Cave Canem Fellow Receives Residency at Pocantico

New York, NY (July 7, 2009) - Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), in collaboration with Cave Canem Foundation, North America's premier home for Black poetry, has selected by lottery Cave Canem fellow Christopher Stackhouse to receive a residency at the historic Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico, an architectural landmark located on the grounds of the former estate of the Rockefeller family in the Pocantico Historic Area of Tarrytown, New York. The Pocantico residency is a project that supports artists in their creative process. In connection with his residency, July 7-20, 2009, Mr. Stackhouse will give a reading on July 15 at the Kykuit Rose Garden.

Christopher Stackhouse is the author of Slip (Corollary Press, 2005). With John Keene, he published Seismosis (1913 Press, 2006), a collection of poetry, for which he produced drawings in dialogue with Keene's text. Mr. Stackhouse's essays have appeared in American Poet and A Best of Fence: The First Nine Years. Mr. Stackhouse holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing/Interdisciplinary Studies from Bard College and is a 2005 Fellow in Poetry from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Now serving as visiting faculty at Naropa University's 2009 Summer Writing Program in Boulder, Colorado, he has given lectures and readings on art and poetry at such venues as Grand Valley State College, Columbia University, The Graduate Center (City University of NY), Medgar Evers College, Xavier University, The Noguchi Museum, and Cooper Union School of Art. Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, he currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2007, the RBF awarded Cave Canem Foundation a two-year, $50,000 capacity-building grant under the foundation's Pivotal Place: New York City program.  In addition to piloting the Pocantico residency, the Pocantico Committee and staff are working to provide more opportunities for the public to experience and learn from the remarkable natural, architectural, artistic, and intellectual resources that the Pocantico setting provides.

About Pocantico
In 1979, Nelson Rockefeller bequeathed 86 acres of the Rockefeller family estate to The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which subsequently leased the property to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. As part of its agreement with the Trust, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund assumed stewardship of property and the responsibility for providing public access, in addition to offering educational and philanthropic programs on the estate. The Fund oversees the maintenance, care, conservation and restoration of the estate's historic buildings, gardens and collections of decorative and fine art. The property includes the family house, Kykuit, built in 1909 and 1913; the Orangerie of 1908; the Coach Barn of 1902 and 1913; and the Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico, built in 1949.

Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico
Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) was one of the most influential architects and furniture designers of te 20th century. The Marcel Breuer House, commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 1948 as an exhibition building in the Museum Garden, was his vision of how the average American family could live in a well-designed, modern, expandable, affordable home. Called "a very human house, evoking a human response" by architectural critic Lewis Mumford, his design influenced modern residential architecture with its use of glass, wood and natural stone, along with its incorporation of distinct activity zones to define the motion and flow of both interior and exterior spaces. The house was moved to the Rockefeller estate in 1950 and presently is being restored as closely as possible to the original design.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Founded in 1940, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund encourages social change that contributes to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.  The RBF's grant making is organized around three themes:  Democratic Practice, Sustainable Development, and Peace and Security and three pivotal places:  New York City, Southern China, and the Western Balkans. 

Cave Canem Foundation
Founded in 1996 by poets Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady to remedy the under-representation of frican American poets in writing workshops and MFA programs, Cave Canem is a home for the  many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. Cave Canem has grown from an initial gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement with a renowned faculty and a high-achieving fellowship of 289 poets residing in 34 states. Its programs include an annual week-long retreat, first and second book prizes, Legacy Conversations, Poets on Craft talks, writing workshops, Publication and national readings. Such world-class poets as Elizabeth Alexander, Lucille Clifton and Yusef Komunyakaa number among the organization's faculty and judges. To date, the organization has published Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade (University of Michigan Press, 2006) and The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (The University of Georgia Press, 2007). For more information, go to www.cavecanempoets.org.