BMC History

Toward the end of his life, Harold Hochschild collaborated with his son, Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains and King Leopold’s Ghost (among others) and co-founder of Mother Jones magazine, to convert their family property at Eagle Nest in Blue Mountain Lake, New York to a non-profit working space for artists and writers. 

Soon after, Harriet Barlow, founder and co-founder of 15 non-profit organizations and member of over 50 boards of directors, agreed to become Blue Mountain Center’s founding Executive Director to further develop the vision for BMC and put it into action. Over a period of 36 years, Harriet, along with many others like Ben Strader who came to BMC as an intern in 1984 and serves as the current Executive Director, shaped the BMC we know today.

For the first few years of Blue Mountain Center's existence, the only residents were writers. In 1985, thanks to the generosity of family and former residents, we were able to create artist studios, and in 1993 we adapted the Grey Cottage garage to be a composer's studio. 

The concept of Blue Mountain Center emerged over many years but was very influenced by a variety of predecessors, including early artist residencies, and most significantly the Highlander Center. 

Blue Mountain Center Residents In Action

Last decade our friend and partner Jay Walljasper initiated a project we called BMC Commons - a collection of stories and projects by BMC alumni from that decade to share their work in the world. It remains a moving catalogue of the impact socially engaged artists can have in the world.