Yaddo and MacDowell both receive tremendous support from the literary and artistic community. Elegant fundraising events in New York and Boston have not only brought together well-connected members of the art, entertainment and financial communities, but also raised a significant amount of money. A recent MacDowell benefit at the Hotel Pierre in New York netted the colony $54,473. So regardless of the talk one hears about deficits and hard times, it’s inconceivable that artists would let Yaddo or MacDowell slip away. After all, here are two places where a poet, painter, or musician can hang around a rustic studio, take meaningful walks in the woods, discuss aesthetics — in general, do all the things an artist is supposed to do — and maybe even get something done, all for free (except the occasional $10 a day charge at MacDowell). The deal is too good to let die, and as long as the literary and art communities can maintain their influence over certain well-heeled sources — agents, patrons, foundations, art dealers, publishers, wealthy hangers-on — MacDowell and Yaddo will be with us.
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, Media, Harvard University, Books, Poetry, Pulitzer Prize Committee, National Endowment for the Arts, Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Thornton Wilder, John Cheever, Less 
