The Spaces Between with Nina Haft & Company The Spaces Between is an interactive installation of dance and sound exploring how our spatial choices weave a web of interdependence. What drives human pack behavior? How do touch, distance and mutuality communicate belonging? In THE SPACES BETWEEN, finely-tuned structured improvisation is live-mixed with set choreography, digging deep while dissolving barriers between maker and witness, performers and audiences. The audience is invited to physically enter the work – literally to position themselves inside it to consider what is revealed or obscured. No two performances will be the same. Join Djerassi Resident Artist Program alum Nina Haft & Co for the company’s first full length work since COVID emerged. Blending personal gestures, unplanned partnering, athleticism and pedestrian vocabulary, THE SPACES BETWEEN is our practice of belonging to each other in these times of uncertainty, our candid, sensual and unmediated movement speaking to bodies in love and grief. Collaborating artists: Nina Haft | Rose Huey | Jennifer Twilley Jerum | Nico Ortiz Maimon | Frances Sedayao | Jesse Wiener | with Composer/Musician emma tome October 14, 15, 21 and 22 at 3pm Western Sky Studio 2525 Eighth Street, #13A Berkeley, CA 94710 Wheelchair accessible. ASL Interpreter (date tba)

How choreographer Sidra Bell is blazing a trail for next generation Groundbreaking dancer and choreographer Sidra Bell talks making history at the New York City Ballet and blazing a trail for future generations with TODAY contributor Ally Love. Watch her full interview now!

the NETWORK project the NETWORK project: A Dialogue on Building Resilience in our Nature Bodies is an embodied dialogue about nature, humans, and our interconnection. This conversation will bring together local and non-local experts who have sustained relationships with researching and learning together with the natural world, through embodied work and practices. Our time together will include a dialogue, embodied activities, and a brief screening of a video featuring the NETWORK project’s premiere at Djerassi Resident Artists Program in the Santa Cruz mountains in July 2022. The panelists include Theresa Harlan, Ken Otter, Diane Butler, and Claire Peaslee, with a movement score offered from Jennifer Monson/iLAND. The dialogue will be moderated by Krista DeNio, Artistic Director of MovingGround. RSVP today!

Domestic Light by Ian Winters "Domestic Light" is a year long time-lapse media art project by Djerassi Program alum Ian Winters launching June 21st, 2023 "Domestic Light" explores the disparity between how natural light is perceived and mediated, and the nature of our networked relations. The project offers a new way of noticing how our bodies build the notion of home and the passage of time—based on the qualities of light where we live—and how mediated images of nature are sensitizing us as a species. "Domestic Light" fulfills the urgent need to build community networks, and supports the role of artists in cultivating the observation of one's own environmental transformations. At the project end, its unique structured data set will be archives at the University of Sussex Humanities Lab and will be available for public use and interpretation by artists and researchers. Learn more

Camille Dungy on “Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden” Djerassi Program alumna Camille Dungy discusses new book "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden" with Melissa Block from NPR. In "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden," National Book Critics Circle Criticism finalist Camille Dungy describes her years-long project to transform her weed-filled, water-hogging, monochromatic lawn in suburban Fort Collins, Colo., into a pollinator's paradise, packed instead with vibrant, drought-tolerant native plants. This seminal work expands how we talk about the natural world and the environment as Dungy diversifies her garden to reflect her heritage. Read more

this is my body: a storytelling showcase On June 17th, come witness 'this is my body,' a one-time and unforgettable storytelling experience that centers women of color and their relationship to their bodies. "this is my body" is a storytelling program designed specifically for women of color seeking to reclaim narratives of their self and body. Over the past two months, the cohort has shaped original pieces through writing and performance workshops. Come and experience the stories that have come out of our storytelling program during a one-time, unforgettable afternoon! Tickets on sale now. Get tickets today!

