Proposals & Fellowships

Transformational Collective

The AROHO Retreat thrives on the alchemy created when exceptional women gather. Some writers will energize the group by serving as presenters, small group facilitators, and consultants. Some writers will donate funds while others will apply for fellowships to help cover costs. Yet others will serve as artists in residence or in resident staff positions, receiving compensation for services rendered. Details about applying for the various positions follow. Fellowship, AIR, and resident staff applications will be accepted until March 1, 2011. All other applications will be accepted until the available positions are filled, so apply early.

Facilitator/Consultant Proposals

Small Group Facilitator Proposal: Small Group Facilitators guide up to six other writers each day for four 45-minute sessions before dinner. Each Small Group Facilitator may use her sessions in whatever way she deems best: deepening the day’s conversation, engaging new ideas, sharing the day’s writing, addressing issues of particular interest to the Group’s members, etc. A Small Group Facilitator may choose to have her Group function as a class to explore a particular aspect of craft, without necessarily tying Small Group activities to the day’s previous presentations. Small Groups are not intended for workshopping of previously written material; they are designed to foster new investigations and to deepen and personalize each day’s discussions. Small Group Facilitators commit to attending each and every Mind Stretch. Small Group Facilitators receive 50% off registration to the retreat. Approximately three slots available.

Consultant Proposal: Qualified participants may be eligible to offer Consulting Sessions. Consulting spaces are limited and require impeccable credentials. Do you have a skill from which other retreatants may benefit on a one-on-one basis? Perhaps you can offer manuscript review, publishing advice, creativity counseling, suggestions to improve a writer’s online presence, editing of query letters, advice about finding funding, or something else. Consultants may name their fees. AROHO will pre-register clients online, schedule sessions, provide a space to conduct sessions at the Ranch, and collect consulting fees. After the retreat, AROHO will mail a check to consultants for fees collected, minus a 15% administrative charge. As a baseline when considering your fee, 30 minute manuscript review sessions with one of the retreat's Featured Writers will cost participants $75.

Program Proposals

Mind Stretch Proposal: The afternoon mind stretch sessions will feature one speaker after another, in short intensive bursts.  Proposed events may take almost any form: reading, panel discussion, interview, scholarly presentation, personal story, writing exercise, guided meditation, performance, tribute, etc. Ask yourself: What am I most passionate about at this moment? What do I have to offer to this community of women writers as we seek new paths? Mind Stretch Proposals that involve other participants only as listeners should not last more than fifteen minutes. Mind Stretch proposals that involve other participants as DOING something (a writing exercise, visual art, movement, talking with the person seated next to them, etc.) may extend 30 minutes. Presentations may be videotaped and select moments posted to AROHO’s YouTube channel. If presentations involve more than one presenter, each presenter must include an identical proposal on her application. Presenters may propose only one presentation (including any collaborative presentation). Presenters receive no monetary compensation.

Desert Delight Proposal: Proposed optional activities may take almost any form, and may require fifty minutes or two hours. Desert Delight sessions will meet only once and may be open to a small or large group, at the presenter's discretion. Use your imagination. Some possibilities: a hike with or without a writing session, a panel discussion, yoga, visual art activities, performance, class on some aspect of craft, guided group conversation about a specific topic, etc. Presenters of Desert Delights receive no monetary compensation.

Financial Aid Opportunities

Artists in Residence (AIR):  AROHO is creating a new award, and space at the retreat for artists who are also interested in writing. AIR applicants should see a bridge between writing and art, and convincingly communicate that relationship in their proposal, suggesting a project which can be mostly completed by the end of the week's residency. Preference will be given to projects which translate in an immediate and compelling way in cyberspace, communicate the power of creative women in community, and promote the work that is AROHO. Artists in Residence are encouraged to participate in and benefit from all Retreat programming as their project schedule allows, and will receive room and board for the week. AIR applications are specially juried. One Visual AIR and one Video AIR will be awarded.

Resident Staff Positions: Serve as Volunteer Coordinator or Hospitality Maven and receive 50% off registration fees. The Volunteer Coordinator will communicate with and coordinate volunteers before and during the retreat, working with the retreat administrator and hospitality maven to ensure volunteer needs are met.  The Hospitality Maven should be a local woman from New Mexico or Colorado with reliable transportation who shops for supplies before and during retreat (funds provided by AROHO), transports supplies to and from retreat, and orchestrates each evening’s reception, supervising and ensuring set-up and break-down.

Fellowships: Fellowships are both merit and need based. Anyone may apply for a fellowship, including writers who submit presentation and facilitator/consultant proposals.  The selection process is weighted in favor of those who have not received previous AROHO fellowships. Fellows will be assigned shared, bunk-style housing.  The value of a fellowship will be communicated when the fellowship is awarded, and may cover all or part of the costs of registration and housing. A sampling of available fellowships:

• AROHO Community Builder Fellowship: for a woman who organized a 10 in 2010 event or who built AROHO community in a substantive way.
• Enchanted Land Fellowship: for a woman from anywhere in the US, writing in any genre, of Hispanic/Latina or Native American descent.
• The Kenny Fries AROHO Retreat Fellowship: for a disabled woman writer.
• The LAM Fellowship: for women who live in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi.
• Marg Chandler Memorial Fellowship: for a participant from a previous AROHO Retreat,
• New England Writer's Fellowship: for an exceptional woman writer living in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont
• New Mexico Women Writer's Fellowship: for a writer who has a deep connection to the state. Preference will be given to those who currently reside in and make a living in New Mexico, but writers whose work is set here or who grew up in New Mexico are also invited to apply.
• The Orlando Fellowship: for a woman writer from the LGBT community, especially one whose work addresses themes and experiences relevant to that community.
• The Shakespeare's Sister Fellowship: for a woman playwright.
• Tillie Olsen Childcare Fund for Writing Mothers: a stipend awarded to writing mothers to help offset the costs of childcare.
• The Touching Lives Fellowship for a public school teacher who nurtures her students in their writing and needs time and space to work on her own.
• The Wise Woman Fellowship: for a woman writer over 60 in recognition that many women are at the height of their creative abilities in their later decades.

Friends of the Retreat

Donate to keep the retreat running strong.  Friends of the Retreat can help fund a special AROHO meal, sponsor a fellowship or a featured writer, fund improved technological support, or help with administrative expenses.  You can make a great retreat even better. Donate.

Women Writers, Accept our invitation •  Let's shake our writing lives upside down • Together • Ghost Ranch 2011