Willowtail Springs Nature Preserve and Education Center

Accomplishments and Programs in 2021:We continued our program of hosting at least 8 week long scholarship residencies for Native local Americans. These include one private cabin for 7 nights and days with fully equipped kitchens, plus private use of the separate working studio.We continue to focus more on this community which is under-represented in our area but has an extensive body of quality work in the arts and natural sciences.We also continue to host both scholarship, partial scholarship and self-paid residencies in the arts and ecology throughout the year, depending on our funding. WE average between 10-15 of these per year, besides the ones we offer Native residents.Some of these residents were represented in an Anthology of poetry and prose, WET, edited by Sonja Horoshko and Michael Thompson, Published by Sharehouse Press in Cortez. and represented Native and Hispanic people in the Four Corners Area. Several of these were residents at Willowtail. A new book and art pieces were presented in a show at the Cortez Cultural Center, representing many of these residents, It was called Satchel, Story Objects, what artists brought from their immigrations, both outside and inside our country.The following month Willowtail partnered again with the Cortez Cultural Center showing the work of several of our residents, both Native and non-Native.One of our residents, Michael Thompson, a retired educator and poet, has become a valued member on our board. He serves in the capacity of secretary as well as planning and teaching at our new pilot program,Untold Stories and Lost Conversations: A Cross-Cultural/Cross-Generational Exploration of Storytelling Through Artist ExpressionThis writing workshop included 6 participants with full scholarship for 3 nights and days at Willowtail.The participants consisted of 4 Native Women and 2 non-Native women .Michael taught the writing section, his wife Tina, a well known poet and artist, taught the visual journaling book portion. Because of their enthusiastic success, we hope to do several more of these in 2023. The subjects will include music, the environment and visual arts.We also continued to do Collaborative Residencies where 2-3 residents, either sponsored or self- funded, work in different media on a particular theme. These expand a participant's creation and have also resulted in important museum shows around the country, which in turn, advance the artist's career.We have partnered with PlayFest in Durango. Together we hosted Blossom Johnson, a young and very talented Navajo playwright for three weeks at Willowtail. PlayFest presented the first play which she wrote at Willowtail. She also wrote another play while she was working at Willowtail. We plan to have her present this one at Willowtail in 2023, which is extremely exciting for us.We continue to expand our Partnerships with PlayFest, Great Olde Broads and several others. This expands funding on both sides and new ideas/possibilities//experiences for everyone.In 2022, we also continued, and will continue to host presentations, exhibits, demonstrations, workshops and classes for the community, both at Willowtail