Exploratorium After Dark: Thought and Action Join us at the Exploratorium After Dark to discover the experimental documentary "Stitching the Future with Clues", by Djerassi Program alumna Allison Holt, which centers neurodivergence as a roadmap for how the mind makes meaning. "Stitching the Future with Clues" is an expanded cinema, neurodivergent-futurist manifesto, using audio and visual feedback and animated diagrams beamed through a system of water lenses. Looking at neurodivergence as a way of knowing, through a cybernetic frame, it combines animated diagrams, video and audio feedback processes, and expanded media techniques to consider feedback systems as a medium for understanding the sensing, processing, and exchanging of information happening not just in human minds and brains, but within and between all scales of intelligent life. Allison Leigh Holt is a neurodivergent artist and a Fulbright Scholar using techniques of expanded cinema and the Light and Space movement to model various manifestations of mind. After the performance, stay for a dialogue with Allison and neuroscientist Clifford Saron. Can’t attend in person? Join us via livestream! Get your ticket today!

Announcing New Leadership Team The Djerassi Resident Artists Program announced a new leadership team today, signaling a new era for the legacy artist foundation after closing its doors for artists during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The organization is excited to welcome Martin Rauchbauer as Executive Director, Jewel Carter as Director of Artist Experience, and Sally Fay as the Chair of the Board of Trustees. “We are writing a new chapter at Djerassi,” says Martin Rauchbauer. “During their residency, we want our artists to become part of the important conversations of our time: from the very real threat of climate change, mass species extinction, and global pandemics to armed conflicts as well as the promises and concerns of frontier technologies. In this age of unprecedented global challenges, we believe in the power of art to have a meaningful impact on our planet. While we will continue to provide a unique experience for exploration, undisturbed contemplation, and discovery to leading artists and thinkers from around the world, we recognize that our proximity to Silicon Valley and our connection to untouched natural beauty make Djerassi unique among resident artist programs and position us as an international home of creation.” Read full statement here

The Passing of Bruce Johnson It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of artist and sculptor Bruce Johnson, a beloved member of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program community. Bruce was known for his large-scale sculptures that blended organic and industrial materials to create stunning pieces that were beautiful, spiritual, and thought-provoking, such as his recent immersive installation The Poetry House. We are grateful to have experienced his artistic impact firsthand with his iconic sculpture Torii, which he constructed here at the program in 1983-1984. Bruce drew inspiration from the natural world and the beauty of the Bay Area, and it is in these landscapes that his brilliance is immortalized. Bruce's passing is a tremendous loss for the artistic community, and his contributions to the world of sculpture will be sorely missed. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time. Read more

Mabel Poblet exhibits Where Oceans Meet at Chanel Nexus Hall, Japan. Mabel Poblet, Djerassi alumna ('19), presents her first solo-exhibition in Japan. Where Oceans Meet will feature new works from the series My Autumn, Homeland, and Travel Diary, as well as the video installation Sublimation (from the series Buoyancy). Where Oceans Meet is an invitation to get acquainted with one of Mabel Poblet's cherished themes, water, which is also a common denominator between Cuba and Japan, and the uniqueness of cultures where islands co-exist with the sea. Read more.

Johanna Baruch’s one-night site-specific art installation in San Francisco. Former Djerassi Artist-Trustee Johanna Baruch will be creating a one-night site-specific art installation for Grace Cathedral in San Francisco during Veriditas’ Women’s Dream Quest event, November 18th-19th, 2022. Her Cosmos Series paintings will be reproduced on banners as large as 8’ x 5’ and suspended from the 65’ clearstory levels to create an immersive environment, shepherding participants through their own inner universes. Johanna’s work is inspired by the beauty, majesty and mystery of the Hubble Space Telescope and the new JWST imagery, using them as launching points for exploring the infinite space and luminosity of the cosmos through her own inner landscape. The windows into deep space that we are privileged to witness today through these new technologies connect us to our ancestral fascination with the night sky and our place within the cosmos. Using a unique technique she developed of painting in multiple layers of translucent colored glazes, Johanna’s paintings echo that visual sensation of seeing light and spectra through the dimensions of space. Johanna Baruch is a painter who splits her time between San Francisco and Inverness, CA, where the big, star filled skies inspire and give her a direct sensation of the expansive cosmos around us. She has exhibited nationally in galleries, art fairs and museums. She has served on the Boards of The California College of the Arts, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, and the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Read more.

