So listen. I was talking to Jed last night, and realized that even though I’ve been thinking about this for years, and so *I* was feeling like it was very present in my head and all, I haven’t actually been talking about it out loud, apparently. So I’m just saying, one of the things I’d really like to get done, sometime in the next decade, is set up a residency program for speculative fiction. Something that looks a lot like Ragdale (http://ragdale.org).
Essentially, this means buying a big house, one with at least 8 bedrooms. Which we would then potentially rent out (year-round) to individuals and groups for retreats and workshops. And have scholarships for diversity groupings, and for economic need. I’d like it to be in or near a major city, for transit accessibility. Chicago, for preference, since that’s where I am, and am likely to remain, and I think it’s a great city for this kind of thing — central, huge arts scene, great food, etc.
There are lots of these for mainstream lit., but many of them are not so interested in applications from genre writers. And I think there’s enough interest in this, and value to it, that we can support one dedicated to SF/F/H. Maybe run by the SLF, since we’re a 501(c)3 non-profit, maybe co-sponsored by SFWA and HWA, maybe with publishers and others chipping in.
I don’t know the details at all yet, and obviously, something like this needs a business plan, and there are a dozen different ways to do it, Kickstarter, etc. so it’s going to require some thought. I probably have to raise about a million dollars, just as a first step. I’ve had a few conversations with folks, and I actually have one initial pledge for a $20,000 donation, but I really haven’t gotten very far into the fund-raising process at all.
But here, I’m putting it on people’s radar. This is a thing I strongly want to do, that I plan to do. Keep it in the back of your head, and if you know anyone who might want to donate a large sum of money to the field, to build something that I hope will be a strong legacy for future generations of writers, let me know.