The mill that shut down is back to work. Just not making paper.
The former Lee Paper Company mill in Vicksburg sits on 80 acres of land and spans 416,000 square feet. For decades, it produced paper. Today, it produces art.
The Prairie Ronde Artist Residency has turned the abandoned industrial site into a creative destination that draws artists from across the globe. The program welcomed its first resident in 2018 and has grown into one of Southwest Michigan's most respected arts initiatives.
"The idea for Prairie Ronde emerged through relationships already rooted in Vicksburg," according to the residency's website. "Kern invited her to tour the 416,000-square-foot mill and together, they asked an insightful question: How might we activate this space to create opportunity for artists to experience Vicksburg and The Mill?"
From paper mill to art hub
Chris Moore founded The Mill at Vicksburg in 2016 with a vision for music, community, and adaptive reuse. John Kern, who had been living in the village and working as a community liaison through area schools, partnered with artist Frances Li to pitch an artist residency concept to Moore.
The program launched with a single artist model. South Korean and American artist May Hong became the first resident in the spring of 2018.
Today, Prairie Ronde invites 12 artists per year through a highly competitive application process. The residency runs three sessions annually: spring, summer, and fall. Each session accepts 2 to 4 residents.
Accepted artists receive:
- A $2,000 stipend upon completion
- A $500 travel grant
- Private housing in Vicksburg
- A gallery show in downtown Vicksburg
- Video documentation of their work
Residents stay for 5 to 6 weeks, engaging with the mill's ongoing rehabilitation and the surrounding community.
Recognition from the arts community
The residency's impact earned it the Epic Award from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo in 2025, according to South County News.
"The award recognizes organizations or programs of high artistic quality that enhance life in our community through the arts," the Arts Council stated. "It honors both long-standing programs and new initiatives that meet previously unmet needs."
John Kern serves as residency director and director of creative programming and innovation for The Mill at Vicksburg. Frances Li serves as Prairie Ronde's coordinator and was one of the residency's earliest artists in residence, according to South County News.
A capstone event arrives tomorrow
The residency is hosting a public capstone event on Tuesday, May 26 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Prairie Ronde Gallery.
The event celebrates the work of Akiko Yamamoto and Johanna Paas, two artists who recently completed their residencies in Vicksburg. Light refreshments will be provided and the event is free to attend, according to the residency's website.
Expanding beyond the residency
Prairie Ronde has grown beyond its core residency program. The organization now operates a gallery space in downtown Vicksburg and hosts a speaker series in partnership with Vicksburg Arts and the Kalamazoo Arts Council.
The residency has also created experiential learning opportunities with Western Michigan University's Frostic School of Art's Kinetic Imaging Department and has hosted specialized programming such as an e-textile camp, according to the Prairie Ronde website.
The name Prairie Ronde itself carries history. The French term means "the round prairie" and refers to the open prairie and oak savannas that once defined the region. These landscapes were cultivated through controlled burns practiced by Indigenous peoples, supporting travel, game habitat, and enriched soil, according to the residency's materials.
What began as a way to give artists access to a massive industrial site has evolved into a cultural anchor for a village of roughly 3,000 residents.
"Visiting artists become chroniclers of The Mill's rehabilitation," the organization says. "They document change, interpret process and reveal new ways of seeing a place in transition."
The mill is still undergoing one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in the region. Prairie Ronde exists at the center of that transformation, proving that the most productive thing a paper mill can do after it shuts down is make room for something entirely new.
By David Mitchell The Kalamazoo Press