Welcome to Alderworks Alaska Writers and Artists Retreat on the banks of West Creek in beautiful Dyea, Alaska. Our retreat is on the traditional lands of the Lkoot, whom we thank, honor and respect.  We provide summer residencies to qualifying writers and artists.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

2025 RESIDENCIES ANNOUNCED (March 26, 2025): This summer we will welcome the following writers/artists to Alderworks: First summer session – writer Francesca King from Laramie, Wyoming (Bea cabin); artist Whitney Johnson-Lessard from West Peoria, Illinois (Margaret cabin); and the mother-daughter combo of novelist Jacinda Townsend of Hope, Rhode Island and artist Rhianna Gides of Great Falls, Montana (Mary Jane cabin); Second summer session – writer Jennifer Smith-Morris of Palmer, Alaska (Bea cabin), writer Natalie Eckl of Paonia, Colorado (Margaret cabin), and writer/artist Lynn Fuller of Evanston, Illinois (Mary Jane cabin). We are excited about having them with us in Dyea this summer. Watch for more announcements about public presentations and workshops after they arrive.

FOR PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS & THOSE INTERESTED…

Please Tour Our Site –  Read about our Vision for Alderworks, check out the Gallery, and explore our three individual Cabins (includes pricing). The cabins are best suited for writers, painters, acoustic musicians, small craft workers, and fiber artists. If you have any questions, please e-mail us.

Interested in Applying – After exploring the cabins online, read our Residency Guidelines and then proceed to the Apply page. Applications are accepted through Submittable during November 15 to February 15 for the upcoming summer residencies.

How to Get Here & Where We Are – Our retreat is located nine miles out the Dyea Road from historic Skagway and is within the Dyea-Chilkoot Trail unit of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.  Skagway may be accessed via the Klondike Highway from the north or the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system and flights from Juneau from the south. Dyea (Deiyáa in Lingit) was here at least 8,000 years before becoming a gold rush boom town for a short time in 1897-1898. No longer a city, it has returned to its natural setting at the foot of the historic Chilkoot Trail. Alderworks is on historic Dyea’s northern edge, just across the West Creek bridge. Beyond the property is wilderness. It is quiet, save for the constant summer flow of West Creek and its nearby falls.

Retreat History to Date – Alderworks sits on a five-acre homestead from the late 1950s. The Brady family purchased it in 2011 and embarked on their Vision .  Restoration of the three resident cabins – Bea, Margaret and Mary Jane – and a bath house occurred in the summers of 2012-2014 and can be viewed by touring the photo Gallery. During the fall of 2014 and summer of 2015 we invited writer-friends from Alaska-Yukon for test residencies in the finished Alderworks cabins and to give us feedback. Our first full summer in 2016 was very successful. Except for a Covid-19 pause in 2020, we have had residents from near and far every summer since. A studio building was added in 2018 for artists to use and to host events. See a review of each year and and read some of their testimonials on the Testimonials & Past Residencies page.

See more photos from public presentations/workshops on our Facebook page, and check in the summer for announcements about upcoming Alderworks events.

Logo by Josh Downs • Site photos by Elise Giordano, Jeff & Dorothy Brady, Kathy Gates, and Jan Aalt van den Hoorn

Music to overhead video: “Acorn Falls” by Tasha-Yar, courtesy of Ben Teeter (video will play with wifi connection)