Millay Colony for the Arts

Promoting the vitality of the arts and the development of writers, visual artists, and composers by providing a retreat for creative work.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Millay Colony at AWP!

 
We will be sharing a table with Belladonna* Collaborative and Stonecutter Journal at the bookfair. Stop on by!
 
Also, while in town....a Millay Colony get-together:
Thursday, March 7, 2013; 5 to 7 pm
Join us for some friendliness in the literary maelstrom!
 
Alums, fans, future residents, all are welcome. We will gather at 29 Newbury, a Restaurant, bar, and gallery just blocks from the convention center.
 
29 Newbury St.
Boston, MA
617-536-0290
 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Congrats to Millay Alum Amy Brill!



Amy Brill was a resident with us in 2004 (and one of the very first Winter Shakers, too!). The novel she was working on back then, now called The Movement of Stars, will be published by Riverhead Books on April 18, 2013!

 
 

"In spare yet luminous prose, Brill shows Hannah achieving emotional and spiritual growth to match her intellectual gifts…Probing yet accessible, beautifully written and richly characterized: fine work from a writer to watch.” —Kirkus, starred review



From Amy:

"It's hard to believe that nine years have gone by since I first sat in the Millay Colony barn, gazing out the window at the single, beautifully twisted tree outside, and pondering the fate of the protagonist in my novel, The Movement of Stars. In the years since, I've seen that tree in every season: blooming in summertime during my first residency, when I still thought I was writing an epistolary novel hewing closely to the true life-story of the first professional female astronomer in America (I wasn't); still and snow-covered in winter, when I was one of the first "Shakers" and spent some of time painting said barn and the remainder trying to tell the story I wanted to tell (not epistolary, and not "about" Maria Mitchell, after all). I saw the tree in autumn, when I returned to visit then-director Drake Patten one weekend with a fellow former resident. And I saw it in the spring, on a road trip with my now-husband, to whom I wished to point out the special and beautiful place that so inspired me. It was at Millay that I had the time and breathing room to lie under the wide night sky, memorizing the constellations; it was there I met an artist who gave me wisdom I never forgot: "How do I feel about my work?" he mused one day over dinner. "Who cares? It's my work. How I feel about it isn't that important." In so many ways, my time at Millay was fundamental to both my novel and myself: the Colony shaped both, indelibly, and I'll forever be grateful."

 


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Planning an event or retreat?



The Millay Colony for the Arts is available to rent for retreats, parties, think-tanks, weddings, and many other group gatherings. During the Residency Season (April - November), we have inter-residency breaks of three to six days each month. After the Residency season (December - March), we have several week-long periods open.
Our spectacular campus in the Berkshires is located on the former property of legendary poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Bordering Harvey Mountain State Forest, The Millay Colony is nestled on seven acres of meadows and wooded land and offers stunning views, lush fields, and historic walking trails.
Our facility can board groups up to fourteen, with seven double beds, and we can arrange further lodging with discounts at nearby locations for events with larger numbers. The Colony has hosted parties of up to 300 and has also been an intimate home for retreats of creative collaborative groups of four members.
Whether it is a pastoral retreat, think-tank, party, or working vacation, our dazzling Upstate New York location is an idyllic location.