To date, The Watermill Center’s International Summer Program and Artist Residency Program have welcomed over 2,500 artists from over 80 nations.
The Center’s Alumni have presented work that was developed during their residencies at festivals and venues across the globe, including American Realness, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Center for Performance Research, Clocktower Gallery, Galerie Lelong & Co., Hauser & Wirth, La Mama, Mana Contemporary Miami, Museum of Modern Art, NARS Foundation, New York Live Arts, Opernhaus Wuppteral, Palais de Tokyo, Park Avenue Armory, Parrish Art Museum, Performa, Performance Space New York, PS122, Reena Spaulings, Roulette, Sargent’s Daughters, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Stavros Niarachos Foundation Cultural Center, Tate Modern, The Broad, The Ford Foundation Gallery, The Invisible Dog Art Center, The Met Opera, The New Museum, The Shed, The Whitney Museum, and Under The Radar, amongst others.
ALUMNI OPPORTUNITIES
Throughout the year, alumni from our International Summer Program, Artist Residency Program, and Inga Maren Otto Fellowship are invited to gather in Robert Wilson’s NYC studio to meet, mingle, and connect with our growing community of international artists and thinkers. Alumni are also invited to join our Alumni Facebook Page, where they are able to share news of their upcoming work, as well as open calls, funding opportunities, and more.
If you are an alumni and would like to receive future invitations, or would like to join our Alumni Facebook Page, please email info@watermillcenter.org
Watermill’s Education Programs welcomes alumni to lead workshops for the East End community year-round. Our programs reach community members of all ages and backgrounds, and involve ongoing partnerships and new programming.
We encourage innovative programming emphasizing the creative process, and collaborate with our artists and teachers to create unique and meaningful experiences. We’re especially looking for Spanish-speaking artists to cater to the large Hispanic community on the East End.
The Watermill Center will provide a modest stipend, including travel from NYC, and overnight accommodations if available. If interested, please reach out to education@watermillcenter.org
Our Alumni Retreats invite select artists from the Artist Residency Program and International Summer Program back for a five-day retreat to research and develop future projects. Artists are provided with housing, local transportation, and studio space for the duration of their stay.
This program is invite-only. Space is limited and subject to availability. For more information, please contact info@watermillcenter.org
2022
- Amy Khoshbin. Artist Residency Program 2015. January 3-15, 2022.
- Brian O’Mahoney. Artist Residency Program 2017. January 17-21, 2022.
- Afua Ansong. Artist Residency Program 2019. January 17-21, 2022.
- Zöe Hitzig. Artist Residency Program 2021. January 24-28, 2022.
- Ximena Garnica & Shige Moriya. Artist Residency Program 2007. January 24-28, 2022.
- Kyoko Hamaguchi. Artist Residency Program 2021. January 31 – February 4, 2022.
- Alejandra Mendez. International Summer Program 2019. January 31 – February 4, 2022.
- Carl Lawrence. International Summer Program 2013. February 7-11, 2022.
- Denisa Musilova. International Summer Program 2010. February 7-11, 2022.
- Naomi Boyce. International Summer Program 2015. February 14-18, 2022.
- Sarah Cameron Sunde. Artist Residency Program 2014. August 17-22, 2022. In partnership with Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio.
2020
- Andrina Smith. Artist Residency Program 2019. January 6-10, 2020.
- Lexy Ho Tai. Artist Residency Program 2017. January 6-10, 2020.
- Ali Bianchi. International Summer Program 2018. January 13-18, 2020.
- Tamar Ettun. Artist Residency Program 2015. January 21-24, 2020.
- Carl Lawrence. International Summer Program 2013. January 27-31, 2020.
- Sophia Brous. Artist Residency Program 2016. January 27-31, 2020.
2019
- Lisa Ross. Artist Residency Program 2016. January 1-11, 2019.
- Collaboration Town. Artist Residency Program 2008. January 14-18, 2019.
- Lynsey Peisinger. Summer Program 2011. January 21-25, 2019.
- Gillian Walsh. Artist Residency Program 2017. January 28 – February 1, 2019.
- C. Ryder Cooley. Artist Residency Program 2009. February 4-8, 2019.
- Kevin Doyle. Artist Residency Program 2010. February 11-15, 2019.
- Fan Letters. Artist Residency Program 2017. February 19-22, 2019.
- Kate Eberstadt. Artist Residency Program 2017. March 4-8, 2019.
- Brian O’Mahoney. Artist Residency Program 2017. June 24-28, 2019.
2018
- Sibyl Kempson. Artist Residency Program 2016. February 13-16, 2018.2018
- Gillian Walsh. Artist Residency Program 2017. March 27-30, 2018.