Mary Gilliland’s The Devil’s Fools available on November 9th. Mary Gilliland, Djerassi alumna ('11), is the author of two award-winning poetry collections: The Ruined Walled Castle Garden (2020) and The Devil’s Fools (2022). Celebrate her newest collection, The Devil's Fools with a free online event on November 9th at 7PM. Subverting received traditions, embellishing mythic figures, the lyrics of The Devil’s Fools speak to and for those wanting heaven: modern pilgrims, medieval masons; seafarer, axe murderer, alcoholic; daughter, spouse, sibling, mother; a woman on pause, a monarch of the underworld, Eve stepping out past Eden. The poems represent wild and delicious creaturely delusion, deception, vigor and joy. Read more.

Alison Moritsugu exhibits Moons and Internment Stones. Djerassi alumna, Alison Moritsugu, exhibits Moons and Internment Stones at Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Vermont from October 22, 2022 - February 12, 2023. The exhibit features paintings of the moon and of stones collected by the Alison’s grandfather in the Santa Fe Internment Camp during World War II. Read more.

Sarah Klein’s SUPERBLOOM at The Great Highway Gallery. Djerassi alum Sarah Klein's solo show, SUPERBLOOM, is coming to The Great Highway Gallery in San Francisco from November 19–December 18, 2022. The installation expands on the ancient method of storytelling using hand shadows as Sarah Klein harnesses her skills as an animator and printmaker to create a vivid display of patterns and motion. Read more.

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton publishes her new novel On the Rooftop. 2016 Djerassi writer-in-residence, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, published a new novel, On the Rooftop. A stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives—set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco. Read more.

Community Update. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we wanted to share an important update with you. The Djerassi Resident Artists Program is committed to continuing our efforts to improve all aspects of the organization's performance and provide the Gift of Time for artists who need our support now more than ever. Read more.

Welcome Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, newly elected to the Board of Trustee! The Djerassi Program is thrilled to welcome Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan to the Program Board of Trustees. Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan is a New York-based journalist and author of the international bestsellers “Sarong Party Girls" and “A Tiger In The Kitchen: A Memoir of Food & Family." She is the co-creator and co-editor of the international bestseller, “Anonymous Sex," and editor of the fiction anthology “Singapore Noir." She has been an artist in residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, where she began writing her first novel and was the recipient of a major arts creation grant from the National Arts Council of Singapore in support of her novel. Born and raised in Singapore, she crossed the ocean at age 18 to go to Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. An active member of the Asian American Journalists Association, she served on its national board for seven years, ending in 2010. Read more.

Lava Thomas featured in Alta Journal’s summer issue. Lava Thomas, Djerassi alum('03) and former trustee, discusses her work and activism in the summer issue of Alta Journal. Her art draws on personal and national histories to center on the experiences of many Black Americans. You can see more of her work displayed at The Artist's Eye exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and her exhibition HOMECOMING at the Montgomery Museums of Fine Arts. Read more.

the NETWORK Project summer performances at Djerassi. Get your tickets now for the NETWORK project July 2nd and July 3rd performances! The Djerassi Program is excited to present the NETWORK project together with KDMG and CounterPulse on Saturday, July 2, 2022 and Sunday, July 3, 2022. We invite you to join us for a weekend of performances that can change our world… beginning with the way we interact with it. the NETWORK project will move you through the spaces and places of the Djerassi Program, bringing together visual installation, sound design, dance, performance and YOU! You can get your advance tickets before they are made available to the public. There will be two performances with limited ticketing available. ONLY 45 tickets will be sold for each performance. Purchase tickets here!

