The Hatch Workshop

On May 17, 2025 a flock of human birds will hatch out of a remarkably large egg onto the front lawn of ArtYard and begin a celebratory parade along the riverfront. The Hatch was our inaugural celebration of creative incubation and community when we opened our doors in 2016 and it’s been growing steadily as ArtYard’s community grows. The Hatch is also a nod to this location’s 20th century history as an egg hatchery that launched millions of baby chicks out into the world.

Why hatch out of an egg and parade through Frenchtown together? In his essay Fiesta and Time, the poet Octavio Paz writes about the meaning of festivals in his native Mexico:

“Our poverty can be measured by the frequency and luxuriousness of our holidays. Wealthy countries have very few: there is neither the time nor the desire for them… The people have other things to do, and when they amuse themselves they do so in small groups. The modern masses are agglomerations of solitary individuals…Fiestas are our only luxury. They replace, and are perhaps better than the theater and vacations…and cocktail parties… During these days the silent Mexican whistles, shouts, sings, shoots off fireworks… He discharges his soul…The Mexican does not seek amusement: he seeks to escape from himself, to leap over the wall of solitude that confines him during the rest of the year.”

Please join us for our sixth Hatch as we leap over our walls of solitude, rub shoulders with strangers, make a flock of birds with our neighbors and friends, and bring to life Emily Dickenson’s dictum at this fractured, vulnerable moment that,

“Hope is the thing with feathers.”