- Elke Luyten & Kira Alker. Artist Residency Program 2007. May 25-28, 2018.
- Matty Davis. Artist Residency Program 2016. June 19-22, 2018.
- Andrew Ondrejcak. Artist Residency Program 2016. September 17-21, 2018.
- Owen Laub. International Summer Program 2013. October 9-15, 2018.
FISCAL SPONSORSHIP
The Watermill Center is pleased to offer fiscal sponsorship to our alumni artists. Accepted projects may use the tax-exempt status of the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation as a 501(c)(3)-classified organization.
Fiscal sponsorship increases funding opportunities for individual artists and emerging arts organizations of all disciplines by providing access to foundation and corporate funding opportunities that are restricted to 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. Sponsored artists are also able to offer individual donors the incentive to make a tax-deductible contribution. Note: The Watermill Center does not provide funding.
Fiscal Sponsorship is indefinite, lasting for the length of time the alumni artist needs to fundraise for their project. Fiscal Sponsorship is terminated four weeks after the artist or The Foundation gives the notice to end the arrangement.
For more information, please email us at fiscalsponsorship@watermillcenter.org. Please attach a project description and budget. Sponsored projects must be non-commercial in nature and have some public benefit.
The Watermill Center applies a 6% administrative fee on received grants and contributions.
Fiscal Sponsorship is only open to alumni artists of The Watermill Center’s Artist Residency Program, International Summer Program, or Fellowship Programs.
Interested artists should submit a letter to fiscalsponsorship@watermillcenter.org that includes:
- Artist Name (Including what year you were in residence at The Watermill Center, and which program)
- Information about your project (including name, description, timeline, and estimated budget)
- One high-quality image for your project, that will be used for your fundraising page.
- Recommended dimensions: 2000 x 1200 pixels (5:3 aspect ratio)
- Supported file types: JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF
- List of expected funding sources (grants, crowdfunding, etc)
After receiving the above, it will be reviewed by The Watermill Center Director, who will notify you of the status of your application as soon as they are able.
Expenses must be related to the project only. Project expenses cannot be given directly to the artist or artist group, without explicit written permission from the donor or grantor.
Artists submit a Disbursement Form to the CFO along with supporting documentation (e.g., invoices, receipts, etc.).
This includes:
- direct payments to vendors for unpaid invoices or expenses incurred *
- reimbursements for expenses the artist paid for directly.
- In this case, please provide a record of the transaction in the form of receipts and payment information.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a 6% gross administrative fee, and possible charges from the donation site. The donation site fee charge differs according to payment method.
* Not-for-profit status allows artists to purchase materials with tax exemption when the expense is billed and paid directly by the Foundation.
FISCAL SPONSEES
Directly support our alumni and their work by making a donation below!
Speaking in Symbols: Adinkra and the Black Woman, is a visual, audio, and written project which rediscovers the poetic elements of the Adinkra symbols, a set of iconographic symbols originating from the Akans of West Africa. Ansong’s project will interpret these symbols by using various traditional West African poetic forms, such as the dirge, songs, chants, and proverbs, and will highlight the changing subjectivities imposed upon Black women who travel–whether as a result of slavery, exile, to reconnect with their families, or to find independence. Ansong will produce historical narratives through the voice of a West African woman who travels from Ghana to the American South where many of the symbols can be located. In this project, Ansong will be looking to push boundaries of voice and reintroduce the oral and folklore perspective of poetry to her audience. The manuscript will be written in English and accompanied by an audio and visual component in Twi. https://www.afuansong.com/
Photo copyright Jerriod Avant
LalaBala Project is a collective of 10 New York theatre artists who have been invited to create an original performance for The Lalabala Kathmandu International Children’s Theatre Festival. The ensemble will travel to Kathmandu, Nepal to perform alongside artists from 14 countries across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It will also lead artistic workshops with Nepali children and the local community. Leading up to the festival, Lalabala Project has been offering a series of workshops with youth of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds in New York. The Festival is an opportunity for artists, citizens, and educators to assemble around a shared art form and mission—using theatre to exchange values and practices, educate youth, and engage in a growing international, multigenerational artistic community.
Click here to make a donation today!
“The Long Step” was successfully shot in August of 2022. Integral to the narrative arc were contemporary dance sequences filmed through careful staging and lighting with a brilliant crew and key collaboration with choreographer Roya Carreras. However, ballooning costs and SAG related COVID expenses expanded our healthy budget by an additional $6,000. The footage of “The Long Step” is safely stored and READY to be edited. We are committed to raising finishing funds to complete THE LONG STEP, delivering a beautiful and deeply personal dance film in 2023.
