History
Mary Sharp Cronson
January 24, 1927 - July 13, 2024
Mary Sharp Cronson Creative Process Fund
The board and staff of Works & Process is saddened by the death of our founder Mary Sharp Cronson.
In 1984, when few museums presented the performing arts, Mary Sharp Cronson presented dance, music, theater, and opera in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda and theater. Serving on many performing arts boards, including New York City Ballet and New York City Opera, she felt privileged to be invited to go behind the scenes, into the studio, and meet the artists.
With Works & Process, Mary Sharp Cronson introduced this experience to the public, pairing artist discussion and performance excerpts of developing or finished works to illuminate creative process and foster greater understanding, appreciation, and engagement; and always ensuring that artists are paid for their contributions.
Born to a family of hoteliers, her gracious hospitality was felt in signature post-performance artist receptions where robust conversation continued, spurred by the food for thought that Works & Process programs provided.
Under Mary Sharp Cronson, Works & Process also produced performances at the Guggenheim in Bilbao and Venice and toured to Israel, France, and Bermuda. For the 20th anniversary, Cronson placed the Works & Process archives into the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.
Undeterred by museum renovations in 1993, she took Works & Process to the Whitney Museum, Lincoln Center, Florence Gould Hall, John Jay College Theater, Marymount Manhattan Theater, Maison Francaise at NYU, The Equitable Center, and Kaye Playhouse, setting a precedent for Works & Process to expand beyond the Guggenheim during the 2020 pandemic to a constellation of residency centers in New York State and then to an array of venues in New York City.
She championed the music of Charles Wuorinen, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass and John Zorn, among others, and the choreography of Karole Armitage, Donald Byrd, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and Pam Tanowitz.
We will miss Mary Sharp Cronson’s wisdom, grace, generosity, stories, vision, humor, and perseverance in her support for artists. She possessed an infectious passion for artists and their creative process that was irresistible and sparked the curiosity and generosity of all around her.
Our heartfelt condolences to the Cronson Family.
In her memory Works & Process has created the Mary Sharp Cronson Creative Process Fund.
HISTORY
Founded by Mary Sharp Cronson in 1984 and described by The New York Times as “forward thinking” and “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” Works & Process has illuminated and championed the creative process of artists from both the world’s largest organizations and underrecognized performing arts cultures by providing rare, longitudinal studio-to-stage fully-funded creative residency, commissioning, and presenting support.
Led by Producer Caroline Cronson and Executive Director Duke Dang, Works & Process is a nonprofit performing arts organization that provides audiences unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, with programs that blend artist discussions and performance highlights. These offerings support our goal of broadening representation and fostering greater understanding and appreciation of the performing arts.
To see a list of all our past Works & Process programs since 1984, click here.
Works & Process During the Pandemic
Rapidly responding to the pandemic, Works & Process produced a vast series of creative bubble residencies isolated in the Hudson Valley and simultaneously provided virtual commissions to support artists financially and creatively.
In August of 2020, with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Works & Process presented New York State's first permitted outdoor performances. On March 20, 2021 Works & Process produced the first indoor performances permitted by New York State, taking place in the Guggenheim Museum's rotunda. Performances created in Works & Process Bubble Residencies provided a pipeline of new works that would be presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages, NY PopsUp, and in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda in 2021. Watch sizzle reels from these performances below:
Bubble Residencies
Creating an industry leading model for performing artists to safely gather, create, and perform together during the pandemic, Works & Process produced eight bubble residencies during summer and fall 2020, isolated in the Hudson Valley. In 2021, through generous grants from the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation, 17 additional bubble residencies were produced supporting over 151 artists.
Performances within these Works & Process Bubble Residencies premiered digitally through the following venues:
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Isolation to Creation Docuseries on ALL ARTS and PBS
In summer 2020 and spring 2021, amidst widespread cancellations, Works & Process—itself facing a shuttered theater—forged a path for artists to safely gather, create, and perform together again. Pioneering and producing bubble residencies that were then widely duplicated, Works & Process invited over fifty artists to enter residencies in rural Hudson Valley— under a medical protocol developed with medical council Dr. Wendy Ziecheck and ethical oversight provided by Dr. Robert Klitzman—after an unprecedented period of isolation.
In partnership with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Mount Tremper Arts, and Petronio Residency Center through jointly subsidized residencies, eight creative bubbles were created to incubate Works & Process commissions featuring diverse dance cultures, including Afrik, ballet, ballroom, break, flex, Krump, modern, tap, and vogue dance styles, and beatbox. Select projects were performed at the Kaatsbaan Festival to live audiences and were sequenced into filmed performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
To capture this journey, Works & Process produced the NY-Emmy nominated docuseries Isolation to Creation, by filmmaker Nic Petry of Dancing Camera, to provide audiences with the rare opportunity to go into the bubbles and behind the scenes to witness the hope, joy, exhilarating physical struggle, and emotional challenges experienced by performers returning to the studio and stage.
