“For our artists to create the kind of works we’re here to celebrate, they have to have three things: time, space, and inspiration. That is what more than 5,800 artists have found at The MacDowell Colony. On this 450-acre farm in rural New Hampshire, Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town, Leonard Bernstein finished his great Mass. Today, a new generation of artists thrives in the atmosphere created by Edward MacDowell and his wife, Marian. The Colony has nurtured and inspired many of this century’s finest artists and offered outstanding artists of all disciplines the opportunity to work within a dynamic community of their peers, where creative excellence is the standard.” —President Clinton, on the occasion of the Colony receiving the National Medal of Arts in 1997

“A place in America where the artist can really work is the simple idea behind The MacDowell Colony. That idea carried through magnificently has resulted in a unique contribution to the cultural life of America.” —Aaron Copland, composer

“The Colony for many years now has lived in my mind as a refuge and a workshop and the place in which I most wanted to be when the time comes, as it perpetually does, to crouch in order to spring.” —James Baldwin, writer

“In four weeks at MacDowell, I drafted three chapters of my novel, The Lovely Bones. Before leaving, I reread them and thought they were horrible. Only absolute apathy kept me from throwing them out. They turned out to be pivotal pages in the manuscript. I find writing a constant battle of love/hate, love/hate, hate, hate, hate, love? MacDowell, by removing all the distractions, forces you to get on with it. It’s a godsend.” —Alice Sebold, writer

“In the quiet of my studio, I was able to reconnect with what I love most about my work: the moments of inspiration and association that come with a fully creative act. For me, MacDowell is a true Utopia. On every level, it succeeds in its mission to support and encourage the artist in creating art.” —Ira Sachs, filmmaker

“Nature is my springboard. From her I get my initial impetus. I have tried to relate the visible drama of mountains, trees, and bleached fields with the fantasy of winds blowing and changing colors and forms. The MacDowell Colony provided the perfect habitat for all this to happen naturally.” —Milton Avery, visual artist

“The MacDowell Colony is an enterprise that has been from its inception in accord with everything that is rational, natural, and desirable … for the world must have its art, or the world would be not fit place for man to live in; and the artist must have his opportunity, or his art will die and the artists will die with it.” —Edwin Arlington Robinson, the first poet to win the Pulitzer Prize

“Without the existence of The MacDowell Colony, thousands of artists would never have adequate time and space to realize their visions. Thousands of works of art would never have come to fruition.” —Walter Mosley, writer

“I came here when I had published nothing at all … my indebtedness to The MacDowell Colony is very long and very deep.” —Thornton Wilder, playwright and writer

“MacDowell has always been a blessing to my work, but this time it actually saved the life of my book. I was lost when I got here, now I’m found. The amazing grace of MacDowell!” —Michael Chabon, writer

“Tempest Fantasy was conceived, and much of it written, in the Barnard Studio at MacDowell in the summer of 2001. As to this project, among several others, I owe MacDowell and its excellent staff more than I can ever repay. For any artist, to work at MacDowell is to honor the inspired mission of its founders and current champions.” —Paul Moravec, composer

“In the glorious refuge of MacDowell, we found critical time to collaborate without the maddening distraction of our three very hectic lives in New York. Though our time was brief, we were all three delighted and surprised by our productivity.” —Doug Wright, playwright, on the residency with composer Scott Frankel and librettist Michael Korie that produced the acclaimed Broadway musical Grey Gardens.

“Whatever influences the art of a country influences in the most intimate sense its civilization, and certainly few people are aware that MacDowell’s plan, now proved practical beyond question, is one of national importance.” —Mary Mears, writer and the first MacDowell Fellow

“It is what I’ve dedicated my life to preventing — the non-writing of the great poem.” —Marian MacDowell, co-founder of The MacDowell Colony