MacDowell Colony

In 1896, pianist Marian MacDowell bought Hillcrest Farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, as a summer residence for herself and her husband, composer Edward MacDowell. She had always been careful to give him a quiet room for his work. They found that the New Hampshire landscape enhanced his work of composing music.[6]

The couple formulated a plan to provide an interdisciplinary experience in a nurturing landscape, by creating an institutionalized residential art colony in the area. In 1904, Edward MacDowell began to show signs of an illness that ended his composing and teaching career. He died in 1908.[7]

In 1907, Marian MacDowell deeded their farm to the Edward MacDowell Association and founded the MacDowell Colony. The first guests arrived that year: sisters Helen Farnsworth Mears, a sculptor, and Mary Mears, a writer. Mears wrote about the colony for The Craftsman in July 1909.[6] MacDowell began by inviting applicants personally, but by the 1920s had consigned the admission process to a committee.

Marian and friends raised funds among a wide variety of people for the colony, which was supported by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, former U.S. President Grover Cleveland, financier J. P. Morgan, other prominent people, as well as many others across the country. MacDowell said the most consistent support came from women's clubs and professional music sororities (see, for example, the MacDowell Club of New York). At the age of 50, MacDowell began lecturing to women's groups to raise funds, resumed her performing career, and became a noted interpreter of her husband's work.[8]

By 1918, 31 of Isabelle Sprague Smith's students funded the creation of the Isabelle D. Sprague Smith studio.[9] Through the years more separate studios were built. The program continues in 32 studios scattered over 450 acres (1.8 km²) of land.[10]

On March 13,2020, the colony shut in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak and sent artists and fellows home. It was the first time the colony shut since the 1938 New England hurricane.[11]

Every year, the colony presents the Edward MacDowell Medal to an artist who has made a significant cultural contribution. Residency at the colony is not a requirement. In 2019, the 60th Medal will be awarded to a visual artist. Medal Day is one of the rare occasions when the colony is open to the public. The ceremony includes a keynote speech, after which the artists open their studios to visitors.[12]

The colony, a non-profit organization, enjoys the status of a charity, entitling it to exemption from local property taxes, among other things. However, in 2005, the town of Peterborough's selectmen (local-government executives) decided to challenge MacDowell's charitable status and billed the colony for a "payment in lieu of taxes". A lawyer for the town argued that "the colony certainly benefits its artists-in-residence, but that doesn't strike us as being the general public."[13]

The colony's board of directors paid the bill, then successfully challenged the charge.[14] A 2007 Superior Court opinion found that the MacDowell Colony, by promoting the arts, was a charitable institution, a ruling that was upheld by the New Hampshire Supreme Court in a subsequent appeal.[15]^:p13 The appeal court found that "Contrary to the Town's assertions, MacDowell's articles of incorporation oblige it to use its property for its stated charitable purpose."[15]^:p11

In 1962, the colony was designated a National Historic Landmark.[2][16][17]

In 1997, the colony was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[18]

Bond Hall in 2012

• Aaron Copland worked there on composing the orchestral suite Appalachian Spring (1944), a 1945 Pulitzer winner.[19]
• Spalding Gray worked on his novel The Impossible Vacation and later chronicled his experiences at MacDowell Colony in his extended monologue Monster in a Box.[20]
• Leonard Bernstein completed his Mass.
• Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town and The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
• James Baldwin wrote Giovanni's Room.
• Willa Cather wrote Death Comes for the Archbishop.
• Dubose and Dorothy Heyward wrote Porgy and Bess.
• Virgil Thomson worked on Mother of Us All
• Alice Walker worked on her first novel and Meridian.
• Michael Chabon wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a 2001 Pulitzer winner. Chabon became Chairman of the Colony in 2010.[21]
• Alice Sebold wrote The Lovely Bones.
• Jonathan Franzen completed The Corrections.

• List of National Historic Landmarks in New Hampshire
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
• New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 206: The MacDowell Graves

• Siegel J. (March 18, 2008). "The blood sucking vampires are circling: a victory for charity that should make all charities nervous". Charity Governance Consulting LLC. Archived from the original on September 12, 2011.
• New England Historical Society, "Marian MacDowell Founds the MacDowell Colony"

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MacDowell Colony.

• The MacDowell Colony
• Records of the MacDowell Colony, Library of Congress
• "Exhibits: The MacDowell Colony 1907–2007". Library of Congress. 2007.
• Hagedorn, Hermann (December 28, 1921). "The Peterborough Colony: "A Workshop, With A Wonderland Thrown In," For Creative Workers In The Seven Arts". The Outlook. Outlook Publishing Company, Inc. 129: 686–688. Retrieved 2009-07-30.