Most things hatching and being nurtured on Water Mill Towd Road are in bird nests. But there’s also a kind of incubator for the arts there. An artist in residence program at the Watermill Center offers groups and individuals the time and space to develop new performance concepts and to create new interdisciplinary works.
The program is important in itself, but it also adds immensely to the cultural life of the Hamptons. For at least a century now, the arts have been part of life here. Painters and writers have a long, rich history on Eastern Long Island. But for people in the performing arts—everything from theater to opera to music to dance—it has mainly been the setting for their summer or weekend homes rather than a venue for creating performances.
This is not only changing, but has taken a major leap forward with the residency programs at the Watermill Center. Guided by the theatrical genius Robert Wilson, the center for many years has hosted an International Summer Arts Program where approximately 100 artists, students and scholars come from as many as 30 countries during the 4 to 5 weeks of intense creative exploration. In 2006, with the main building completed, a spring and fall residency program (soon be joined by a winter program) was added to the established summer workshops. A selection committee has just been formed that will choose future participants, starting with the Fall 2008 residencies.
And what a committee it is. Here is a sampling: Marina Abramovic, often considered the world’s foremost performance artist; Gerard Mortier, soon to be manager of the New York City Opera; the writer Jonathan Safran Foer; the filmmaker Albert Maysles; John Rockwell, critic and journalist; Alanna Heiss, director of PS1; Richard Sennett, sociologist and cultural critic; Ida Nicolaisen, Danish head of the UN Forum of Indigenous Issues. And the list goes on: top names in the visual and performing arts, education, sciences, politics, business and more. These highly accomplished people will gather to choose the emerging artists who will converge in the backwoods of Water Mill.
Participants generally get to spend two weeks at Watermill, and during that period conduct at least one open rehearsal, lecture, master class, workshop, or some sort of event for the local community to see and hear the embryonic works. With an opportunity for discussion and reactions, and an informal reception, it provides us all with interactive insight into the bold and fertile imaginations of these artists. It is a terrific combination of high art on one hand and grassroots participation on the other.
I’ve attended most past performances, and while the works-in-progress were different from one another they share a larger vision about the creative process. And they involve the viewer in a remarkable way: you are a collaborator as much as observer, and you feel a stake in what is happening. These groups of mostly young people might be doing the sweat work, but you somehow feel you can take credit when it goes well. You care more than you would have predicted. It is what the Watermill Center is all about.
The spring and fall public events are usually held on Saturday, by reservation, at no charge. You can join the mailing list at www.watermillcenter.org.