The MacDowell Colony was founded in 1907 by the American composer Edward MacDowell and his pianist wife Marian. America's first artistic residency programme has played host to more than six thousand artists. As part of its centenary year celebrations, in 2007 Donald Macleod was allowed exclusive access to the colony set in its own grounds in New Hampshire, USA. There he meets composer Stewart Wallace, working on his opera The Bonesetter's Daughter, and Blake Tewksbury, an authority on the MacDowell Colony.