In 2000, the Norton Island Residency Program, under the leadership of the Eastern Frontier Education Foundation, was founded as a nonprofit and developed to create an ideal place for artists to paint, write, sculpt and compose. The nature of this program is straightforward, even rudimentary: this is a remote, rustic wilderness with facilities to accommodate a select group of artists who sometimes share their work after dinner but are otherwise there to work uninterrupted. The environment is beautiful, extreme, and unadorned. Each resident is required to work with their fellow residents to conserve water and electricity, to help clean up after dinner, and to tote their own share of firewood. Norton Island is an outdoorsy experience that may come as a shock at first to residents who have spent time at other artist residencies.