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The Retreat and Residency Programs at Hopscotch House further KFW’s mission by providing time and space for feminist social change artists, activists and allies to explore new ideas and artistic expressions, deepen understanding of feminism and advance creative change.
Current Opportunities
2013 Summer Residency Program
The Retreat Program at Hopscotch House
What to Expect during Retreats at Hopscotch House
Summer Residency Program
Facilities and Amenities
Brief History of Hopscotch House and Its Surroundings
Voluntary Donations
Current Opportunities
Applications Now Open for
2013 Summer Residency Program at Hopscotch House
Artists may apply for a one-week residency (6 nights and 7 days) during either of the following weeks:
Artists may apply for a two-week residency (13 nights and 14 days) during the following weeks:
Application must be postmarked by Friday, April 19
KFW’s 2013 Summer Residency Program offers 5-10 feminist artists one to two weeks at Hopscotch House to deepen their art making, create connections and develop strategies to strengthen the social change impact of their work The supportive communal setting combines individual and collective time for art making and reflecting on the power of feminist art. Modest stipends to cover art supplies, food, travel and other costs are available by request. Please read the following information and complete the Application Form and Stipend Form, if needed. Notifications will be mailed by May 20, 2013
For further information and application form, please see Summer Residency Program
Requests Now Open for Retreats taking place from
February 4 - June 7, 2013
Artists, activists, and allies may now request individual or group retreats to take place from Monday, February 4 through Friday, June 7, 2013.
Please Note: Hopscotch House will be open Wednesdays through Sundays in February to conserve energy.
From March through June, the House will be open Tuesdays through Sundays.
For information about how to request an individual retreat, please see: Individual Retreat Information for Artists, Activists and Allies
For information about how to request a group retreat, please see:
Group Retreat Information for Artists, Activists and Allies
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Summer Residency Program
KFW’s 2013 Summer Residency Program offers 5-10 feminist artists one to two weeks at Hopscotch House to deepen their art making, create connections and develop strategies to strengthen the social change impact of their work. Residencies provide artists with extended and intensive time essential to imagination and creation. A residency provides individual and collective space where artists can focus, reflect and listen to their instincts as they move their work forward.
At the Summer Residency Program, artistic creation is intertwined with active envisioning of how feminist art can enact positive social change. While at Hopscotch House, residents can reflect on the ways their art can act as a catalyst, a point of connection, and a strong voice to advance feminism and social justice in Kentucky. The residencies provide a unique opportunity to develop art making alongside plans, goals, and activities that can advance positive change for women and girls.
KFW’s Residencies provide an accessible entry point for developing artists as well as an opportunity for established feminist artists to deepen their work and their understanding of the social change power of their art. Since the program does not require a work sample, artists working across diverse art forms have the freedom to focus on research, conceptualize future work, experiment, or create new work.
The Summer Residency Program at Hopscotch House offers a unique opportunity for feminist social change artists from across Kentucky to spend time together in a serene and supportive environment. Participants have access to 400 acres of historically significant privately held land surrounding Hopscotch House. The forests, watersheds, meadows, wild flowers and wild life can be sources for inspiration, reflection and connections to the natural world.
Artists with varied backgrounds, worldviews, cultural heritages, sexual orientations are encouraged to apply. The communal environment created by each group of residents provides opportunities for cross-fertilization and fresh thinking. Residents have opportunities to move beyond individual creative transformation by sharing ideas, exchanging views, and making connections that can help widen the reach of their work. Summer Residents regularly report that these kinds of exchanges often inspire ideas and insights, which strengthen their individual work.
Respect for differences, curiosity, and willingness to learn are primary values of the Summer Residency Program. The communal environment created by each group is a safe space for all residents and an opportunity for them to develop community-building practices they can take with them when they leave Hopscotch House.
Since 2006, KFW’s Summer Residency Program at Hopscotch House has fostered many of Kentucky’s most diverse feminist social change artists. By supporting artistic development with a focus on social impact, the Summer Residency Program is an important component of the growing and inclusive feminist social change movement in Kentucky.
