2025-2026 Artist In Residence

For most artists, craft and business intertwine. You’re trying to write a key change into the third verse at the same time you’re calculating the expense of renting a rehearsal space to practice the performance of this key change. The exciting show opportunity in LA is only viable if you can find cheap airfare and then charm the flight attendant into stowing your instrument in the garment closet. I love talking about both art and entrepreneurship—each of which ask for creative solutions in fast-changing contexts. I’m particularly excited to dream up the ways in which we might collaborate with other sectors to strike up mutually beneficial relationships that make for interesting art, well attended shows, new connections, and fair deals all around
Dessa

Biography

Dessa fell in love with language as a toddler. As a grown-up writer and musician, she aims her work at the intersection of wit, tenderness, and intellectual rigor. She’s recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective; released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; written for the New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that’s notched more than 4 million views; hosted two seasons of the Deeply Human radio program (BBC/American Public Media/iHeartMedia); contributed a track to The Hamilton Mixtape; and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices, published by Dutton (Penguin Random House). She still tours in a rented van with a backpack full of hoarded snacks. You can listen to her music, read her writing, and check out the tour schedule at dessawander.com or find her on Instagram as Dessa, and on Facebook and Bluesky as dessadarling.