Stephen Petronio founded the Petronio Residency Center (PRC) in the pristine Catskill Mountains of New York in 2017, bolstered by the visionary guidance of Board Chair Jill Brienza and the steady hand of Ken Tabachnick. A research facility for movement-based artists, PRC was conceived to provide essential support in a nurturing environment for vibrant talent in the dance world—a haven for choreographers and their collaborators to develop new work in an environment unfettered by market constraints and away from the daily pressures of urban life.

Situated in Round Top, New York, on 172 acres in the Catskill Mountains of Greene County, PRC featured a 6,500-square-foot house and 2,500-square-foot state-of-the-art dance studio, an organic garden, and hiking trails. The heart of the center’s mission was two-fold: to provide artists with a place to research and build new dances away from their day-to-day responsibilities in close proximity to nature, and to establish a local dance education program that would bring the power of movement to the youth of Greene County.

PRC provided year-round, self-contained, and uninterrupted residencies of one to three weeks per artist/company. Residencies included weekly stipends, dedicated rehearsal space, on-site lodging, chef-prepared locally sourced meals, a transportation stipend, and exclusive access to the entire 172-acre property.

Artists who were provided residencies include Ralph Lemon, Jimena Paz, Nora Chipaumire, Will Rawls, Kathy Westwater, Kayla Farrish, Loni Landon, Jerron Herman, Hope Mohr, Maria Bauman, Alicia Bauman-Morales, Cheri Stokes, nia love, Gillian Walsh, Dean Moss, Fana Fraser, Liz Gerring, Marjani Forté Saunders/7NMS, Nora Alami, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Darrell Jones, Tendayi Kuumba and Greg Purnell, Malcolm-x Betts, Silas Riener and Rashaun Mitchell, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Jamar Roberts, Paul Langland, Marcus McGregor, Belinda Adam, Annie-B Parson/Big Dance Theater, Christopher Williams, and the creative collaboration of 7 DEADLY SINS (Joshua Bergasse, Justin Vivian Bond, Jeffrey Guimond, Marc Happel, and Sara Mearns).

PRC also provided an exciting dance education program directed by Marcus McGregor both in Greene County New York public schools and through its on-site annual summer intensive. The programs introduced young people to world culture through dance and featured instructors Elena Mosley, Alicia Bauman-Morales, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, and Sujatha Narthanalaya.

An important part of Petronio Residency Center was Mr. Frieda’s Garden, an organic vegetable, flower, and herb garden to feed, inspire, and engage resident artists. In 2022, led by the team at Wild Hudson Valley, and with the help and support Stockbridge-Munsee Community’s tribal council, Hortulus Animae transformed Mr. Frieda’s Garden into an educational garden installation – ‘Waawtãawtheyakwe: Those That Sustain Us’ – featuring plants and growing methods that reflect traditional native culture and natural history in the Hudson Valley.

Waawtãawtheyakwe (Wao-Tuh-Thee-Yah-Kwe) was conceived to bring consciousness to Muh-he-con-ne-ok cultural values and traditions through their agricultural land practices. It is a land acknowledgement in physical form; an active reminder and connection to the land and the function it held for the now displaced native populations. Pairing the conservation, propagation and cultivation of heritage plants with informational signage, the garden displayed local flora while honoring the Muh-he-con-ne-ok history of the region and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community that now resides in Wisconsin.

Conceived by Petronio in 2021 with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, PRC established a permanent conservation easement for 77 acres of the 172-acre property, designating The Doris Duke Preserve at Round Top, Greene County, a forever-wild preserve that attaches to the Catskill State Preserve and expands its footprint. Though the residency center closed its doors in 2023, it left an indelible mark on more than 100 artists and leaves behind a tangible contribution—the conservancy—that will live on in perpetuity

A lead gift from renowned artist Anish Kapoor helped launch the first phase of the capital campaign. In addition to longtime funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, support for programs and operations of the Petronio Residency Center came from a variety of contributed sources, including the Howard Gilman Foundation, the SHS Foundation, the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Serena Foundation, Alexander and Marjorie Hover Foundation, the Greene County Council of the Arts, and the Bank of Greene County, as well as many generous artists supporting dance, including Cindy Sherman, Cecily Brown, Stephen Hannock, and Donald Baechler. Numerous private patrons contributed significant support including Nina Matis, Harold Koda, and Alan Kornberg.

Over the course of its seven-year history, PRC was enlivened by the contributions and commitment of the directors: David Szlasa, Alison Pou, and Marya Warshaw.