Who Can Apply?
The Summer Residency program is open to all feminist social change artists who live and work in Kentucky. KFW is committed to making the residency program accessible to a wide range of women regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, educational level, economic condition, or geographic origin.
The 2013 Summer Residency Program is open to individual artists and small groups of artists (5 or less):
Individual artists should submit a full application and, if needed, a stipend request.
Small groups of 3-5 artists may also apply to be in residence together. Groups should submit an Application Form, biographical statement, and Stipend Request Form (if needed) for each group member but only one collective statement of purpose for the residency (Question 2 A-F) and summary (Question 3).
All applicants must be able to commit to completing a residency of at least one full week.
Artists may apply for a one-week residency (6 nights and 7 days) during either of the following weeks:
Artists may apply for a two-week residency (13 nights and 14 days) during the following weeks:
How Do I Apply?
Individual artists and small groups of 3-5 artists who live and work in Kentucky may apply by downloading the 2013 Summer Residency Program Application Form. Modest stipends of up to $400 per week per person is available on an as needed basis to cover expenses such as art supplies, food and travel costs. To be considered for a stipend, please download the 2013 Stipend Request Form To request paper copies to be mailed to you or to discuss your application, please contact Erin Fletcher, Retreat and Residency Coordinator at the KFW Offices at (502) 562-0045 or call toll-free at (866) 654-7564, or by emailing erin@kfw.org.
What Criteria Will Be Used in Selecting the 2013 Summer Residents?
1. Application clearly describes how a 7 or 14 day Summer Residency will further the applicant’s artistic development.
2. Application clearly describes how the applicant’s understanding and practice of feminism relates to her art making.
3. Application clearly describes how the applicant’s art making can advance social change.
4. Application clearly describes how a 7 or 14 day Summer Residency will advance the applicant’s development as a feminist social change artist.
5. Application has clearly stated realistic goals and a solid plan for accomplishing the stated goals in the time period requested.
6. Application demonstrates a clear understanding of the benefits and challenges of participating in a communal environment of feminist social change artists.
Stipends
Modest Stipends are available to support artists with funds for art supplies, food, gasoline and other expenses to make their residency successful. Applicants may request up to $200 a week. To request a stipend, please submit the Stipend Request Form with this application.
Workspaces
All residents receive a private bedroom with a desk. There are three additional workspaces that are separate from the bedrooms. Additional workspaces are assigned based on the space needs of the activities planned for the residence. Artists are responsible for any special equipment or supplies they may need for their work.
Who Reviews the Applications?
Two independent peer reviewers from different artistic disciplines (including literary, visual, performing, and media arts), who understand the power of a residency for developing feminist art-making for social change in a communal environment recommend the Hopscotch House Summer Residents. KFW staff do not make selections for this program. Notification will be sent to applicants by May 20, 2013.
Examples of Previous Summer Residencies
A playwright from Russellville participated in a one-week residency to work with her theatre company and strengthen their original production about the roles of African American women in the US South. This work furthered the company’s mission to introduce theatrical works about African American women and raise political and social consciousness in the South.
A poet from Winchester participated in a one-week residency to prepare for the publication of her first book, which narrated her story of childhood abuse. In the safe space of the feminist-centered communal environment, she developed an understanding of how her writing could contribute to positive social change for other survivors.
A mixed media artist from Shelbyville participated in a two-week residency to complete an installation that explored issues of identity, health and rebirth for Latinas. During her residency, she also completed research to find appropriate venues for exhibiting feminist art for social change.
A visual artist from Louisville participated in a residency to perfect a large installation concerning black women and their self and social connections. In the feminist centered communal environment, she shared positive support, ideas, and critiques with the resident artists.