Y-Exchange with Ben Estabrook and Krista Benson, April 27th. Join an exciting Y-Exchange this Wednesday, April 27th, featuring filmmaker & educator, Ben Estabrook, and photogrammetrist & 3D artist, Krista Benson as they touch on the intersection of art, technology and science. Ben Estabrook specializes in translating dance to the screen and has directed and shot dance films that have screened at festivals across the globe and Krista Benson has worked over eighteen years in visual effects as a compositor and 3D artist with extensive knowledge and experience in shooting photogrammetry in studio and on location. RSVP Here

Olivia Clare Friedman publishes her debut novel Here Lies. Olivia Clare Friedman, Djerassi alum ('10), releases her debut novel Here Lies, a visceral and portentous look at mourning, memory, and motherhood in an alternate Louisiana ravaged by climate change. Read more.

Experience David Coll’s Word Search exhibition, April 22nd. Djerassi alum ('22), David Coll, opens Word Search, a pop-up exhibition with an ongoing reception from 7-9pm on Friday, April 22, 2022. Word Search is an installation of lights, cameras, music, mirrors, and spoken word that was first performed as a culmination to David's residency at Djerassi in February 2022. Word Search playfully articulates a sort of collision between 'bored entertainment' and 'unfulfilling interactions' through sudden changes of social dynamics which result in stark transformations of space. The installation has two states. In the first, the public freely explores the space, and their presence is felt. In the second, five willing audience members choose to participate as a group. Read more.

Preeti Kaur Rajpal was awarded the 2022 McKnight Artist Fellowships in Creative Writing. Djerassi alum ('22),Preeti Kaur Rajpal, was awarded the 2022 McKnight Artist Fellowships in Creative Writing. Preeti's work can be found in The Sikh Review, Spook, Tupelo Quarterly, The Lantern Review, and other publications. Her debut poetry book, membery, explores issues of belonging, to both family and the nation-state, and will be published by Tupelo Press. Read more.

Y-Exchange with Haein Kang and Carmine Emanuele Cella, March 31st. Join upcoming Djerassi resident and multimedia artist, Haein Kang, alongside composer and mathematician, Carmine Emanuele Cella on March 31st at 6pm for a fascinating Y-Exchange. Haein Kang is a Korean-born Seattle-based artist who makes machines for poetic beauty and Carmine Emanuele Cella is an internationally renowned composer with advanced studies in applied mathematics.

Sara Shelton Mann summer solstice show. Sara Shelton Mann, Djerassi alum, debuts 7 Excavations / at the edge of the shore and the edge of the world on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 at 8:00 p.m in San Francisco. This is a one-night-only summer solstice performance featuring a new dance performance commissioned for the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) campus. RSVP here.

The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo by Garrett Hongo. Former Djerassi writer-in-residence, Garrett Hongo's new book The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo is now available. Discover Hongo's audio obsession, from collecting his earliest vinyl to his quest for the ideal vacuum tubes in this captivating book that mixes personal memoir with cultural history. Read more

Katie Moulton debuts her audio memoir, Dead Dad Club: On Grief & Tom Petty, n. Katie Moulton, Djerassi alumn ('18), releases her debut audio memoir, Dead Dad Club: On Grief & Tom Petty, a quintessentially American tale about family, grief, identity, and dependency, set in the Midwest now available on Audible as an Audible Original. Dead Dad Club is the lucid, prismatic memoir of Katie Moulton, a millennial music critic who grew up in a die-hard rock-and-roll family, about her father’s unexpected death from addiction shortly before her 17th birthday, and the music obsession she inherited from him that shaped her early adulthood. Listen on Audible here.

