About

The 1000 Islands Film & Stage Artist Residency was founded in 2017 to help artists develop, produce and document their creative work. It is a project-driven, short term residency. Artists participate in or develop a work in progress that is based in performance while staying in the Thousand Islands area.

Directed by Kathleen Reichelt and Wesley Rickert who have been working together since 2008, managing artist run spaces, producing audio recording projects, feature length art films and live experimental theatre. They are both practicing visual and spoken word artists and together have performed as Burning Iceberg in NYC, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Paris.  More below.
Kathleen Reichelt is the program director for the 1000 Islands Film & Stage Artist Residency, bringing 20+ years experience in visual, performing and media arts. Kathleen works with artists to realize their goals, building community with events and special projects.  She is the recipient of The Evan Hughes Playwright Award for the one-act comedy "Who Killed The Curator", founder of The Garage Theatre in Toronto (2008 - 2012) and has worked for the Canadian Opera Company, CTV, and on theatrical productions at 4th Line Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and the Factory Theatre, Toronto. Kathleen is a contributing writer to the NYC art journal Arteidolia, and her visual art is in the permanent collection of the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea. She is co-founder of 253469.
Wes Rickerts' films draw on his experience as an absurdist sound poet, noise band musician, visual artist and philosopher. "The Road to Elsinore", 2016, 96 minutes, was an official selection for BLOW-UP Chicago International Arthouse FILM FEST 2016, an official selection for the Annual Copenhagen Film Festival 2017, and semi-finalist for the European Film Festival (Mainstream & Underground), Moscow. "Reality River Snow Job", 2017, 99 minutes, received Honorable Mention from the 2017 LA Underground Film Forum for contribution to cinema. His absurdist writing & photos are published in "Maintenant #9, #10, #11, #12, A Journal of Contemporary Dada," Three Rooms Press, NYC. He is the co-founder of the 1000 Islands Film & Stage Artist Residency and co-founder of the 253469 Institute.
For more about past projects and artistic history please visit www.253469.com