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The Retreat Program at Hopscotch House
KFW’s Retreat Program at Hopscotch House offers artists, activists and allies who live and work in Kentucky short-term stays to create art, gain a deeper understanding of feminism, and strengthen their work for social change. KFW offers stays free of cost to artists, activists, and allies who support the mission. The program supports the intersection of artists, activists, and allies in a collective feminist space. Individuals and small groups are intentionally scheduled together to further these intersections when possible and appropriate. During retreats, participants have time to focus fully on the goals of their stay in a beautiful and serene location. The supportive environment allows retreaters to renew their feminist, artistic, and activist commitments while developing new work, strategies, and ideas to take back to their communities.
KFW’s Retreat Program operates roughly ten months out of the year and offers flexible and diverse scheduling. Potential retreaters who request time to focus on art, activism, and feminism are eligible for short-term stays of up to 5-6 days, depending on the time of year. With no minimum length of stay, participants can request the length of time that best suits their individual or group needs, schedules, and life commitments. Individuals or groups who need extended or dispersed amounts of time to achieve their goals may request more than one stay per session. To support the creative and social change development of women who face financial challenges KFW also offers a number of small stipends for eligible individuals.
Retreats support participants at all stages in their artistic, feminist, or social change development with the understanding that a strong creative feminist community emerges by nurturing the many not the few. Retreats are open to individuals and groups of all ages, incomes, and levels of education. Retreat size is only limited by the capacity of the house and the needs of the group. Participants are encouraged to explore and develop their goals for furthering creative and feminist change whatever their level of experience in these areas. Participants have the freedom to experiment in addition to deepening their current understandings or taking existing work to the next level.
Examples of Successful Group Retreats Retreats
- A neighborhood-based jewelry making studio, primarily serving women and girls, stays three days so that members can experience quiet time in the country, build their jewelry skills, and spend time alone as well as in community in a familial and intimate setting. The women, many of whom are primary caregivers. are able to focus on artistic expression and self-renewal.
- A poet leads an extended annual writers workshop, providing mentoring, networking, and activities for a community of women. The group practices the feminist principle of helping each other to create change for a broader group of women. The space is conducive to individual work and group interaction, and the group is also able to extend its involvement with KFW’s mission.
Examples of Successful Individual Retreats
- A writer participates in a weekend retreat to work on a memoir about her struggle to obtain a healthy sense of sexuality given her religious upbringing and the current national environment. Her goal is to connect her personal story to the current cultural debates in the US. The space provides quiet and uninterrupted time to move her work forward.
- A visual artist participates in a six-day retreat to explore video and installation. She gains experience working with multi-dimensional space and strengthened the feminist content of her work. A stipend provides her the financial freedom to develop her artistic practice.
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What to Expect During Retreats at Hopscotch House
Hopscotch House offers an intimate home-like setting with spaces to be alone and community spaces where participants can work together or share time together when they choose. Individuals and small groups are intentionally scheduled at the same time, when appropriate and unless otherwise requested, to provide opportunities to encourage conversation and connection. These intersections can help to build bridges between individual and collective knowledge. Strengthening the connections between feminists, artists, and activists also strengthens the movement to advance creative feminist change in Kentucky.
Stays at Hopscotch House are free from formal structure to allow participants to plan their own time and activities in a way that is best suited for moving their goals forward. Individual retreaters and groups are encouraged to develop goals to guide their time at Hopscotch House if they require a structure for advancing their work. However, the Retreat Program encourages participants to embrace the processes, approaches, questions, paces, and challenges that will lead them to deeper understanding and development of their visions.
KFW’s Retreat Program recognizes that honoring diversity and supporting creative expression are interconnected values. Participants scheduled to stay at Hopscotch House with other individuals and groups will meet participants with diverse expressions of cultural identity; from various communities of place; and who claim different worldviews, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and levels of abilities. At Hopscotch House inclusivity is recognized as an integral part of building a strong creative, feminist, and social change network in the state.
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Creativity
demands that women be allowed to retreat, at times, from their
world and their obligations. Hopscotch House provides the setting
for such retreats.--Sallie Bingham’s vision statement,
May 1998.
