ANNUAL REPORT COVER: Frankenthaler studio, photo and artwork by Megan Vossler THIS PAGE: Empathic Loops/ Ode to the Widow’s Walk by Mark King contents Report from the Co-Chairs 3 President’s Report 4 Yaddo Guests 2018 6 Sponsored Residencies 9 MISSION STATEMENT Variations 11 Saratoga Summer Benefit 12 Yaddo’s mission is to further the creative process by providing an opportunity Artist Reunion 13 for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment. Chosen on Highlights 14 Financial Information 15 a competitive basis by panels of widely recognized artists, guests work in both Yaddo Contributors 16 traditional and nontraditional media. They include emerging and well-known Special Gifts 22 The Trask Society 23 artists, reflecting a broad range of contemporary styles and creative perspectives. Directors and Members 24 They are welcomed to Yaddo without regard for their financial circumstances. Staff 24 2 YADDO ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Report from the Co-Chairs e write to you in our first year as fundamental role in the creative hope you saw the “Yaddo Firsts” Co-Chairs with a deep sense of process as much now as at any film we premiered at the Artist Wgratitude and responsibility for point in its century-long history. XUE TAN Reunion where we stated our carrying on Yaddo’s important mission. We renewed commitment to ways are so grateful to our predecessors, A.M. In 2018, we were able to offer of thinking, works of aesthetic Homes and Susan Unterberg, for their six residencies to 219 artists (86 daring and creative sanctuary for years of tireless dedication shepherding writers, 59 visual artists, 22 artists of all career stages and Yaddo through a crucial period of growth composers, 21 performance backgrounds. and change and steering us to this point. artists, 20 filmmakers, and 11 artists working in collaborative In keeping with the priority of We are excited about the opportunities ahead, teams) from 35 states as well Janice Y.K. Lee renewing and invigorating our thinking about Yaddo’s evolution in this 21st as Barbados, Canada, Croatia, board membership, we welcome century, building on the great achievements France, Germany, Ireland, new Members Laura Karetzky Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, and Lisa Warren and note with We’ve renewed Portugal, and Spain. great sadness the passing of our commitment to longtime Board Director and In combination with our increased Vice-Chair Nancy Sullivan. creative sanctuary capacity, we are working hard for artists of all to ensure that we are better We are deeply grateful to suited to benefit underserved Yaddo’s dedicated and hard- career stages and communities, while continuing working staff, in particular our to increase the racial, social, and Peter Kayafas President, Elaina Richardson, for backgrounds. economic diversity of our artists. all that she does for Yaddo. of the Capital Campaign, and continuing to do the essential work of providing time, With thanks to our longtime chair of the Finally, thanks to all of you, our dedicated space, and good working conditions for the Finance Committee, Candace Weir, and a Yaddo community, for your support. As most talented artists in the world. team of similarly financially savvy Board always, we would love to hear from you about Members and Directors, we are happy to your good ideas and suggestions for how we The centerpiece of Yaddo’s history and say that Yaddo’s endowment is stable and can continue to improve and strengthen our its grounds, the Mansion, is undergoing a sustaining. And, with our new development beloved institution going forward. core stabilization which will guarantee the team in place—Lisa Dierbeck and David long-term viability of a national treasure. Falk in New York City, and Cheryl Martin With sincere gratitude, Its reopening in 2019, in combination with and Robyn Iovinella-Waterston in Saratoga the five recently built live/work studios, will Springs—we are well-positioned to increase Yaddo’s capacity substantially, at a strengthen our endowment and ensure the critical time in our history when the quality, future financial health of the organization. diversity, and number of applications, in all disciplines, is at a historic high. In 2019, we It was a year in which we worked to support will see a more than 30 percent increase in new initiatives such as “The Year of Yaddo the number of artist visits—an extraordinary Firsts.” Sixty-eight percent of artists in 2018 measure of the success of our programs, were first-time guests, and it was a banner and a clear indication that Yaddo plays a year for new initiatives and partnerships. We Janice Y.K. Lee and Peter Kayafas 3 President’s Report e spent much of 2018 in a but would also transmute personal loss, state of heady anticipation— of which the Trasks would have more than Wwatching the mansion reemerge their share, into public good. from under the carapace of