A friend asked me for some advice about applying for a residency at The MacDowell Colony, so I decided to share my thoughts in a blogpost:
During one of my penultimate days at MacDowell, I spoke with the Admissions staff and asked them to take me through their application process. If you're interested in applying, I'd suggest ringing up or emailing well before deadline [try one and a half months before things get really busy and you will have their undivided attention] and asking them any niggly questions you might have. They're very helpful and also less likely to give dubious information than me. Have a nosey around their website—download the application form and guidelines, and have a little read.
'The MacDowell Colony encourages artists from all backgrounds to apply.'
The main thing that impressed me from my conversation with the Admissions staff was that the Admissions Panel is only interested in the quality of the work—and boy, didn't hearing that make my knees tremble?
Luckily, what might have been the biggest hurdle for me in applying—finding two referees—was taken care of from the start [they offered! And they suggested I go for MacDowell!]. All I then needed to do was knuckle down and fill in the form, get organised with the application fee, print off the poems and mail it all off before the deadline. And filling in the project description was not as bad as it could have been for me, primarily because I had been spending most of last year applying for other grants/bursaries/residencies, so I had a project in mind.
One can also stay for less than a month, though by the end of it, you might be wanting more time. I know someone who was resident for two weeks—she also had children/family/job and could only spare that amount of time—but she was astonished at how much she achieved during her stay. If you do need more time, you can try requesting an extension, which they will grant if schedules permit it.
Some application periods are more popular than others [up to 800 people may apply depending on the season]. Consequently, there will be more competition for the same number of spaces. Still, they do have wait-listing, so all might not be lost even then.
MacDowell is very conducive to the creation of new work. The camaraderie around the dinner/billiards/ping-pong table sets the scene for convivial conversations, and from this, one might start writing a play, or a couple of paragraphs for a short story, or chapters for a novel. So, if things don't go according to plan, it's still a good thing, as long as one keeps on creating. And you only need two referees, so if you have those, you're set. As I already mentioned, the Panels' only concern is the quality of the work—just send your best.
So. Are you going to apply?