Ken Eklund accepts a Peabody Legacy Award. Ken Eklund, Djerassi alum ('17), received a Peabody Legacy Award for an alternate reality game, World Without Oil, created in 2007. The Peabody organization recognized it as a groundbreaking achievement in the category of Digital and Interactive work. Read more.

Jonathan Keats exhibits At San Francisco’s Modernism Gallery On March 10th. Jonathan Keats, Djerassi alum, presents The Library of the Great Silence in collaboration with the SETI Institute. Join the special launch event at San Francisco’s Modernism Gallery on March 10th and discover The Library of the Great Silence, the first organization to lay groundwork for intellectual collaboration between all forms of intelligence. Read more

CounterPointe9 features Kathryn Roszak and Anna Sidana collaboration. CounterPointe9 exclusively features collaborations between female choreographers and artists. This year will include a performance between Kathryn Roszak, Djerassi alum and Artistic Director of Danse Lumiere, and Anna Sidana, Djerassi Board member and artist. See their performance and many more at downtown Brooklyn’s Mark O’Donnell Theater at the Actors Fund Arts Center from March 11-13, 2022. Read more

Changing Light, an article by Yalitza Ferreras. Djerassi alum and former board member Yalitza Ferreras describes her experience at the first artist residency she attended, the Djerassi Program, and discusses the unique qualities and value of her experience at other artist residencies. Read the full article Changing Light, in Departures Magazine. Read more

Preeti Vangani was awarded the 2022 Pen/Dau Prize. Djerassi alum ('22), Preeti Vangani, was awarded the 2022 Pen/Dau Prize for her debut short story, Work Wives, and will be included in the Best American Short Stories Anthology produced by Catapult. The full story can be read in Typehouse Literary Magazine on page 116. Read Work Wives on page 116.

Y-Exchange with Robert Moses and Katie Porter, February 23rd. Join choreographer, writer, and composer, Robert Moses and clarinetist and curator, Katie Porter on February 23,2022 from 6:00-7:30pm (PST) for an intersectional talk across the arts on Y-Exchange. RSVP Here

Louise Hamlin exhibits at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art. Louise Hamlin, Djerassi alum, presents their work in an exhibition at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art, in Hanover, NH. The Hood is having their Winter Opening Reception from 5-7 pm on February 24 and the exhibition will run through September 3, 2022. Read more

Rodney Ewing exhibits at Jack Shainman Gallery now through April 30th. Catch Djerassi alum, Rodney Ewing's site-specific wall installation Extinguishing Sweetness as a Threat (Elijah McClain), on view at Jack Shainman Gallery's upstate location The School in This Tender, Fragile Thing, open now (11am-6pm) and running through April 30, 2022. Black Panther memorabilia from the gallery's collection will serve as touchstones throughout the presentation of works by Ewing and other notable artists. Read more

Y-Exchange with Sebastián Peréz and Carole Kim, January 19th. Join 2018 Djerassi alum, Sebastián Peréz, streaming in from Chile and Carole Kim in San Francisco on January 19th at 6pm for an amazing Y-Exchange. Sebastián Peréz is both an astrophysicist and artist and Carole Kim is an interdisciplinary media artist who will meet to discuss their collaborative works. Eventbrite RSVP: https://yexchange.eventbrite.com/ RSVP Here

Interview with Kathryn Roszak and Daniel Ellsberg. Djerassi alum Kathryn Roszak interviewed Daniel Ellsberg about her father author Theodore Roszak and on such topics as peace, feminism, and the environment. This year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Pentagon Papers. She is planning a documentary and for this interview to be included in her father’s new archive at Stanford. Watch here

Natalya Burd exhibition open through December 18th in San Francisco. Natalya Burd, a 2017 Djerassi alumna, exhibits Travel Diaries at Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco, CA now through December 18th. Natalya uses intense color saturation and plexiglass to play with illusion and perspective to recreate the experience of being inside of nature. Read more

