Summer Residency
About the 2023 Summer Residency
VCFA’s Summer 2023 Residency took place on the campus of Colorado College, July 21-29. All six of VCFA’s MFA programs at this residency came together to conduct 9-day residencies packed with lectures, readings, performances, screenings, exhibitions, and more.
2023 College-Wide Residency Events
Convocation and Commencement
Residency opened on July 21 with VCFA’s first college-wide Convocation. The event included welcome remarks from VCFA President Leslie Ward, Academic Dean Matthew Monk, and a community reading of VCFA’s Statement on Community Values, featuring students, faculty, alumnx, and staff across our six programs.
On July 29, we closed out the residency with a college-wide Commencement ceremony celebrating the class of Summer 2023 graduates. Commencement also included the presentation of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to renowned author and poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
Center for Arts + Social Justice Events
The Center for Arts + Social Justice hosted an evening of special events during the Summer 2023 Residency.
A panel discussion titled “Imagined Futures: On Art + Social Change” featured VCFA faculty, alumnx, and guest artists, who presented their work at the intersection of art and social change. Panelists included Naomi Shihab Nye (author, poet, and VCFA’s Summer 2023 Honorary Degree Recipient), kei slaughter (Music Composition Alumnx), Tasheka Arceneaux-Sutton (Graphic Design Faculty), and Damon Davis (Film Faculty and Alumnx). Following the presentations, panelists participated in a Q&A moderated by Mary-Kim Arnold, Associate Dean of Equity & Empowerment in Teaching & Learning.
A special performance followed the panel. This solo performance ritual, “Come As You Are: Musical Space-Making,” featured New Orleans-based flutist and singer-songwriter kei slaughter, who presented an interactive set of improvised compositions exploring queer Black lifeworlds, ancestral memory, and beyond. For more information and to view the live stream visit the event page.
2023 Program Residency Events
VCFA’s six MFA program residencies include visiting artist presentations, exhibitions, screenings, performances, graduating student and faculty lectures, and more. View highlights from each program’s residency events below.