Artist talks LIC rent-free housing in Stonehenge residency program
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.12 COM | JAN. 14 - JAN. 20, 2022
ing in Harlem for seven
years. Now, she resides
in a high-rise luxury
apartment building in
Long Island City.
Anyanwu’s apartment
gives her a quick
commute to her off-
Broadway responsibilities
and other artistic
endeavors.
“The idea of being able
to afford a one-bedroom
in New York felt really
impossible and I was getting
too old to live with
people,” she said, initially
moving to Los Angeles
from New York due to its
financial feasibility.
Anyanwu current
building has “all the
bells and whistles,” she
said. Amenities include
a gym, a movie lounge,
a game room, a two-floor
lounge, a rooftop pool
that is open during the
summer, a public terrace
open during certain
hours and a front desk
person. These amenities
in the building make
it much easier for her
regarding her mental
health, she said, especially
the gym.
“Oh,” she said with
a smile, “this is how the
other half lives. How
nice.”
Within the apartment,
there is a washer
and dryer, which she
calls “the New York
Holy Grail,” and a dishwasher.
Her experience
now could not be more
different from when she
first moved here at 23
years old, when she was
a starving actor who, she
said, “literally had like
$308 to her name.”
“It’s not like being a
theater artist is lucrative.
So the residency
made it even more advantageous
to make
being in the city more
exciting because I actually
had projects to look
forward to, and I didn’t
have the burden of rent,”
Anyanwu said.
One year of free rent
came with a monthly
commission for the program
to show how New
York City is still standing
strong, which for
Anyanwu, is a small
price of writing “a love
letter to New York and a
sort of love letter to her
art” every month. For
example, she said that
she writes love letters to
different parts of the borough
with some poetry.
Anyanwu said the
requirements of the
residency aren’t burdensome,
but they are a
great way to hold herself
accountable when she’s
not overly busy.
As a playwright,
Anyanwu is constantly
applying for grants and
residencies, which typically
only last for a couple
weeks or a month.
This yearlong residency
felt “too good to be true,”
but she applied anyway.
Once she received the
news of her acceptance
into the residency, she
felt some hesitancy but
decided the opportunity
was too great to pass up.
The program has reminded
her of the joys of
the city, with the removal
of the nerve-wracking
financial burden.
“This opportunity
has made me fall in love
with New York again,”
she said.
For more information
on the program, visit
stonehengenyc.com.
BY ALICIA VENTER
Twenty artists were
selected for a yearlong,
rent-free residency in
New York City by the
real estate company
Stonehenge, which
selected artists from
across the world for its
inaugural “Still Standing”
residency program.
The luxury apartments
where the artists
reside in both Queens
and Manhattan are a
way for Stonehenge to
give back to the art community
during the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic.
Each artist was given
a one-bedroom apartment
from March 2021 to
February 2022.
“Without the performing
and fine arts,
New York would lose
the soul that makes this
city so special,” said Ofer
Yardeni, CEO and chairman
of Stonehenge NYC.
“Providing free housing
for a year to New York
City talent, and encouraging
them to keep creating,
has been a rewarding
way for us to give
back to a city we love,
and to a community that
will ultimately tell and
shape the story of New
York during this monumental
point in history.”
The program received
over 1,000 applicants
when it was announced
in October 2020, and has
artists of various mediums,
including choreography,
filmmaking and
painting.
Among the selected
artists is Ngozichukwuka
“Ngozi” Anyanwu, 39,
an actress, producer and
playwright. An established
artist, with previous
off-Broadway plays
— the latest closing Sept.
26 — she has been in and
out of New York since
2005. She’s lived in every
borough except Staten
Island, including resid-
‘Ngozi’ Anyanwu was one of the artists selected for
Stonehenge’s “Still Standing” residency program.
Photo via Instagram/@gozeface
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