Making it Real
In August, Aracely Knox hosted a Hedgebrook soirée and fundraiser for 30 supporters at her home in Point Richmond, Calif.
Aracely is a poet, a maker of beautiful things and a generous donor who is also one of our special occasion chefs on the land at Hedgebrook. She knows more than a little about Radical Hospitality.
While overlooking the Bay and downtown San Francisco, illustrious alumnae, including Anita Gail Jones, Vanessa Hua, Shimi Rahim and Janine Kovac, shared stories of how residency at Hedgebrook changed their writing, practice and trajectories with long-time and new friends.
From the night-blooming jasmine and pillows of fresh tuna to the six-foot tall lily that nodded in the breeze that came off the water, through the open-plan living room/dining room/kitchen and into the interior courtyard, it was an evening of warmth and scent and tastes to remember.
We take our story on the road to bridge the gap between the experience of our writers, who tell us time and again that time on this Farm transformed them, and the understanding of the readers, writers and friends who underwrite this small nonprofit writing residency.
This time, we deepened relationships with Fairlight Advisors, the Kataly Foundation, Mesa Refuge, and a delightful assortment of supporters. Lapsed donors were reactivated. Partners of alum were moved to give and became donors in their own right. New friends made gifts to say, “Hell, yes, this matters right now!”
And that’s good to hear, even after 37 years. Because Hedgebrook can still feel like a secret. It’s like we’ve been quietly trending in the literary world for nearly four decades. Until people meet our writers and hear their stories.
You can read about spending weeks in residence at Hedgebrook. Plenty of our incredible writers in residence have written blog after blog, social media post after social media post. Some have been featured in pieces about our history, our playwrights, ourprominent alumnae, our feminist roots and our ethos, all the while extolling the beauty, the attentively prepared meals, the care and a hospitality so complete we call it radical.
You can find photographs of the Farm on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest.
Still, that doesn’t guarantee that our widest audiences understand why what happens on the Farm matters. Or that we’ve effectively communicated how a stay at Hedgebrook gives our writers the sauce to transform the global zeitgeist. (I’m lately obsessed with Naïka.) Hearing their tales transforms the listeners. I see it happen everywhere we go.
Sheri Shuster and I will hit the road again in October in NYC. Want to catch up with us there? Join us on Thursday, Oct. 23 for a drink on Hedgebrook. (RSVP here) Maybe you can put us in touch with mission-aligned funders or potential donors. We’re six weeks out and our calendar is filling up, so please let us know if you have a friend you’d like us to meet with or invite to our mixer!
And if you’d like to host us there or somewhere else, we’d love to be in touch!
—Kimberly A. C. Wilson, Executive Director, Hedgebrook