Sundance exec hopes to turn Arizona dude ranch into artists’ retreat

Rex Ranch in Arizona is poised to become an ambitious artists’ retreat, if a Sundance Institute executive can come up with the money to buy the 50-acre former dude ranch by the middle of December.

Located on a pristine patch of land with breathtaking scenery in the Sonoran Desert in the small town of Amado, about 30 miles south of Tucson, Rex Ranch was built in 1880 and later served as a resort before being abandoned.

The property, which features 35 attractive rose-colored adobe buildings, was originally for sale for $2 million. When no buyer emerged, the price dropped to $735,000.

Enter Joseph Beyer, the director of digital initiatives for Sundance, who stumbled across the ranch and fell in love with it in the early aughts.

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Beyer had for some time been mulling over the idea of founding an interdisciplinary arts and culture retreat. He is also an expert in crowd-funding. He coordinated a program that collaborated with Kickstarter.com to help Sundance Institute alumni develop over 200 projects, totaling more than $6 million.

When he caught wind of Rex Ranch’s plight he sprung into action and gathered a crack team of volunteers to help raise the needed funds by the Dec. 16 deadline, after which the land goes into foreclosure. His collaborators include leaders of the arts in Arizona and California.

“We imagine Rex Ranch as a world-class center for the arts. Something maybe between Marfa, Texas, and Sundance Institute,” said Beyer. “We’ll work tirelessly until we’ve repurposed the historic property and made it a mecca for artists, thinkers, designers and scientists to live and work while they manifest, develop and hone ideas.”

Beyer said that arts-specific programs will include everything from gallery previews and screenings to field studies, lectures, workshops, private residencies and labs.

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“We truly want to be a resource where fine arts can be examined and unlimited in their execution,” he said. “Rex Ranch has the potential to foster ideas of the most epic proportions.”

Many of Beyer’s advisors and volunteers are L.A.-based and also involved with Sundance Institute. They know the value of giving creative thinkers and artists a place to do nothing but work.

“Being an artist is not a privilege, it’s a job, and it takes work,” said adviser Michael Mohan, whose first film premiered at Sundance. “Through my time working for the Sundance Labs I’ve been fortunate enough to see how getting a group of artists with diverse backgrounds together, cooping them up on a side of a mountain in Utah, and giving them a month to focus on their work -- this produces extraordinary results.”

“It sounds very ‘Field of Dreams,’ but I’d like to build it and see who comes out to play,” said advisor Amy McGee, who oversaw the artist alumni program for Sundance Institute.

Find out more about the Save Rex Ranch campaign at www.rexranch.squarespace.com.

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