COLLABORATION
“Yaddo brings together naturally and in amity a wide range of backgrounds and personalities, minds and interests. . . . The important contributions which our guests make to each other are spontaneous and occur because of Yaddo’s unprogrammed leisure.” —Elizabeth Ames, 1931
Fostering collaboration among artists was not central to Yaddo’s mission. Even so, numerous collaborations among guests and former guests flourished, sometimes during a Yaddo stay, but more often in the years that followed. Yaddo’s composer guests were inspired by the work of Yaddo poets. Yaddo writers developed libretti for its composers. Yaddo photographers collaborated with Yaddo writers. Perhaps most remarkably, a series of music festivals inaugurated by Aaron Copland in 1932, and culminating in 1952, brought together and catalyzed America’s emerging community of classical composers and performers. Collaboration was an almost inevitable outcome of the friendships and affiliations that Yaddo fostered.