Eric Micha Holmes’ audio drama, Rapture Season, now available on Audible. Rapture Season, an audio drama by Eric Micha Holmes, a 2019 Djerassi alumn, is now available on Audible. Rapture season, which was developed while in residency at the Djerassi Program, tells the harrowing story of a mother-daughter relationship put to the test in this captivating thriller. When Mia mysteriously disappears from her college campus, her mother Joyce fears the worst — and a warning from Mia’s ex-boyfriend reveals she may have left the country to join a cult. Joyce impulsively launches a cross-continental trip to rescue her, gradually learning more about the seductive cult leader via audio tapes her daughter left behind. Listen on Audible here

Djerassi Resident Artists Program featured in Santa Cruz Style Magazine. Santa Cruz Style Magazine explores the Djerassi Program's history and mission to support and enhance the creativity of artists while also preserving the 583-acre property located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Read more

Djerassi’s Annual Artful Harvest Featured in San Francisco Magazine. Djerassi's 15th annual Artful Harvest took place this fall featuring beautiful performances from outstanding Djerassi Program alumni and stunning artworks on display. San Francisco Magazine spotlighted this yearly event, which has served as a special benefit to support artists, the artistic process, and the mission of the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Read more

Y-Exchange with Nita Little and Julie Herndon, December 8th. Join Nita Little and Djerassi alum, Julie Herndon on December 8th at 7pm for an amazing Y-Exchange on sound composition, embodied movement, and more. Julie Herndon is a composer, performer, and sound artist based in San Francisco, California. Her work explores the body’s relationship to performance using tools like musical instruments and personal technologies. Dance researcher/composer, Nita Little investigates embodied attention within improvisational movement with a concentration on creative and relational practices. RSVP Here

Monique Truong wins the 2021 John Dos Passos Prize for Literature. Monique Truong, a 2018 alum, has been named the winner of the 2021 Press Award for her work as a novelist and essayist who explores themes of food, displacement and hunger. Monique was selected from a pool of more than 400 entires from 45 states and is known for her best-selling novels The Book of Salt (2003), Bitter in the Mouth (2010) and The Sweetest Fruits (2019). Read more

Krista DeNio Named 2021 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow. The California Arts Council (CAC) has announced the recipients of its 2021 inaugural Individual Artists Fellowship, naming Krista DeNio, a 2021 Djerassi alum, as a fellow among its 182 grantees in support of their creative practice. Krista DeNio is a choreographer, director, performer, writer and educator, committed to developing new forms of performance work, and evolving interdisciplinary thinking and creation between the fields of dance and theater. Read more

Marco Buongiorno Nardelli presents “Requiem” Marco Buongiorno Nardelli, a 2017 Djerassi alum and a composer, computational physicist and media artist, created and performed "Requiem," a unique piece of music based on features of complex systems. His score for "Requiem" was featured by the Santa Fe Institute including performers located around the world, with some performing in a local Santa Fe recording studio and others sending their contributions from their homes in Chile, Italy, and beyond. Listen, watch, and read the score.

Paufve Dance Film Screening November 21st. Randee Paufve, a Djerassi alum, presents their new films including footage shot at the Djerassi program last spring. In the spirit of gathering and celebrating artistic community as a form of chosen family, Paufve Dance is delighted to present its Second Annual Film Screening, with three new films directed by Julia Sweeney. The evening will feature: 8x8x8 Time Warp Reverie – An artfully edited compilation of 16 years of Paufve Dance’s beloved 8x8x8 series. Uptown End Times – A celebration in honor of Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub. Randee performs with cellist and composer Chris Evans in the Uptown’s space before they closed their doors permanently, another Covid casualty. OLIVIA! A new film featuring dancer Olivia Caldeira Holston performing works set to music by Brazilian female/feminist vocalists and the sounds of São Paulo. Tickets

