Conarro is the co-director of Dreamers Welcome, a micro-residency and creative work space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Conarro and her partner Julian Bozeman carved out a space in their residence for community projects and creative collaboration. Micro-residencies take the form of musical collaborations, video creation, 2-D visual work, and stop-motion. After years of this occurring naturally (artist-friends staying over and casually collaborating), the duo added a structure to expand the offering of space in exchange for small-scale collaboration beyond their immediate friend-group. Dreamers Welcome served as the locus for the creation of a collaborative stop motion made with Alejandro Aguilera and residents, the development of an original dance piece by Sarah Campen, the recording of Sean Nicholas Savage’s ‘Fools Gold’, a private screening of Culturesport.tv, a hosting of the Living Room Light Exchange, and many other projects, performances, and collaborations.

Drawing on the long history of New York lofts serving as salon-style performance spaces for off-beat collaboration and avant-garde experimentation, Dreamers Welcome is an experiment in treating a private residence as a public forum and community space. With rising rent costs and gentrification pushing artists out of the city, there is a decrease in communal spaces for artists. The duo feels that spaces that exist outside of the market and institutional visibility are necessary for the creative community. Combining the communal and the private is critical for both the creative community and the cultural hygiene of the duo and their children. 

Artists have received grants from the Alaska State Council on the Arts to participate at Dreamers Welcome. 

References include: 

David Bohm, connected graph, “Triangle” by Liliana Porter