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Another writer's retreat with all-star residents. Much writing got done, connections were made, delicious meals were cooked and eaten. And two among us hit send and sent their work off to print! Pictured here: Shruti Swamy , Ginger Greene , Shanoor Seervai , Ashley Nelson Levy , Meng Jin , Rita Bullwinkel .

We recently got the chance to sit down with the brilliant opera, theater, film and television director Kevin Newbury, who recently participated in an artist residency at The Briarcombe Institute in California. In our interview, Newbury discusses his transformative experience at the institute, where he worked on his main project Fellow Travelers  - a TV show and documentary film exploring the Lavender Scare. Newbury emphasizes the inspirational and creative environment of Bria

Our founder and director Caterina Fa ke has recently opened a new art show at The Jones Institute . There will be upcoming opportunities to visit and participate! Bed for Dreaming   invites its participants and celebrants to come and sleep in an ancient Chinese bed—sleep, and dream—and in dreaming, access the mysterious, the shadowed and otherworldly, the weird and the surprising. With luck they will have dreams to relate, or if their dream is fugitive or forgotten, create o

It is beginning to get chilly in Bolinas, but we recently got to spend a sunny weekend with some brilliant arts at the institute. As our community continues to grow, we are grateful to be able to provide our little home away from home as a space to learn, experiment, discuss, and create. Eric Rodenbeck Eric Rodenbeck is a designer, ink maker and fermentor. He is the founder of Stamen , a data visualization and cartography design studio in San Francisco, and has worked with T

Briarcombe Institute alums Kevin Newbury and Jecca Barry will see their 10th anniversary tour of the opera Fellow Travelers kick off at the Guggenheim on October 19, 2025. The much-lauded opera is based on a history of The Lavender Scare. Beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the 1960s, thousands of gay employees were fired or forced to resign from the federal workforce because of their sexuality. This wave of repression was also bound up with anti-Communism

Visual artist, board member and Briarcombe Institute alumna Amanda Hughen, along with her collaborator Jennifer Starkweather, was featured on the front page of the SF Chronicle ! The article focused on Hughen/Starkweather’s recently unveiled piece on the facade of the new Samuel Merritt University campus in downtown Oakland. Photo by Samuel Merritt University "Hughen/Starkweather’s 10 story painted waterways of Lake Merritt past present and future are layered with concrete m

Brandon Kazen-Maddox was a Briarcombe Institute artist-in-residence in 2025. In this interview Brandon discusses their artistic journey,...

This past spring The Briarcombe Institute invited a multidisciplinary group of creatives to our artist residency in the coastal town of Bolinas, California.

The well-hidden coastal town of Bolinas is an enclave of artists, poets, musicians, filmmakers, bon vivants, fishermen, woodworkers,...

The Artist Residency Program at The Briarcombe Institute is a space for artists seeking a creative sanctuary. We provide artists with...