Events
MacDowell brings the community together with art and artists at our residency program in Peterborough, NH, at our Chelsea, NY space, and in cities around the country in free programs as well as fundraisers to expand appreciation of the arts. Watch for a new slate of cultural offerings in 2024 presented in tandem with Fellows and partner organizations across New York City.
Upcoming Events
Medal Day 2024 Honoring Yoko Ono
Arts icon and activist Yoko Ono wa this year’s recipient of the prestigious Edward MacDowell Medal. More than 1,000 arts lovers joined our celebration on Medal Day, July 21, 2024! This beloved New Hampshire event gathers community members, fans, and artists on MacDowell's verdant grounds for the awarding of the Edward MacDowell Medal. For more or to become a sponsor, please email events@macdowell.org.
National Benefit 2024
Join us at Gotham Hall on October 28th for the MacDowell National Benefit, our annual celebration and gathering with MacDowell artists, supporters, board members, and friends. This year's Benefit will feature dinner, drinks, a paddle raise, performances from Fellows, and the awarding of the 5th annual Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award to our Honoree Komal Shah, arts collector and philanthropist. All proceeds from the National Benefit support residencies for the more than 300 artists who come to MacDowell each year from all corners of the globe. Stay tuned on for further information on this year's program.
MacDowell Presents
Join MacDowell for a slate of cultural offerings presented in tandem with Fellows and partner organizations across the city and across the country. We are excited to present programming like performances, panel discussions, lectures, and artist presentations to our community of artists, art lovers, supporters, and friends. We hope your join us!
MacDowell Downtown
MacDowell Downtown is a free series of public presentations by MacDowell Fellows that typically take place on the first Friday of the month from March to November in downtown Peterborough. Each season of MacDowell Downtown features a wide array of programming, including film screenings, readings, artist talks, interviews, musical, performances, and more.
MacDowell in the Schools
Since 1996, this program has been bringing the creative process to the classroom, and has also invited the classroom into the studio for middle-school, high-school, and college students in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire.
Past Events
New Hampshire Benefit 2024
Thanks to you, we exceeded our fundraising goal at our May 18, 2024 New Hampshire Benefit! This annual event brings together artists-in-residence, MacDowell supporters, and business leaders for an intimate community celebration of art and artists on our grounds! In the coming days we will have a slideshow posted on the event, which was hosted by Jared Mezzocchi (17, 20), and featured a superb musical performance from New York based vocalist, composer, and educator, Aubrey Johnson (23) and her trio.
National Benefit 2023
MacDowell’s National Benefit on October 16, 2023 filled the Ziegfeld Ballroom with a generous crowd and featured musical entertainment from the worlds of jazz, musical theatre, and the world stage. It also saw the presentation of the 4th Marian MacDowell Arts Advocacy Award to Fairfax Dorn, the co-founder and artistic director of Ballroom Marfa.
Medal Day 2023
More than a thousand arts lovers visited us for Medal Day, July 23, 2023! This beloved New Hampshire event gathers community members, fans, and artists on MacDowell's verdant grounds for the awarding of the Edward MacDowell Medal. Visit the page to see video of the ceremony honoring esteemed filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, images, and read transcripts. After the ceremony, visitors enjoyed a picnic lunch and visited open studios. For more information or to become a sponsor next summer, please email events@macdowell.org.
The 2nd Annual Katherine Min Fellowship Celebration
Watch a replay of the June 1 Katherine Min Fellowship celebration. The MacDowell community and the family and friends of Katherine Min gathered for the second annual celebration of the endowed fellowship awarded annually to elevate the voices of Asian American writers at MacDowell. MacDowell Fellow Alexander Chee hosted this year's celebration from the MacDowell NYC offices. The evening of readings and commemoration featured Jessica Shi, 2020 Katherine Min Fellow, Lisa Ko, 2021 Katherine Min Fellow, and Kayla Min Andrews, writer and daughter of Katherine Min.
92Y-MacDowell Salons on Art & Creativity
Over the course of 2021, the 92nd Street Y and MacDowell partnered to present a series of five salons about the arts and creativity. Relive each of these unscripted, interdisciplinary conversations that happen every day at MacDowell from our series page via the button below:
I Was Becoming: A Reading and Conversation
I Was Becoming celebrated the partnership between MacDowell and The Rona Jaffe Foundation with a reading and conversation with writers Elif Batuman, Chelsea Bieker, Monica Sok, and Julie Orringer on Monday, February 8th. You can watch the hour-long presentation at its page!
Journalism in the Post-Truth Era
The MacDowell Journalism Panel, “Art and Urgency: Journalism in the Post-Truth Era,” took place on October 26 at 7 p.m. but you can watch the recorded discussion moderated by Virginia Quarterly Review Editor Paul Reyes with prominent journalists Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Meera Subramanian, Alexis Okeowo, and Jeff Sharlet.
James Baldwin Library Dedication
To recognize James Baldwin and his extraordinary cultural legacy, MacDowell’s library has been named in his honor. Baldwin’s work as a novelist, poet, activist, essayist, playwright, social critic, and cultural leader continues to have enormous impact on the public imagination.