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by darknavi 312 days ago
> It'd be fun to join in from afar by pledging to do the same things, but for nowhere near the cost.

I am not familiar with blogging or this sphere at all, but it's so funny to me that I was assuming the website said that the program would PAY the bloggers to be there for a month (including housing) and not the other way around.

I assumed this was one of those "We'll let you write a book while riding Amtrak for free" sort of thing. Not sure why I thought that, but it made me laugh after reading your comment.
1 comments
munificent 311 days ago
It's because they describe it as a "residency" and not a "retreat". Residencies usually pay the artist/writer to be there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist-in-residence

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habryka 311 days ago
Oh, hmm, I hadn't thought about that association.

I don't think "retreat" is the right choice for a 4 week program, I think "retreat" implies a shorter duration. We played around with "fellowship" but that seemed worse.

Searching around a bit though, it seems like there are lots of other programs with similar naming choices. See for example this: https://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/literary-arts/deep-winte...

Which charges ~$5,600.

Or this: https://iyws.clas.uiowa.edu/2-week-summer-residential-progra...

Which charges $2,500. Both are called "residencies". Seems like it's not that weird for a program called "residency" to charge fees, though I still kind of buy there is some association here. If anyone has better suggestions, I would be pretty interested.

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munificent 310 days ago
> I don't think "retreat" is the right choice for a 4 week program, I think "retreat" implies a shorter duration.

If a name is going to imply the wrong thing, would you rather someone get the wrong signal and think "wait, I thought you were going to pay me but I have to pay you?!" or "oh, I guess it's an even longer vacation"?

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