Time to Create

NEENA PATHAK APPLIED to the 2024 Green Box Artists-in-Residence Program with a certain project in mind, but life had other plans. As an extension of what she playfully calls her “rumspringa,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning producer and editor behind The Daily podcast from The New York Times and NPR’s Invisibilia wanted to embrace “a period of exploration” by diving into playwriting and audio fiction.

“But then my dad died about a month ago—and I don’t want to work on those projects I pitched initially, because I’m no longer there creatively and spiritually,” she says. “I’m curious about how I might carry these new feelings I’m grappling with, as I make whatever I’ll make.”

That creative freedom is a major draw for the hundreds who apply each year to the Green Box residency. The program offers space and time and a financial stipend for artists of all disciplines to sink into projects and engage with the local Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, community without the pressure of producing work by the end of the residency. Pathak was the first among this year’s spring cohort to call the idyllic Rocky Mountain campus home in March, followed by Swedish recording artist GAEYA in April, and photojournalist Kristina Barker in May.

“It’s the first time for me to experience something like this, and I’m so grateful because usually the work of an artist is going all the time. You have to fill your life with things to keep on surviving,” GAEYA says, whose plans for the residency included a performance of her self-described “earth music” in James Turrell’s Green Mountain Falls Skyspace. “To be in a space and only focusing on this, it’s magnificent. It’s beautiful.”

Barker is also anticipating a deepening of her practice at the picturesque foothills arts hub in the shadow of Pikes Peak, where the May resident will celebrate her fortieth birthday. Like her fellow spring honorees, she says she is leaving herself open to the creative possibilities of the program.

“Once I get there, the people I talk to and what the land is doing will guide me to where the story ends up,” the Portland-based photographer says. “I will be focusing my time on creating visuals around a sense of belonging and bringing physical and non-physical spaces together in the landscape.”

Now in its fifth year, the 2024 Green Box Artists-in-Residence Program received more than 250 applications from twenty-six countries and nearly every US state. Barker, GAEYA, and Pathak were three of eight artists selected. Rounding out this year’s residents will be Thu Kim Vu, Janani Balasubramanian, Sultana Isham, Lynn Tomlinson, and Mk Smith Despres.

“We are thrilled with the diversity of artists, disciplines, and projects that comprise our exciting cohort,” says executive director Scott Levy. “We can’t wait to witness the creative practices of these outstanding artists as they become embedded in Green Mountain Falls and connect to the community throughout the year.”