scaffolding As Micki McGee eloquently explored that had wrapped it for almost 18 months. in her introduction to Yaddo: Making As craftsmen meticulously restored the American Culture, Yaddo was consciously ironwork, reinstalled the windows—all 338 fashioned as a place apart, a place of of them—and fixed the foundation, it was silence and retreat. Its 400 acres, with hard not to think of our founders, Spencer woods and ponds, a formal garden and and Katrina Trask, and what they would stunning views would form a protective have thought of this work, of its cost, of bubble around the Trasks themselves, the evident dedication to continue their initially, and then the generations of legacy and give all we can to the most artists who became their heirs. “Art was talented writers and artists in the world. considered the antidote to the failures of The Trasks were, of course, fairly typical urbanization. The poet was the hero of this Gilded Age Romantics: progressive, world, and the bucolic countryside was the socially active, prone to a sort of site of social transformation.” pre-Raphaelite nostalgia. They shared Katrina Trask was especially concerned an abiding faith in creativity as a about what she called “the wretched transformative force that would improve inequality of life.” The Trasks’ fortune at life for humankind. Art would not only the turn of the century was around $15 ameliorate the conflicts and hardships million (about $1.3 billion today). Social brought about by modernity’s ingenuity justice and personal responsibility lay at 4 YADDO ANNUAL REPORT 2018 Together, we have done a remarkable thing—we have guaranteed the long-term viability of a national cultural treasure. the heart of Yaddo’s emergence and shed artists to retreat to knowing that they can It’s fitting also to take a moment now to light on many of the traditions that were trust us to do all we can to support the acknowledge the strong vision and tireless established from the start, such as the value of what they do. Given that, I think energy our co-chairs, Peter Kayafas shelter of artists at risk and the insistence the Trasks would have applauded our 21st and Janice Lee, gave to us in this their on a communal dinner. But key among century iteration of their now well-tested first year at the Board’s helm. I thank the rules that evolved for Yaddo, was the and undoubtedly necessary solution to the them wholeheartedly. Now, let’s raise a insistence on Quiet Hours. The benefits needs of the artist. celebratory glass as we cut the ribbon on of silence for contemplation and creative Most of all, over this past year of Yaddo Renewed! work were, to be sure, nothing new. Think reconsidering what Yaddo is and who of Monasticism, illustrated manuscript it is for, I’ve been buoyed again and production, and so forth. But they were again by the remarkable continuum of rearticulated as an explicit response to the community that is its spine: From the cacophony of early-20th century city life. artists in residence to my hard-working It’s stating the obvious to point out and incredible colleagues on staff, to our that we’ve entered a time when income supporters, strategists and allies of many Elaina Richardson, inequality is more extreme, more tangible, kinds. I feel fortunate each time I drive President than it has been since the 1900s. up that curving path to the mansion and Unfortunately we could also say ditto to I send my thanks for their energy and that in terms of air quality, noise pollution, commitment to the Yaddo Members and and the uncertainty and stress of a volatile Directors and to all of you who underwrite marketplace. All of which, to my mind, us. Together, we have done a remarkable increases the need for Yaddo, the urgency thing–we have guaranteed the long-term of this remarkable place for writers and viability of a national cultural treasure. 5 Yaddo Guests Interdisciplinary artist Yanira Castro at Yaddo; Photo: Elizabeth Haynes Hadar Ahuvia, a performance artist Yaddo welcomed 219 extraordinary artists in 2018, chosen from Brooklyn, NY Rosa Alcala, a writer from El Paso, TX by our admissions committees from almost 1,300 applications Howard Altman, a writer from New York, NY from 47 states and 29 foreign nations. The group included 11 Maess Anand, a visual artist from Warsaw, Poland collaborative teams working across disciplines, 22 composers, Laurie Anderson, a performance artist from New York, NY 20 filmmakers, 21 performance artists, 59 visual artists, and 86 Donald Antrim, a writer from Brooklyn, NY writers. Even with the Mansion closed for crucial stabilization Kevin Augustine, a performance artist from Brooklyn, NY work, we maintained our capacity and strengthened our Omer Aziz, a writer from Toronto, Canada commitment to hosting a wide range of artists, including first-time Annie Baker, a writer from Brooklyn, NY Ivy Baldwin, a performance artist guests who comprised 68 percent of our total.