Sherry Boschert unveils 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination. A new book by Djerassi alum Sherry Boschert tells the human-centered story of Title IX as the law marks its fiftieth anniversary. 37 Words: Title IX and Fifty Years of Fighting Sex Discrimination is a legislative and legal drama filled with rich characters. The intersecting narratives map gains and setbacks for feminism in the last fifty years and show how some women benefit from Title IX more than others. Read more

ALEXANDMUSHI exhibition opening at the Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. Upcoming 2022 Djerassi residents, ALEXANDMUSHI: A collaboration between artists Alex Nichols and Mushi Wooseong James, two conceptual artists engaged in social practice, performance, and process-based documentation including photography, video, writing, and installation exhibts "Still Conversations" November 11, 2021 to January 16, 2022. ALEXANDMUSHI is a performance collaboration between Alex Nichols and Mushi Wooseong James that will be in residence at Djerassi in 2022. Read more

Women Directors Choreographers and Composers Award The postponed presentation of the 2020 Women Directors Choreographers and Composers Award to Wendy Whalen (Associate Artistic Director of the NYCB), took place on October 4th, 2021 in New York City. Two outstanding women choreographers, Sidra Bell and Andrea Miller, whose work has been commissioned by Wendy Whelan for this season's New York City Ballet program, also participated in the award presentation. Sidra Bell was a guest at Artful Harvest this year and has expressed great interest in a future choreography residency at the Djerassi Program. Read more

Ingrid Rojas Contreras presents The Man Who Could Move Clouds. Ingrid, an artist alum and former Djerassi board member, shares her family memoir about her grandfather, a curandero from Colombia who it was said had the power to move clouds available July 2022. In collaboration with Pop magazine and Politics and Prose Bookstore, check out Ingrid’s curated list of her favorite ethereal and otherworldly books and see her live in upcoming shows in Oakland, LA, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Tickets

Gibson + Recoder’s Obscura Projectum extended through Spring 2022! With the changing weather and season, this installation will project a variety of colors and movement. Sandra Gibson ('01, '14, '18) and Luis Recoder ('14, '18) have exhibited their celebrated expanded cinema performances and installations at the Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, M HKA, Serralves Foundation, EYE Film Museum, REDCAT, Mad. Sq. Art, and Ballroom Marfa. Book your visit

Residencies, Renewal, and Reconnection. After a nearly two-year disruption of the core on-site residency program, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program has welcomed artists back in groups of five artists to our 583-acre ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Read more.

Kris O’Shee presents memoir on grief In Our Last Blue Moon, dancer Kris O'Shee ('88), widow of Alan Cheuse—the beloved teacher, novelist, and literary commentator known as the "voice of books" on NPR—tells the story of the loss of her husband after he sustained injuries in a car crash in the summer of 2015. She will present her memoir on Saturday, October 2 at Politics and Prose. A special reception will be held after the event at Buck's Fishing and Camping next door to P&P. Kris will sign books, and there will be food and drink available for purchase. Attend the reading

Sandra Binion Exhibits at Lake Forest College’s Durand Art Institute On the occasion of her double exhibition "Fleeting / Aftermath," September 2-26, 2021, Sandra Binion ('97) has produced a new book that documents each artwork in full color and the exhibition installation. The artworks in "Fleeting" create a dialogue that explores and celebrates experiences that are fragile and ephemeral, that inspire perseverance, and that leave lasting emotional imprints. "Aftermath" presents another take on themes of fragility and perseverance. Created in 2017 during a residency in Buggiano Castello in Tuscany, the series now receives its premiere presentation. A brief video tour through "Fleeting / Aftermath"

Honoring Peter Williams We gratefully celebrate the life of artist Peter Williams ('18), a highly regarded American artist who channeled his self-awareness and the experiences of Black Americans through surreal, boldly-colored narrative paintings. He is dearly remembered by our staff, and was an exemplar of triumph over hardship. During his stay with Djerassi, Williams lived in our Middlebrook studio, which allowed easy access for his motorized wheelchair. Read full tribute