We invite you to watch our digital series Isolation to Creation on allarts.org and pbs.org.
Featured bubble residency artists in Isolation to Creation include:
Ephrat Asherie Dance
Les Ballet Afrik with Omari Wiles
The Missing Element with Chris Celiz and Anthony Rodriguez “Invertebrate”
Music From The Sole with Gregory Richardson and Leonardo Sandoval
Jamar Roberts
Seven Deadly Sins with Joshua Bergasse, Justin Vivian Bond, Jeffrey Guimond, Marc Happel, and Sara Mearns
Lead support for Works & Process Bubble Residencies and Isolation to Creation provided by Anh-Tuyet Nguyen and Robert Pollock and the Works & Process Board of Directors, with additional support from Jonna Mackin.
Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions
At the start of the pandemic, in order to financially support artists and nurture their creative processes, WPA Virtual Commissions granted over $150,000 in commissioning funds to 283 artists to produce new video works while social distancing. Each under five minutes long, these virtual performances spotlighted leading creators who have participated in past Works & Process programs.
Evita Arce • Ephrat Asherie • Brandon Stirling Baker • LaTasha Barnes • Reid Bartelme • Kimberly Bartosik • Joshua Bergasse • Lisa Bielawa • Stefanie Batten Bland • Suzanne Bocanegra • Hope Boykin • Chase Brock • Brian Brooks • Nora Brown • Tony Buck • Nathan Bugh • Rena Butler • Donald Byrd • Chris Celiz • Alejandro Cerrudo • Courtney Cochran • Gaby Cook • Anthony Roth Costanzo • Brandon Cournay • Dylan Crossman • Lisa D’Amour • Dance Theatre of Harlem • Adrian Danchig-Waring • Viva DeConcini • Simone Dinnerstein • Brittany Engel-Adams • Ron Erlih • Silas Farley • Jack Ferver • Kash Gains • Chris Giarmo • Tom Gold • Joseph Gordon • Amy Hall Garner • King Havoc • Anthony Hawley • Maxfield Haynes • John Heginbotham • HIPS • Stephanie Hsu • Adam Charlap Hyman • Dick Hyman • Michael R. Jackson • Jeremy Jacob • Colin Jacobsen • Michael Jagger • John Jarboe • Burr Johnson • Lindsey Jones • Harriet Jung • Larry Keigwin • Lloyd Knight • Gabrielle Lamb • Juel D. Lane • David Lang • Ashley Laracey • Pontus Lidberg • Ana Lopez • Aaron Loux • Malcolm Jason Low • Machine Dazzle • Dave Malloy • Missy Mazzoli • Ryan McNamara • Sara Mearns • Jodi Melnick • Andrea Miller • Isaac Mizrahi • Nico Muhly • Carson Murphy • Michael Novak • Annie-B Parson • Fitz Patton • Daniel Pettrow • Josh Prince • Caili Quan • Gregory Richardson • Matthew Ritchie • Jamar Roberts • Anthony Rodriguez • Huang Ruo • George Salazar • Leonardo Sandoval • Kamala Sankaram • Zoe Sarnak • Penny Saunders • Claudia Schreier • Troy Schumacher • Margo Seibert • Dan Siegler • Victoria Sin • Dawn Sinkowski • Gus Solomons Jr. • Ethan Stiefel • Karma Stylz • Macy Sullivan • Pam Tanowitz • Conrad Tao • Caleb Teicher • Adam Tendler • Richard Thomas • Cassandra Trenary • Michael Trusnovec • Charles Turner • Kenny Urban • Nicholas Van Young • Preeti Vasudevan • Eyal Vilner • Craig Washington • David Watson • Omari Wiles • Zack Winokur • Nicole Wolcott • Yuhee Yang • Netta Yerushalmy
Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions has been supported by Jody and John Arnhold, Jennifer Chaitman, Stuart Coleman and Meryl Rosofsky, Antonio Convit and Tim McGraw, Lucy Dobrin, Adam Flatto, Bart Friedman, Bond Koga, Jayne Lipman, Jonna Mackin, Bonnie Maslin, Nina Matis, Joan T. Mischo, Eve Mykytyn, Michele and Steven Pesner, Cynthia Hazen Polsky, Stephen Kroll Reidy, Denise Saul, Margaret Sparks, Annalyn Swan, Allyson Tang, Shelby White and many others. Virtual video design supported by Anupam and Rajika Puri. New music for dance supported by The Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation.