It's because they describe it as a "residency" and not a "retreat". Residencies ...

habryka · 2025-08-08T05:02:24 1754629344

Oh, hmm, I hadn't thought about that association.

I don't think "retreat" is the right choice for a 4 week program, I think "retreat" implies a shorter duration. We played around with "fellowship" but that seemed worse.

Searching around a bit though, it seems like there are lots of other programs with similar naming choices. See for example this: https://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/literary-arts/deep-winte...

Which charges ~$5,600.

Or this: https://iyws.clas.uiowa.edu/2-week-summer-residential-progra...

Which charges $2,500. Both are called "residencies". Seems like it's not that weird for a program called "residency" to charge fees, though I still kind of buy there is some association here. If anyone has better suggestions, I would be pretty interested.

munificent · 2025-08-08T23:21:40 1754695300

> I don't think "retreat" is the right choice for a 4 week program, I think "retreat" implies a shorter duration.

If a name is going to imply the wrong thing, would you rather someone get the wrong signal and think "wait, I thought you were going to pay me but I have to pay you?!" or "oh, I guess it's an even longer vacation"?