Site-Responsive Art Biennale Opening I-Park is very pleased to announce that the following artists will be presenting new artworks at the opening of the Site-Responsive Art Biennale, eighth in the series, on September 18, 2021. For free tickets to the Biennale, follow the link below. Die-Cast (led by Brenna Geffers and doug greene), Pennsylvania Gibson + Recoder, New York Paul Golisz, New York Benjamin Heller, New York Le’Andra Leseur, New Jersey Thomas Putzier, Minnesota Daniel Shieh, New York/Taiwan Tickets

Threading Diagram for Pine Circle Film (2021) by Gibson + Recoder

Viet Thanh Nguyen featured in The New York Times Viet Thanh Nguyen ('08, '18) was featured in a New York Times article! Hear him talk about the process of writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer,” and the sequel “The Committed,” which as published March 2, 2021. Read the article

The Djerassi Program’s Phased COVID Plan Djerassi Resident Artists Program developed a short-term plan to lead us back to full operation with artists on site. See the full Phased COVID Plan here (PDF)

Welcome to our new Program Director, Terra Fuller Terra Fuller joins the Program from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She was previously at the Djerassi Program from 2015-2019. In addition to two decades of experience in fund development, community engagement, and special events, Terra has led international cultural fieldwork projects in Northern and Southern Africa, South America and New Zealand.

Basil Twist featured in New York Times Basil Twist ('05, '11) was featured in a recent New York Times article, showcasing a video of his unique water ballet set to Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique." Read the full article

We stand for Black Lives and Black Voices Djerassi Resident Artists Program stands in solidarity and support of Black Lives Matter; we are committed to foregrounding Black Lives and Black Voices in all forms. Truth and justice is ringing like a bell that we all want to hear, from the protests in the United States to the moving demonstrations that are now being heard around the world. We condemn the systemic racism plaguing our country, and believe that our country is at a crossroads to reimagine and to rebuild a new reality. This has been... Read the full letter here

Lisa Marie Rollins featured by American Theatre Lisa Marie Rollins ('18) was dubbed one of "6 Theatre Workers You Should Know" by American Theatre. In light of COVID-19, she is fostering "creative work that centers a love of humanity, and prioritizes safety and protection for us all.” Read the article

Nathan Yungerberg

Melissa Gould writes about her residency Melissa Gould ('02) tells the story behind her site-inspired work pictured here. She calls it a "Landscape Wink," and it's a wonderful testament to the power of the land at Djerassi to spark creativity in artists. Read the article

Honoring Carol Hepper: Ephemerality and Grace We gratefully celebrate the life of artist Carol Hepper. In a warm tribute, Djerassi co-resident Jeanne Finley looks back on the 32 year-long friendship that bloomed out of their residence together: “Almost every day during our time at Djerassi, Carol and I asked the resident manager to drive our bikes up the mountain to Skyline Boulevard...As we pedaled, I always felt Carol’s work in the dripping branches above us. Her work immediately haunted my imagination and remains embedded in my daily experience of nature...Every time I see one of her works, something new emerges from the beautiful and conflicted twisting forms, that despite their weight, seem to lift off the ground in a kind of exultation.” Read full tribute

Julia Bradshaw receives Individual Artist Fellowship Congratulations to Julia Bradshaw ('18) for being awarded a 2020 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission - as a direct result of artwork that she started working on during her residency at Djerassi, no less! The $5,000 award will go towards the construction of her studio-shed. Read more

Djerassi Program Recognized as a Top Writers Retreat Poets & Writers named Djerassi in the top twenty-two most inspiring writers retreats in the nation. Leni Zumas (‘05) reminisces on her experience at Djerassi, saying “[to] be immersed in mountain beauty, given good meals and a cozy room, free to sleep and read and walk and write as I chose—it was heaven.” Read the article here.