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“The Whole House”
photo by Amanda Rae Jones
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Facilities and Amenities
Hopscotch House is a renovated farmhouse with five bedrooms and six bathrooms. Each bedroom contains one bed and a desk and has its own dedicated bathroom. Four of the five bedrooms are up a flight of stairs. The only bedroom located on the ground floor also has an attached sun porch. There are two additional self-contained studios adjacent to the house. Each has windows, a table, open wall space, places to sit, heat and air-conditioning. The studios are open for all types of creative use but artists carry in their own supplies.
Hopscotch House is an accessible facility for day retreats. A ramp at the front entrance of the house provides access for persons in wheelchairs, who use canes, and who have mobility restrictions. The bathroom in the first bedroom features grip bars and a toilet that is comfort height. All doorways on the main level have graded thresholds.
There are three designated common spaces within the house: the eat-in kitchen, the combined living/dining area, and the library. The large kitchen is fully furnished and well equipped. Participants bring their own food and prepare their own meals. For retreaters with disabilities, or groups including disabled persons, bringing pre-made meals are suggested for making use of the kitchen. Mealtime can be a point of connection for participants and groups who choose to eat together. In the spring and summer the outdoor porch, attached to the side of the house provides opportunities for dining outside. The sun-porch on the ground floor is a fourth common area when the attached room is not occupied.
The library contains over 1500 titles, including a stellar collection of works by Kentucky authors, providing additional opportunities to research and browse a wide range of feminist thought. The house contains more than a twenty-five year legacy of feminist expression in its collection of artwork and the pictures and stories of previous women’s stays on the property.
Retreat participants also have complete access to the ten acres immediately surrounding the house, which belong to the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Please check in with staff if you would like to use the land for creative purposes or will be conducting workshops or musical activities that may affect other’s others’ quiet space. A labyrinth for walking meditation is also located in close proximity to the house.
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“Cutting Images” Summer Resident Beth Nolte working in the Crow’s Nest Studio
Photo by Amanda Rae Jones |
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Work in an artist’s room at Hopscotch House
Photo by Dotti Russell |
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Brief History of Hopscotch House and Its Surroundings
The oldest parts of the renovated farmhouse that serve as the main living quarters for retreat participants at Hopscotch House date to 1848. Converted outbuildings serve as studios. The Kentucky Foundation for Women purchased Hopscotch House in 1987. It was first used to host groups of women writers known as the Wolf Pen Writer’s Colony. In the early 1990’s, Hopscotch House became available year-round to women artists and groups with a special focus on women’s connection to the earth. The Summer Residency Program was launched in 2006.
Hopscotch House continues to evolve to best serve its constituents and KFW’s mission to support feminist art that advances positive social change in Kentucky. Over the years, the house has served thousands of women including artists, activists, feminists, eco-feminists, art critique groups, drumming circles, quilting groups, social justice groups, girls’ empowerment groups, arts organizations, and social service organizations. The Hopscotch House Program, like KFW as a whole, is founded on the belief that when women and girls advance so does Kentucky. Hopscotch House and its ten acres of land are surrounded by the privately owned Wolf Pen Branch Mill Farm, which represents the combination of several smaller farms. The surrounding 400+ acres are considered a classic Kentucky Farmstead. The smaller farms were purchased as the area was undergoing a wave of development, from which the property is now protected in perpetuity by a conservation easement. While the surrounding land gives it the feeling of a space apart, Hopscotch House is actually located 13 miles from downtown Louisville.
The surrounding 400 acres are privately owned but environmentally protected. The owner of the farm has given KFW constituents permission to walk on her land. Participants are welcome to explore the interconnected series of trails. There are written walking directions available upon request. Walkers should be careful to avoid the private residences, which include small parcels of land that are not part of the environmentally protected open-land.
The land features woodlands, rolling fields, and watersheds where visitors can spot deer, coyote, fox, birds, butterflies, dragon flies, and more. Guests to Hopscotch House can walk through the forest, explore a meadow on the bank of Harrods creek, or hike towards the waterfall by passing through a family graveyard.
