Since 2004, through Out of the Box Productions, artists William Mackwood and Gwenyth Dobie have created numerous original works integrating the use of music, text, dance, video and interactive design. For the past 12 years they have been on Faculty at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University, Toronto. There, they have shared their skills and expertise to the next generation of creators.

In 2016, William and Gwenyth bought a small farm on Salt Spring Island on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. They call their retreat, Woodland Farm. This developing organic farm includes a Barn that they have built, intentionally for performing Artists to develop new work.

The residency is situated on Canada's beautiful west coast Salt Spring Island, where the artists can work and create on the unceded territories of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples. There you will find a sanctuary to breathe, dream, experiment, create and play.

The residency program is for live performing artists to research and develop new works. The organisers are particularly interested in the effects of being in nature on the creative process. They want to offer time, space, and nature to artists so they may reflect, respond, experiment and renew their creative processes.