Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts

A Brief History of Key Programs The Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts was incorporated as a Federally recognized tax-exempt not-for-profit organization in 1995. Since then we have supported the visual and literary artists of New York State through juried summer residencies. For many years there were three month-long sessions. In 2009 a fourth session was added, extending the residency season from mid-May through the end of September. Starting in 2014, we divided one of our month-long sessions into two, shorter 2-week sessions. In 2019, we began offering a short, week-long residency to artists and writers with at least one dependent child. An accessible suite and addition was completed in 2021, allowing us to accommodate artists and writers with disabilities. We also express our mission by making the residency’s studios and apartments available in the off-season (Nov – April) at the subsidized rate of $35/night or $20/day. Recently we have begun to coordinate readings and exhibitions that feature our alumni Fellows. Between 1996 and 2008, the Foundation also provided $5,000 grants to individual artists and writers from central and western New York counties. Unfortunately this program was canceled due to the economic recession. More About Our Founding In 1994, Connie Saltonstall met with her childhood friend and neighbor Kathy Durland Dewart and with her lawyer Mike May. Together they attempted to shape an idea into a document that would be a guide for the formation of an arts foundation. Connie especially hoped her home and property, a place she found so inspiring, would become a retreat where artists and writers could live and work. Durland Dewart recalls, “Weeks after her diagnosis Connie knew she was dying. It was important to her that she left us with this idea that would become a reality and her memorial. Within a few months, Vicky Romanoff and Gillian Pederson-Krag joined me as the founding members of the Saltonstall Foundation. Connie’s dream, her vision, has become a remarkable living legacy.” Today, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts remains committed to supporting art at its source: the individual artist.