MISSION

New Roots is an artist residency defined by Farm and Family. Our mission is two-fold: to support the work and process of queer artists in a rural retreat setting, and to share queer-centered, community-building arts experiences with our local agricultural community. 

Walhalla Farm is owned and operated by trans artist Basil Kreimendahl, who together with LGBTQIA+ arts activist Jenna Worsham, founded New Roots in 2022. Basil and Jenna are queer theater and TV/film artists based in New York City, as well as locals of the Schoharie River Valley where Walhalla Farm resides. Both founders grew up in rural areas and hold a deep love and respect for the countryside, its culture, and the creativity it inspires. The dream of New Roots came as a response to this love and perceived potential, as well as a strong desire to provide safe creative spaces for the queer artist community. As an entirely LGBTQIA+ organization, we know first-hand the challenge of finding safe and supportive opportunities for artists like us within a predominantly cisgender and heterosexual artistic establishment. Our staff exercises lived experience and knowledge on how to respectfully navigate and support our community— particularly within agricultural areas, where a lack of exposure may present as a lack of understanding toward different orientations and gender expression. Many queer artists do not seek residencies and opportunities in rural places, assuming those programs are not designed for people like them. New Roots is an initiative that seeks to reverse this trend: to bridge the gap between queer and rural identities; to gently facilitate, nurture dialogue, and inspire warm interactions between artist, art, and onlooker. 

Our week-long, fully funded residencies for queer artists will begin in August of 2022 at Walhalla Farm, where Basil resides with his wife and children. A location rich in farming history, Walhalla Farm’s past is our platform as we re-envision our future with artists. Located in Middleburg, NY, an isolated town along the Schoharie River Valley, Walhalla lies within a resilient and robust farming community, similar to those where Basil (Kentucky) and Jenna (north Georgia) grew up. And like the hometowns of our founders, Middleburgh has limited access to the arts and few opportunities for residents to engage with local and visiting artists. The farmers and good people here make do without such access, much like the resilient and robust LGBTQIA+ community has done throughout history. We believe Walhalla Farm, as the Norse name suggests, is a place where these resilient warriors can come together; a space where trans and queer artists are free to generate work at their own pace. And local residents, as well as residents from neighboring towns, are invited to share and take part in gatherings focused on sharing new works of art.  

New Roots will offer a variety of artistic engagements for artist residents and locals— including: literary readings in the Dairy Barn, campfire comedy salons, maple syrup music jams, visual art exhibits in the Studio Barn, garden poetry slams, and a summer film series hosted on the lawn. Together with our local community partners, New Roots will create a welcoming, inspired, and structured space at Walhalla Farm where artist and onlooker encounter one another in art-centered ways. Ways that defy assumption. Ways that encourage a warm, expansive new community.