Creativity demands time. Creativity demands freedom. With The Yard’s residencies, artists have both.

At The Yard, artists thrive. Our residencies provide living wages, travel expenses, housing, food, wellness care, and leisure activities, in addition to underwriting production costs. In exchange, artists create work that elevates our spiritual, social, and collective well-being.

Last summer, Urban Bush Women (UBW) completed a multi-year residency that climaxed with an intimate, truthful, breath-taking performance of Haint Blu.

Five extended visits over two years allowed UBW to forge relationships critical to their telling of this story. They invested countless hours in conversation with the African American community, Oak Bluffs community, and the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe. They met with interested residents at the Aquinnah Cultural Center, Black Joy House, Orange Peel Bakery, and Featherstone Arts Center.

Over four sold-out, site-specific performances of Haint Blu, The Yard’s audiences sat mesmerized, following performers as they traversed the sacred Wampanoag land through song, dance, and storytelling from Tribal Elder Kristina Hook.

Please support diverse, contemporary performance-makers by supporting The Yard. We employ artists whose work changes the world!

Art is born at The Yard.

DONATE HERE