City to a Jewish family. He attended Stuyvesant High School and Yale University, and received a master's degree in Music Theory and Composi ...

Fiction

* Zaki Baydoun * Teresa Carmody *

Andrew Sean Greer Andrew Sean Greer (born November 1970) is an American novelist and short story writer. Greer received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel ''Less''. He is the author of ''The Story of a Marriage'', which ''The New York Times'' has ...

Eugenia Kim (author) Eugenia Kim (born 1952) is a Korean American writer and novelist who lives in Washington, DC. She is most known for her novel, ''The Calligrapher's Daughter'', which was critically acclaimed and won multiple awards, including a 2009 Borders Origi ...

Paul Lisicky Paul Lisicky (born July 9, 1959) is an American novelist and memoirist. He is an associate professor in the MFA Program at Rutgers University-Camden, and the author of several books. Early life Paul Lisicky was born on July 9, 1959. He grew up in ...

* Carmen Maria Machado *

Sigrid Nunez Sigrid Nunez is an American writer, best known for her novels. Her seventh novel, '' The Friend'', won the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction. She is on the faculty of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Hunter College (CUNY). Biography Sigri ...

Alice Sebold Alice Sebold (born September 6, 1963) is an American author. She is known for her novels ''The Lovely Bones'' and '' The Almost Moon'', and a memoir, '' Lucky''. ''The Lovely Bones'' was on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list and was adapte ...

David Shields David Shields is the author of twenty-four books, including '' Reality Hunger'' (which, in 2019, ''Lit Hub'' named one of the most important books of the past decade), ''The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead'' (a New York Times bes ...

* Masha Tupitsyn *

Rebecca Wolff Rebecca Wolff (born 29 November 1967 New York City) is a poet, fiction writer, and the editor and creator of both '' Fence Magazine'' and Fence Books. Wolff has won the 2001 National Poetry Series Award and 2003 Barnard Women Poets Prize for her ...

Non-fiction

* Nancy Milford * Judith E. Stein

Playwriting

Annie Baker Annie Baker (born April 1981) is an American playwright and teacher who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her play ''The Flick.'' Among her works are the Shirley, Vermont plays, which take place in the fictional town of Shirley: ''Circle Mirror Tr ...

Jennifer Haley Jennifer Haley is an American playwright. She grew up in San Antonio, Texas and studied acting at the University of Texas at Austin for her undergraduate degree. Haley also received a MFA in playwriting at Brown University in 2005, where she ...

* Jen Silverman * Fiona Templeton

Poetry

Nick Flynn Nick Flynn (born January 26, 1960) is an American writer, playwright, and poet. His writing is characterized by lyric, distilled moments, which blur the boundaries of various genres. Many of his books are structured using a collage technique, w ...

Rachel Eliza Griffiths Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Lady Rushdie (born 1978) is an American poet, novelist, photographer and visual artist, who is the author of five published collections of poems. In ''Seeing the Body'' (2020), she "pairs poetry with photography, exploring ...

Nathan Hoks Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David and ...

* Stephen Motika *

Lia Purpura Lia Purpura (born February 22, 1964, Mineola, New York) is an American poet, writer and educator. She is the author of four collections of poems (''King Baby'', ''Stone Sky Lifting'', ''The Brighter the Veil'', ''It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful' ...

* Evie Shockley * Danez SmithWhere Big Books Are Born: Danez Smith on the Millay Colony" Poets & Writers, March/April 2018

Screenwriting

* Adam Baran

Visual arts

* Louise Belcourt * Isa Leshko *

Julia Dault Julia Dault (born 1977) is a Canadian artist. She is best known for her abstract paintings and Formica and Plexiglas sculptures. She lives and works in Toronto. Early life and education Dault was born in Toronto to Gary Michael Dault, an art cr ...

* B.A. Van Sise * Wlodzimierz Ksiazek

Footnotes

References

"Millay Farm Becoming an Arts Colony," ''The New York Times'', February 20, 1974.

* ttps://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/03/garden/an-artists-retreat-is-extending-its-welcome.html "An Artists' Retreat Is Extending Its Welcome," ''The New York Times'', October 3, 1996.* Millay Colony for the Arts, about, tour. June 30, 2008.
Where Big Books Are Born: Danez Smith on the Millay Colony," ''Poets & Writers'', March/April, 2018

External links

Website

Michael Singer Studio, architects
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millay Colony For The Arts Artist colonies Non-profit organizations based in New York (state) Arts organizations based in New York (state) Arts organizations established in 1973 1973 establishments in New York (state)