Situated atop the fault lines of redwood forest, creek beds, and rolling grasslands that overlook the Pacific Ocean and California’s Santa Cruz Mountains, the 583-acre Djerassi Resident Artists Program is the largest artists’ residency in the Western United States. Over four decades, Djerassi has provided the gift of time and space to more than 2,500 artists of all disciplines and backgrounds from all 50 states and some 53 countries around the world.
During their weeks on the land, residents experience time that is unencumbered by structure or direction, save that which they impose voluntarily on themselves. Residency applications are evaluated by committees of peers in each discipline without requirement or reference to project, deadline, or anticipated outcome. Despite the undirected nature of the Djerassi experience, or perhaps because of it, literary and artistic works created in residency have been recognized with hundreds of nominations and awards, including Pulitzer Prizes, National...