VCFA’s Summer 2024 Residency Photo Gallery
From July 13-21, VCFA’s six MFA programs gathered in-person and virtually on the Colorado College campus in Colorado Springs, CO for our summer 2024 residency. Graduating and returning students, alumnx, faculty, staff, and graduate assistants engaged for nine days in exhibitions, screenings, performances, showcases, readings, lectures, critiques, workshops, and more.
The college would like to thank the VCFA community who came together to make this residency possible, and the staff, students, and administration of Colorado College for welcoming us and enhancing our stay. Starting in the winter of 2025, VCFA will host its first residency on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts, our new affiliate partner.
The images below reflect a just snapshot of the invigorating VCFA residency experience. To view each gallery in full and read art credits, click the photos in the galleries to enlarge.
A Summer in the Mountains
Residency officially started on July 13, 2024. All six of VCFA’s MFA programs—Film, Graphic Design, Music Composition, Visual Art, Writing, and Writing for Children & Young Adults—were welcomed on campus and online in the cloud.
Convocation officially opened residency with a reading of VCFA’s Land Acknowledgement, our Statement on Community Values, the president’s welcome, and music by VCFA MFA in Music Composition faculty and Co-Chairs Carla Kihlstedt and Roger Zahab.
The VCFA Center for Arts & Social Justice hosted its own college-wide event on July 15 during our summer residency. The event celebrated the work of VCFA’s 2024 cohort of Center Fellows with presentations from B.K. Zervigón (MC ‘24), Shannon Cleere (VA ‘24), and Jonathan Jackson (F ‘25).
A cornerstone of every residency, the Music Composition Songwriters Showcase drew audiences from across programs.
The MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program hosted a marathon of graduate lectures this residency, with topics ranging from horror writing for children, empowering readers through verse, and even inventing your own creative curse words.
The MFA in Writing program spent the week in and out of lectures and readings. Featured residency guests included visiting writers Allison Grimaldi Donahue, Camille Dungy, Natanya Ann Pulley, and Sarah Seltzer.
In addition to their own community film screenings, the MFA in Film Program enjoyed screenings and lectures from visiting filmmakers Tim Kirkman, Tomás Gómez Bustillo, Gewan Brown, Raven Jackson, and Emma Needell and visiting film composers Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips.
The MFA in Graphic Design program hosted their summer 2024 thesis exhibition, unbound, featuring the works of Tim Murray (GD ’24), Kevin Auer (GD ’24), and Emma Berg (GD ’24). View the unbound thesis website by clicking here.
The MFA in Visual Art program kicked off their residency with their new and returning student exhibition. All programs were invited to view and engage with the art hands on.
VCFA’s summer 2024 graduation was held on July 21 with all six programs in attendance in-person and on the cloud. Graduation speakers included Dean of Students Katie Rasmussen, Board of Trustees member Barry Johnson, Interim President Andrew Ramsammy, Dean of the Faculty & Academic Affairs Mary-Kim Arnold, and VP for Finance & Administration Katie Gustafson. The MFA in Music Composition program treated audience members to a choral performance of an original song by Sara Azriel (MC ‘26).