We write in the wake of our Land Stewardship session, the first of the summer, with fifteen apple tree saplings now gracing the garden and a kitchen full of collective ferment. Our current Bibliophantics residents are learning to read lichen, discussing Marx for Cats and reading in the pond (the weather is hot!)
And with our Narrowsburg space the Mildred Complex(ity) now open Thursdays through Saturdays, and the Deepwater Literary Festival coming up this weekend, we warmly invite you to join us for any or all of our forthcoming events. Read on for details of this week’s Town Friday and Social Saturdays, presentations and conversations with Mildred’s Lane associates as part of the literary fest, and our Second Annual Corvus Summit on 20th July – Save the date!
Upcoming Events at Mildred’s Lane Inc.
TOWN FRIDAY | June 21
Adapt and Thrive with ENGN and the Deep Water Literary Festival
5:00 PM Open House with Food & Drink
The Mildred Complex(ity), 37B Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY
Join us for an open-house at the Mildred Complex(ity), following a creative workshopA creative workshop, led by Caroline Preziosi and Tom Bosket of ENGN for local youth & community.
The workshop is centered around defining career opportunities and identifying skills applicable to our individual and communal ecosystems, co-conceived by Mildred’s Lane and ENGN, an educational nonprofit based in Callicoon, NY. “Adapt and Thrive” invites participants to create trading cards featuring their unique “adaptations,” drawing on the world of animals, plants, and fantasy characters, as an exercise in thinking through our abilities to survive and thrive in catastrophic times. The workshop interweaves the annual Deep Water Literary Festival topic of utopia with themes of the concurrent Mildred’s Lane residency-retreat on interspecies dialogues and class struggle.
The workshop will be followed by light refreshmentsan open-house at the Mildred Complex(ity), the field office and living archive of experimental arts residency Mildred’s Lane Inc. We welcome you to join us for participation and conversation around the outcomes of the student workshop, and to catch up on current happenings at Mildred’s Lane. come , to showcase student work and invite members of the public to participate in conversation and creation.
This event is organized as part of Mildred’s Lane 2024 TOWN FRIDAY event series, which is supported in part with funding from a Sullivan County Arts & Heritage Grant, funded by the Sullivan County Legislature and administered by Delaware Valley Arts Alliance.
DEEP WATER 2024
The festival returns to Narrowsburg in June with a new take on a theme; ANOTHER EDEN will take us on a deep dive into utopian communities, and the rich tapestry of ideas that have inspired idyllic societies. Through panels, readings, art, performance and community engagement, the festival will spotlight the intersections between utopian dreams, the nurturing solace of gardens and nature and the narratives that challenge and inspire us to envision a better world
Toward Creative Utopia | June 21
6:00 PM
Ruffed Grouse Gallery, 144 Main Street, Narrowsburg, NY
Ryan Ward will speak about the lives of outsider artists versus those engaged in various types of artist communities. Our own J. Morgan Puett will read excerpts from “Workstyles” in “The User’s Guide to Mildred’s Lane,” the forthcoming 2025 publication, and. David Kener will present anecdotes, Hebrew scripture, and outdoor sculpture revolving around “Eden.”
This event is free to attend, no ticket necessary
SOCIAL SATURDAY | June 22
4:00 – 10:00 PM
Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA
A garden party celebrating the residency session Bibliophantics IV: Marx for Cats, and Other Interspecies Dialogues.
This week-long session at Mildred’s Lane develops literary tools for decentering the human and deepening relations with the more-than-human world. Through writing workshops and reading discussions spanning political philosophy, speculative fiction, and mythology, we invite interspecies awareness, eco-political agency, and metamorphosis.
Guest Digestion Choreography by Erin Montanez
Guest artist talk by Sam Liebert & Gentle Mothh of Eureka! Press
Sliding Scale Tickets Available
$40–$80
Mildred’s Lane Presents: Interspecies Dialogues | June 23
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
The Darby, 9 Manor Drive, Beach Lake, PA
Leigh Claire La Berge, author of Marx for Cats: a Radical Bestiary, will be in conversation with Mildred’s Lane Minister of Strategic Possibilities Alex A. Jones, about the history of class struggle as a more-than-human topic, the potentialities of interspecies narratives, and the origin of Marx for Cats—a unique and wholly surprising work of animal history—in collaborative practice at Mildred’s Lane. The discussion will distill insights from the conclusion of the residency, Bibliophantics IV: Marx for Cats, and Other Interspecies Dialogues (June 17-23), a topical retreat for readers and writers at Mildred’s Lane.