A Fresh Canvas

As more hotels make an effort to engage with their communities, some are offering space (and funding) to foster local talent. Kristi Eaton reports on a slate of properties doing double duty as patrons of the arts.

-  Kristi Eaton

A MAN IS suspended by a harness from a towering tree in the cloud forest of Costa Rica. He twists and contorts his body, moving through the leaves and branches a new way of interacting with this rich ecosystem.

It's part of a multimedia piece choreographed by the Costa Rican art collective Wimblu-the culmination of a two-week residency at Hotel Belmar (hotelbelmar.net; doubles from $239), a sustainable 26-room retreat in the mountains outside Monteverde. Wimblu's members connected with the dancer, a local artist named Mario Rivera Camacho, during their time on property. "Hotel Belmar creates this atmosphere that allows you to slow down," Wimblu cofounder Alessandra Baltodano Estrada later reflected. "This opens up the mind to create."