In 2016, through friends of friends, Marika Hughes heard about a barn on a 15-acre field that was for sale in the rural hamlet of West Fulton, New York. The tiny town was full of creative people; musicians, theatre artists, ceramicists and more. She bought the barn.

 

Over the next few years, Marika, a cellist, and bassist Rashaan Carter excitedly explored the sonic possibilities of the space; recording improvised duos in experimentation. This sonic exploration led to a number of other recordings including Fay Victor’s acclaimed release, Barn Songs on Pi Records.

 

Looking Glass Arts was established as a non-profit organization in 2018 with plans to make a space for artists. What this would become was yet to be realized. But what we all saw right away was that the barn is the heartbeat of Looking Glass Arts.

 

In early 2020 when the pandemic and subsequent shut-down hit, musicians like so many others, were cut off from sources of our income as venues shuttered and gigs and tours were canceled. Nonetheless, artists continued to write and compose and practice.  

 

In 2021, with our mission and principles in clear view, what would become our pilot season came into focus. Looking Glass Arts decided to answer the conundrums of the shut-down by offering musicians fully-funded recording residencies in the barn at zero cost to the musician. This was our effort to counteract the ongoing impact the COVID-19 crisis had on musicians. Without earning income the costs of recording new works were inaccessible to most.

 

So Marika invited musician friends, people she’d played with on and off for years, to come up to record their music, at no cost to them, in the barn. Thanks to the generous support of a few individual donors, Looking Glass Arts was able to host five of these fully-funded recording retreats in the inaugural summer of 2021. The success of our initial experiment offering fully-funded recording residencies in the barn, proved wildly successful right away.

In the years since the fully-funded recording residency is open to application annually. We look forward to expanding our capacity so that we can keep up with the demand of the applicant pool each year.

 

In addition to the five residencies offered that first summer of 2021, Marika was commissioned by CAP-UCLA to produce a filmed version of Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc for 10 cellos and baritone. This production was a monumental undertaking in our pilot season. It  proved to us that we are capable of making great art with our initially limited resources. (You can see the film on the “watch” page of our website).

 

In preparing for our second season, in 2022 we added the Goldfinch Writing Residency to our programming. This residency was established by Marika’s dear friend from college, Christina Kelly. It is offered to writers 45+ who have always maintained a writing practice but for whatever reasons have not been able to make it a career and haven’t been published by a major outlet. This residency has also been wonderfully successful. It is a special privilege and joy to offer this residency to people who are not typically supported in their creative endeavors.

 

In 2023 we expanded our programming once again to include the Multi-Disciplinary Residency. This residency is offered to artists whose practice doesn’t fit into the parameters of our other programs. We have hosted a jewelry maker, an animator, a composer and more.

 

In our 2024 season we introduced the Cheswatyr Recording Residency. Funded by a small family foundation, this residency includes the fully-funded recording session in the barn as well as a paid concert for the recording artists at Panther Creek Arts, our presenting neighbor 2 miles down the road. 

 

And in 2025, our Fully-Funded Recording Residency is expanding to include mentorship, before, during and after the ensemble’s time at Looking Glass Arts. 

 

We are thrilled with the progress and growth Looking Glass Arts has had over our first 4 years. As we look to expand and meet the needs of the artists we aim to serve, we are working towards major capital improvements that include barn upgrades as well as building out housing for artists and additional work studios on our field.

​

Looking Glass Arts maintains its principles and programming through the generous support and insight of individual donors, grants and our executive and advisory boards.