Philmont, New York. Starting in January 2025, the anthroposophical education initiative Free Columbia will offer three-month residencies for music and visual arts. Artists can use the studio spaces during their residency and are supported by the community in the creative process. An interview with Soren Dietzel, musician and director of the program.
What is your vision for the residency program?
I might say that the residency program has a vision for itself. Free Columbia’s legacy of financially accessible, spiritually inspired cultural work has laid the foundation for a rich environment that fosters authentic inner growth and a vibrant community. I can only speak from my personal experience of what doing a residency here taught me. That me doing me matters, and you doing you will change the world.
Why is being part of a community important for artists?
If you put dough in the oven without yeast, it can’t rise into bread. It’s all good ingredients (and don’t get me wrong, flatbread is one of my favorites), but there is an essential ingredient missing: the activation that comes when someone shows interest in your inspiration. That, in turn, feeds the community essential sustenance for human life: culture.
How can art create positive change in the world?
Like ripples in a pond or sound waves in a song, our circles interact. Art can be like the pebble skipped in joy or the note intoned in harmony, interrupting the status quo so the soul can grow. Creating art or music puts one through an inner process that changes them. That inner change is now a part of the outer world. The positive part is up to the artist and, well… you.
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Image Free Columbia, concert as part of the Residency Program, Photos: Arden Sklar
