McNeely Family Artist Residency
Spring 2026 Artist in Residence: Joshua Holden
While on campus, Joshua worked with SA students on our spring production of The Tin Woodsman of Oz, bringing his expertise in puppeteering and puppet-wrangling and presenting at a special assembly for all students and staffulty.
Joshua Holden is an Emmy-nominated multi-disciplinary artist, puppeteer, actor, and full-time joy-maker. Joshua freelances for The Jim Henson Company as a fabricator, puppet builder, and one of the puppet wranglers on Sesame Street! He has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and on national tours for shows such as Water for Elephants and Avenue Q.
Joshua Holden is an Emmy-nominated multi-disciplinary artist, puppeteer, actor, and full-time joy-maker. Joshua freelances for The Jim Henson Company as a fabricator, puppet builder, and one of the puppet wranglers on Sesame Street! He has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and on national tours for shows such as Water for Elephants and Avenue Q.
Previous Artists in Residence
Spring 2026: Joshua Holden
Fall 2025: Ashley Kim
Winter 2025: Phillip Hua
Fall 2023: Robin Whiteman
Spring 2023: KAHN + SELESNICK
Fall 2022: Jody Alexander
Fall 2025: Ashley Kim
Winter 2025: Phillip Hua
Fall 2023: Robin Whiteman
Spring 2023: KAHN + SELESNICK
Fall 2022: Jody Alexander
The McNeely Family
Connecting Artists and Students
We know that art education provides students with skills that benefit them in the art studio and beyond: creativity, focus, critique, planning, and much more. When students attend school surrounded by art, they learn to think artistically, and they develop an understanding that the role of the arts in our society is crucially important. This knowledge is vital to our students as they grow into the innovators and creators of tomorrow.
This is the impetus behind the McNeely Family Studio Residency, a program established in 2021 through the generosity of the McNeely family: Kevin, Rosemary, and Hannah Rose ‘19. The McNeelys are passionate about the arts in all of their forms, and this love for creative expression inspired them to endow a residency program that would attract established artists to be “embedded” in daily life at Sonoma Academy for an extended period of time.
The goal of the residency is to host working artists from around the country and the world who will work closely with our students, cultivating the next generation of talented artists and providing insight into what it means to pursue a career in visual art. Artists will give lectures, hold workshops, exhibit their own work, create community-based art projects, and meaningfully engage with students, parents, and staffulty.
Sonoma Academy Is...
...the only private, independent, college preparatory high school in Sonoma County. On our beautiful campus nestled at the base of Taylor Mountain in Southeastern Santa Rosa, our students are able to explore their interests and passions in a rigorous and inspiring environment that develops a lifelong love of learning and prepares them for college and beyond.
Sonoma Academy admits students of any race, color, religion, ethnicity or national origin, citizenship, gender or gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or disability, to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. The school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity or national origin, citizenship, gender or gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and tuition assistance programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.
