to create and record new material, April 16-30, in the woods of the Oregon Coast.

The inaugural Music Fellow at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Composer and Singer-Songwriter, Licity Collins, curates and leads a cohort of musicians to create and record new material, April 16-30, in the woods of the Oregon Coast.

DATE: April 16-30, 2025
MORE INFO: https://licitycollins.com/sitka-center-music-fellowship
SITKA CENTER WEBSITE: https://sitkacenter.org/
ARTIST CONTACT: 213 290 2037 • [email protected]
ARTIST WEBSITE: licitycollins.com

Licity Collins, composer and singer-songwriter has been selected as the inaugural Music Fellow at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, a space supporting artists/ecologists-in-residence and arts and ecology workshops on the coast of Oregon.

For two weeks in April 2025, Licity Collins will convene 8 musicians to record chamber and pop-chamber music in a collaborative venture in the woods of the Oregon Coast near the Cascade Head preserve stewarded by the Nature Conservancy. In addition to musicians, the project brings a visual artist to use Sitka’s printmaking studio to make work in response to the music. The group draws from members of Licity’s newly formed SynchroLicity collective, as well as a guest artist from the Oregon Coast community.

This will be the exciting pilot model of a music cohort for the Sitka Center. Sitka Center’s Executive Director, Alison Dennis, states: “We chose to partner with Licity not only because of the strength of her artistic vision but also due to her leadership, which is marked by a strategic, solutions-oriented approach that fosters collaboration, ensures operational excellence, and creates meaningful opportunities for artists to engage with their work in a supportive environment. Her ability shepherd ambitious creative projects from concept to execution has been instrumental in shaping Sitka’s music-based residency and five-year strategic plan.”

The eclectic collection of musicians and instruments includes: voice, guitar, electric guitar, bassoon, violin, double bass, glockenspiel, toms, triangles, recorders and bagpipes (photos below). The group will be rehearsing and recording in Sitka’s Boyden Studio (photo below), usually used for painting, sculpture, and woodworking, converting it into a temporary recording space for a chamber ensemble.

The intention is to record 2 EP-length collections, one of newly composed chamber classical music, the second of Licity’s folk/rock songs arranged for chamber ensemble. In Sitka’s deep spirit of supporting artists, Licity has allotted the first week to rehearsal and recording, and offered the second week to each artist’s discretion to work on their own projects, or to take much needed rest.

Licity Collins says, “I could not be more excited or proud to be chosen to help Sitka Center bring musicians to live, work, create, and dream together. This fellowship is a true honor. I carefully selected a group of musicians who would not only bring a dynamic sound to this unique recording project, but would cherish the land, trees, and opportunity as much as I do. Sitka is a sacred space to me and I know it will become that for each of these musicians as well.”

Participants and Ensemble:

2025 Sitka / SynchroLicity Music Cohort
Artist Bios Here
Licity Collins, Composer/Arranger Guitar, Voice, Recorder, Portland, OR
Traverse Such, Electric Guitar, Los Angeles, CA
Mendel Lee, Percussion, New Orleans, LA
Greg Berton, Bass, Lincoln City, OR
Meghan Coil, Violin, Portland, OR
Phylicia Morris, Percussion, Portland, OR
Laura Kuhlman, Recorders, Bagpipes, Vancouver, WA
Nicole Buetti, Bassoon, Vancouver, WA
Sean Flora, Recording Engineer, Portland, OR
Winsome Eustace, Videographer, Portland, OR
Kim Kei, Visual Artist and Printmaker, Los Angeles

Described by NPR as “Courageous, writing and singing full frontal,” Licity Collins is a 2024 recipient of a RACC Arts 3C grant, a 2024 IFCC Grant and Residency from Portland Parks, and a 2024 Portland Awesome Foundation gift, to develop her new opera, ONE DEATH IN SEVEN DOORWAYS, which was written in part during a Black Art/Ists Residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in 2023. She was recently commissioned to composed the gala music for North Pole Studio. Licity is based in Portland, OR.