The Ucross Foundation, located in Ucross,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers, and choreographers working in all creative disciplines.

History

Founded in 1981 by

Raymond Plank Raymond Plank (May 29, 1922 – November 8, 2018) was the founder and chairman of Apache Corporation. He led Apache from a small oil and gas concern to a conglomerate with interests in energy, commercial real estate, agriculture, manufacturing and ...

, Ucross is located on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch in northeastern Wyoming. The Big Red Ranch Complex, which includes the Foundation’s main offices and a renovated barn that houses a public art gallery, was built in 1882 and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. The name Ucross comes from the original brand of the Pratt and Ferris Cattle Company in the 1880s, which operated a large ranching concern with Big Red as its headquarters. Along with James Pratt and Cornelius Ferris, one of the early partners in the ranch was

Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of quality and customer ...

Residency and outreach

The Foundation provides living accommodations, studio space, uninterrupted time in the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

landscape to competitively selected individuals, for two to six weeks. Up to ten individuals are in residence at any one time. The Foundation has four writing studios, four visual arts studios, and two composing studios and a choreography studio. Approximately ninety-five individuals are supported annually. Residents live in the historic Ucross School House or the Clearmont Train Depot, which have been renovated to include four bedrooms each, with a dining area, living area, and main kitchen in the School House. Ucross has hosted over 1,400 artists-in-residence from across the United States and the world. The Foundation participates in a number of long-term collaborations with other arts organizations, including the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers f ...

Theatre Program, the Alpert Award in the Arts (administered by

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...

and supported by the Herb Alpert Foundation), and the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for First Fiction. Ucross also collaborates with the

Alley Theatre The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning theatre company in Houston, Texas. It is the oldest professional theatre company in Texas and the third oldest resident theatre in the United States. Alley Theatre productions have played on Broadway at L ...

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

's MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, The Ford Family Foundation Fellowship for Oregon Artists, and the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...

’s Elaine Lebenbom Award for Female Composers. The Ucross Foundation Art Gallery operates year-round at no cost to the public and typically features exhibitions by Ucross Fellows. The barn loft provides space for occasional conferences and public concerts. The Foundation was named a recipient of the Wyoming Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2005.

Fellows of note

Notable Ucross Fellows include

Ron Carlson Ron Carlson (born 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer and professor. Life Carlson was born in Logan, Utah, and grew up in Salt Lake City. He received a master's degree in English from the University of Utah. He then taught at The ...

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Du Yun Du Yun (traditional Chinese: 杜韻, simplified Chinese: 杜韵) is a Chinese-born American composer, performer, vocalist and performance artist. She won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her opera '' Angel's Bone'', with libretto by Royc ...

Joshua Ferris Joshua Ferris (born 1974) is an American author best known for his debut 2007 novel ''Then We Came to the End''. The book is a comedy about the American workplace, told in the first-person plural. It takes place in a fictitious Chicago ad agency ...

Robert L. Freedman Robert L. Freedman (born July 27, 1957) is an American screenwriter and dramatist. He is best known for his teleplays for '' Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella'' (1997) and '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001), and for his Tony ...

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, Perry Glasser,

Francisco Goldman Francisco Goldman (born 1954) is an American novelist, journalist, and Allen K. Smith Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, Trinity College. His most recent novel, ''Monkey Boy'' (2021), was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fi ...

Ricky Ian Gordon Ricky Ian Gordon (born May 15, 1956) is an American composer of art song, opera and musical theatre. Life Gordon was born in Oceanside, New York. He was raised by his mother, Eve, and father, Sam, and he grew up on Long Island with his three sist ...

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, Michael Harrison,

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Tania Leon Tania Leon, born Ruth Naomi Leon, (Wellington, Western Cape, Wellington, May 4, 1945 – Nigtevecht, August 15, 1996) was a South African born teacher and women's activist. She was a member of the anti-apartheid movement in the Netherlands and of ...

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, Bill Morrison,

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Ann Patchett Ann Patchett (born December 2, 1963) is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel ''Bel Canto''. Patchett's other novels include '' The Patron Saint of Liars'' (1 ...

Annie Proulx Edna Ann Proulx (; born August 22, 1935) is an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. She has written most frequently as Annie Proulx but has also used the names E. Annie Proulx and E.A. Proulx. She won the PEN/Faulkner Award fo ...

Sarah Ruhl Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), ''The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the reci ...

, Mark So,

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Manil Suri Manil Suri (born July 1959) is an Indian-American mathematician and writer of a trilogy of novels all named for Hindu gods. His first novel, '' The Death of Vishnu'' (2001), which was long-listed for the 2001 Booker Prize, short-listed for th ...

Jean Valentine __NOTOC__ Jean Valentine (April 27, 1934December 29, 2020) was an American poet and the New York State Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010. Her poetry collection, ''Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003'', was awarded the 2004 N ...

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Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams (born 8 September 1955), is an American writer, educator, conservationist, and activist. Williams' writing is rooted in the American West and has been significantly influenced by the arid landscape of Utah. Her work foc ...

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Doug Wright Douglas Wright (born December 20, 1962) is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2004 for his play ''I Am My Own Wife''. Early years Wright was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended and ...

Charles Wuorinen Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor. He composed more than ...

, and

Liz Young Liz Young (March 29, 1958 – December 22, 2020) was a Los Angeles-based artist known for diverse work investigating body- and nature-focused themes, such as loss, beauty, the inevitability of decay, and the fragility of life.John Simon Guggenhei ...

.Ucross Foundation
"Visual Arts Residencies"
Residency Program. Retrieved May 17, 2019.

Land stewardship

Ucross has also supported numerous conservation initiatives, including the planting of thousands of trees on the ranch and the placement of a conservation easement on over 12,000 acres of the ranch with the Wyoming Chapter of

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

. In 2010, the Ucross Ranch, currently leased by the

Apache Foundation The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an American nonprofit corporation (classified as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States) to support a number of open source software projects. The ASF was formed from a group of developers of the ...

, was named a finalist for the Leopold Conservation Award, given by the Sand County Foundation. The newest land initiative at Ucross involves the creation of a community park that honors the Ucross founder’s commitment to land stewardship, along with that of his sons, Roger Plank and Michael Plank.

References

External links

Ucross Foundation
About Ucross Foundation {{authority control Non-profit organizations based in Wyoming American artist groups and collectives History of the American West Arts organizations based in Wyoming Sheridan County, Wyoming Arts organizations established in 1981 1981 establishments in Wyoming