ArtYard
ArtYard is an interdisciplinary alternative contemporary art center comprised of an exhibition space, theater, and residency program, dedicated to presenting transformative artwork, fostering unexpected collaborations, and incubating original new work
THE OFFICE contributes performing arts programming to ArtYard, bringing artists like Leyla McCalla, Flor de Toloache, Davóne Tines, and John Cameron Mitchell to its campus.In 2005 ArtYard began its life as a series of experiments in an unheated former dairy barn in Jill Kearney and Stephen McDonnell’s Bucks County, Pennsylvania backyard. Over the next decade, Jill and Stephen organized literary, music, theater and dance events on the improvised stage before crowds of  friends invited to perch on stackable chairs.Influences include Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Circus, MASS MoCA, and Robert Putnam’s brilliant book, Bowling Alone, a chronicle of the siloing of American culture, the waning of everyday encounters between disparate groups, and the attendant loneliness and decline in social mobility which ensued. Putnam’s book suggests that the arts are one of the last remaining means of engendering meaningful encounters between people from disconnected communities. With its curated exhibitions, programming, and communal celebrations, ArtYard from the outset aimed to nurture a web of creative connection.
