Peterborough’s MacDowell artists’ retreat dropped “Colony” from its name in a unanimous vote by the Board of Directors Tuesday.
“This name change is at once a significant step and a natural evolution consistent with how the organization is widely known,” MacDowell Board Chair Nell Painter said in a press release. “While the decision to make this change now aligns with the calls for social justice and reform that are sweeping the country, it is in keeping with the organization’s longstanding commitment to eliminate financial, geographic, cultural, and accessibility barriers to participation.”
The official name change was spurred by a staff petition after receiving a feeback from Fellows and other artists.
MacDowell was founded in 1907 by Edward and Marian MacDowell.
“I’m sure Marian MacDowell never imagined artists of color being there,” Painter, who was named as MacDowell’s first Black board chair in January, told the Associated Press recently. “In the language we speak today, colony is a word tied to occupation and oppression.”
The act of colonization, historically, involves settling among and subjugating the indigenous people of another land. In New England, that means the original British colonists who eventually pushed the people of the First Nation off their native land. Around the world, the story is similar, as the Roman and British empires marched their way across every inhabited continent.
MacDowell leadership view removing the word “colony” from its name as one step among other commitments to come that will have significant impact on the program as well as in staffing and governance, according to the press release.
In January, consultant Lisa Yancey began working with MacDowell’s board of directors and staff, kicking off a yearlong contract centered on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access strategies and competencies to make the entire institution more just. MacDowell leadership has pledged to take actionable steps to fully embrace that work.
MacDowell, which has not hosted artists since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has hosted the likes of James Baldwin and Alice Walker, and awarded Medals to Toni Morrison, Leonard Bernstein and John Updike. The 61st MacDowell Medal is set to be awarded to compooser and performer Rosanne Cash on Aug. 8, 2021.