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| Labyrinth on the grounds of Hopscotch House.
Photo by Trish Lindsey Jaggers |
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| Robin Hamon unveils her finished sculpture to fellow residents.
Photo by Sherry Hurley |
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Voluntary Donations
Hopscotch House is offered free of charge to groups and individuals who have been accepted for retreats and residencies. Donations are greatly appreciated, when they are financially feasible for artists, activists and allies. These tax deductible gifts make it possible for KFW to offer a limited number of stipends to women who require financial assistance in order to use Hopscotch House. Donations also allow the Kentucky Foundation for Women to maintain the services and amenities available at Hopscotch House.
Donations are voluntary. For those making a donation, KFW staff and Board suggest $10 per day per person, or what is comfortable for each individual. Envelopes are available at Hopscotch House for gifts made upon departure. Donations can also be made by mail at any time.
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Contact Information
Hopscotch House
c/o Kentucky Foundation for Women
332 West Broadway, Suite 1215
Louisville, KY
(502) 562-0045
E-mail: erin@kfw.org
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“Hopscotch House helped me dig out the artist within and plant my seeds to start growing artistically. It gave me so much faith in myself and made me realize my artistic dreams can be a reality.”
Toma Lynn Smith, Writer
“To be in such an inspiring place, connecting with other female artists, to devote my time solely to creating a piece of work examining a critical feminist issue, was a life changing experience.”
Amanda Rae Jones, Performing Artist / Playwright
“I feel that the experience at Hopscotch House was a beginning. First, it was a beginning of friendships. It was also the beginning of my owning the role of feminist social change artist.”
Beth Nolte, Visual Artist
“I have to say the people there, the inspiration of the house and land, the thought of a long line of gifted women who preceded us, and those that will follow, added to a very exceptional experience.”
Jane McCord, Writer
“One of the greatest benefits (to my stay at Hopscotch House) was meeting and connecting with new women who are on similar artistic journeys.”
Carmen Mitzi Sinnot, Performing Artist, Screenwriter
“Being in a place of such peace and beauty, having space and time to devote to experiencing and writing, being in the company of other creative women —All these things helped to open me up at a time when I have in some ways begun to feel spent and worn. My writing began to flow much more freely than it had in quite a while. My spirit felt much revived.”
Margaret Stewart, Writer
“I can honestly say that my week at Hopscotch House was one of the most life-affirming weeks of my entire life. Women so often find themselves last on their list of priorities and here the message is 'you matter, your art matters, we will support you and hold you so deeply so that your art and individuality can blossom and take root.' I felt deeply cared for. Thank you!”
Maryam E. Hand,
Poet
“I applied to Hopscotch House at a point in my life when my creativity was suffocating and had been for a while. It had been a long time since I had had the time or the chance to experiment and create what I wanted with my art.
Through the gift of time, the amazing studio space, and the inspirational scenery, Hopscotch House helped lead me to my creative self again. It was such an incredible experience. I never worked so intensely nor was so happy with what I produced. It has opened up the creative floodgates! I can Breathe Again!”
Lacy E. Hale,
Visual Artist
“When I received my residency, I felt as if I had opened a box and found a miraculous gift: time."
Linda Blackwell Billingsley, Writer
“This residency has been an incredible gift. I have never had this kind of uninterrupted time to focus on writing. It’s impossible to convey how grateful I am for the opportunity I’ve had this week.”
Nancy Gall-Clayton, KFW grantee, Playwright
“This has been the highlight of my life; a time of growth and respect for me as an artist and woman. I leave here renewed and stronger than when I arrived. ”
Cheryle Anne Walton, Visual Artist
“Hopscotch House provided me with the time and space to make art in a beautiful spot, surrounded by exhilarating energy from other artists working.”
Rebekka Seigel, Fiber Artist
“My time at Hopscotch House was absolutely invaluable. Without it, my second manuscript may never have reached completion. How comforting to find a place in which women artists can work and learn from each other.”
Abigail Gramig, Poet
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