Paola Calliari is a national and international award-winning actor and dancer with established international accolades in feature films, short films, television shows, commercials, stage, live dance performance with a specialization in Gyrotonic®. She has been involved in film, theatre and dance for twenty years and performed since 2005. Her large body of film, tv, dance and choreography work has been commended, awarded, shown in International Film Festivals and performed on national stages in the US, Italy, Israel, Germany, Latvia, Bulgaria and featured in major press in the United States and Italy. At seventeen she received her first award as “Young Promising Actor” at the Theatre Festival Sipario D’ Oro. In 2017 she was awarded the Kineo Diamanti Al Cinema Award for “Young Talent” at the Venice Biennale Film Festival and in 2019 she won “Best Supporting Actress” for the feature L’ età imperfetta at the Kadoma International Film Festival in Japan, where in both films she portrayed a ballerina. Some of the film directors she worked with are Alessandro D’ Alatri, Gennaro Nunziante, Gianni Zanasi and Kim Rossi Stuart, Emanuele Imbucci. She was the co-lead in the Italian feature film “Carla” about the iconic étoile Carla Fracci. On stage she worked with directors Bob Wilson, Laura Pasetti and Anatolij Vassiliev and choreographers such as Jan Lawyers, Ashely Lobo, Adrianna Thompson and Emanuel Gatt.
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Designed for teams of 4 to 6 performers in multiple cities and towns, Die No Die probes the boundaries between lives, bodies, and meaning. It’s a radical exploration of choreography, what it can contain, and how it contains us. Die No Die manifests as a kind of relay, a chain of solo performances that reflect and refract ideas unique to the practice of each performer using a shared, four-part choreographic structure: 1) The Critical Gesture of Arrival 2) A Gem 3) Send the Heart Deeper and 4) Oppositional States. Each performance takes place one after another in linear succession. Each performer signals to the next through the felt beat of their hearts and bellowing lungs. Each comes crashing into space, and meaning is developed, held, and passed from one person to the next as the work (including the audience) moves through space. The performers and audience alike navigate urgency, vulnerability, perseverance, and heightened physiological states.
Die No Die will be presented by the Momentary in Bentonville, Arkansas in July 2023. Currently, Matty is fundraising to support a 2023 performance of the work with a new team of performers in Iowa City, produced in collaboration with Iowa City-based dance and visual artist Tony Orrico and PUBLIC SPACE ONE (PS1), an artist-led, community-driven contemporary art center.
fill it with air (call it self care) by Nile Harris
And I asked myself, “what is a performance score that I could inhabit towards joy?”
And I came up empty and laughed a bitter laugh.
I had nothing.
A show excavating nothing, just hot air.
fill it with air (call it self care) sets multidisciplinary artist Nile Harris’ improvised physical score inside of a sound-responsive bounce castle. Interweaving sonic feedback as a malleable material, the unique vocal utterances of the cast create a biometrically unique musical composition that cannot be repeated. Made in collaboration with performer Malcolm-x Betts and sound designers slowdanger.
Nile Harris is a performer and a director of live works of art. His work has been presented at the Palais de Tokyo, Under the Radar Festival (Public Theater), The Watermill Center, Volksbühne Berlin, Prelude Festival, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Otion Front Studio, and Movement Research at Judson Church. His work has been supported by Pepatián, Foundation for Contemporary Art, Abrons Arts Center, YoungArts, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. He is currently a resident of the Devised Theatre Working Group at the Public Theater/Under the Radar Festival under the leadership of Mark Russell. He has worked extensively as a performer originating roles in works by various artists including Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Bill Shannon, Robert Wilson, Nia Witherspoon, Lilleth Glimcher, Malcolm Betts X, and Miles Greenberg in venues including New York Live Arts, Museum of Modern Art, Tanz im August, The Walker Art Center, EMPAC, Danspace Project, Superblue, Stanford Live, Dublin Theatre Festival, and MESS Festival.
The Adinkra Poetry Prize aims to identify and support emerging Ghanaian writers, both in Ghana and across the African diaspora, who will contribute to the broader African literary community.
Founded by Afua Ansong, the Adinkra Poetry Prize educates participants on how to preserve orality in African storytelling, ensuring that these traditions remain vibrant in contemporary writing. The prize also seeks to raise awareness about the history and relevance of Adinkra symbols, highlighting their cultural significance to people of African descent worldwide.
The Prize’s culminating event provides a platform for the poets to share their Adinkra-inspired poems and has been featured as part of the All African Womens Poetry Festival. As we move into our third year, we are seeking funding support in Ghana and internationally to help grow our community of storytellers and to celebrate shared heritage through poetry.