On a breezy spring day, choreographer Stephen Petronio stands in his favorite spot at the Petronio Residency Centre, a high-rise wooden structure he calls “The Perch.” With sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains and beyond, this tranquil space sits on a lush hilltop property that he has spent the past six years transforming into a retreat for choreographers and dancers, where artists It’s a place where you can come outdoors when you work or when you don’t work. normal demands of everyday life.
“Whether you need money or an idea, come here and everything will be fine,” he said of Perch.
If he sounds a little sad, it’s because he’s preparing to say goodbye. Caught in a web of financial trouble, Petronio and his advisors decided to close the center and put the 175-acre site up for sale. The final training will be held this month.
“This is a very heartbreaking decision,” he said. “But I don’t see any other way forward.”
Jill Brienza, chairman of the Steven Petronio Company, which owns the center, echoed that sentiment in a telephone interview. I thought of all options. We didn’t do this lightly. “
When the center opened in 2018, dancing in the Hudson River Valley seemed to be booming. Now, however, Petronio’s operations are joining other dance-focused institutions that have closed in recent years or appear to be on indefinite hiatus, such as Lumberyards and Mount Tremper Arts in Catskill, New York. , both of which help New York City choreographers build new works.
Petronio, 67, admitted he was unwilling to compromise financially in some respects. Having encountered all kinds of working conditions throughout his career, he said he wants his resident artists to feel like “we’re being treated like queens and kings.” That meant not only providing room and board, unlimited studio access and allowances, but also locally sourced meals prepared on site by chefs. “You mean starving artists?” he said. “I’m not here.”
More than 25 artists have been granted residencies, including Nora Chipomile and Jamer Roberts. For an artist from New York City, like many artists, this enormous space was a luxury. There is a 2,500 square foot studio on site. 5 bedroom, 8 bathroom, 2 kitchen home.of organic garden77 acres were preserved by a $500,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
As the founder and artistic director of Stephen Petronio CompanyPetronio, a New York City-based contemporary dance troupe that has been around for nearly 40 years, is no stranger to economic uncertainty. Known for collaborating with prominent visual artists, the company will generate revenue from the sale of Anish Kapoor sculptures and put other works up for auction of art.
“My career has always been like being in a river and jumping from stone to stone to the next place,” Petronio said. Regarding the residency center, “I knew it would be because it’s always been that way.”
“And then the pandemic happened,” he added. “If everything had gone the way it was before the pandemic, we would have been fine.”
Petronio said the center’s financial challenges include “volatility in the stock market” and a shift in the foundation’s priorities toward funding social justice-oriented initiatives. I support this 100 percent,” he said. He said he didn’t get the grant he was hoping for, pointing out that the center is now run on a $500,000 government loan.
In the midst of the pandemic, he said his company lost all of its important revenue-generating touring activity. To provide opportunities for dance artists during tough times, he added safety measures and kept the center open with a new application-based program devised by Maria Warshaw, who took over as director of the center in March 2020. rice field. When not in use by artists, the homes were rented out through Airbnb, said Petronio (previously given only residencies), but rental income declined as pandemic restrictions eased.
The property will list for $4.2 million, more than triple the $1.3 million it purchased in 2016. Petronio said he intends to use the proceeds to continue supporting young artists and to expand the local dance education program that developed in 2016. center and tandem. Brienza said the proceeds from the sale will also help Petronio’s company continue to make new titles.
Part of Petronio’s vision, he said, was to free artists from the expectation of creating a finished product, or any product. “My suggestion is this: What if you took all the pressure off your creative self?”
Choreographer LaShawn Mitchell, who ran a residency in 2022 with partner Cyrus Liener and other collaborators, said the group took “enough breaks to come back refreshed and work” between rehearsals. said.
“Getting out of the city and being able to get in touch with nature and breathe in plenty of fresh air has been great for all of us in the process,” Mitchell said.
Warshaw, who is also a former director of the Brooklyn Arts Exchange, said he believes the closure of the Petronio Residency Center reflects a larger shift in “New York City’s dance and performance ecosystem.”
“The situation is very precarious right now,” she said. “If one agency shuts down and others are struggling or shutting down, that’s serious for our sector. We didn’t even have enough funding to begin with.”
Petronio, who lives next door to the center, seems to maintain his optimism. Living in nature “has had a big impact on my way of thinking,” he said. He describes it like this: “When possibilities are gone, new possibilities crack open.”
