Economics, weather, comedy, music on tap at virtual Crandell
CHATHAM—Friday through Thursday, May 8 to 14, the Crandell Theatre offers for streaming Capital In the Twenty-First Century /The Hottest August /On a Magical Night /Crescendo. For trailers and tickets, click on the links here. A full 50% of the box office benefits continued
operations of the Crandell.
For safety, Art Omi limits parking spaces
GHENT—With the warming weather, outdoor destinations like Art Omi are seeing an increase in the number of their visitors. But despite the fair weather, coronavirus infection rates in and around Columbia County continue to climb, and it is as crucial as ever to curtail unnecessary travel and maintain social distance.
In order to reduce park density and assure a healthy environment for visitors, beginning this weekend, May 8-10, Art Omi is reducing the number of parking spots available to 20. Once 20 vehicles are parked, no additional visitors will be admitted until enough have departed.
Idling and / or parking on County Route 22 is strictly prohibited, and violators will be ticketed and / or towed at their own expense.
Visiting outside of peak hours will help assure safe access to as many people as possible during this difficult time.
All park visitors are reminded of the following guidelines, still in place: always maintain a safe distance of 6’ or more from anyone who is not a member of your household; wear a mask or other face covering in the parking lot and whenever you pass others on a trail; avoid touching surfaces and objects, including park signage and exhibitions; and don’t share equipment such as balls, frisbees or bicycles with those not in your household.
Art Omi’s top priority is to provide sanctuary to the local community while ensuring the continued wellness of its staff. Visitors’ cooperation is essential to Omi’s ability to remain safe and open throughout this time. Artomi.org.
Hudson, a city of parades, then and now
HUDSON—The annual Flag Day Parade and Pride Parade may have been canceled, but Hudson is still a city of parades. The city’s own Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, headed by residents Stephanie Monseu and Keith Nelson, use their circus skills to uplift the city’s spirit during NY
On Pause with a series of twice-weekly Tiny Parades, beginning Thursday, May 7 at 6 p.m. along lower Columbia and State Streets.
Tiny Parades feature a band of colorful stilt walkers who stop in front of homes along prearranged routes in Hudson and entertain people who watch from their windows and front porches.
Two appearances per week until social distancing and shelter-in-place measures are relaxed will enable the stilt walkers to visit Hudson’s most densely populated areas with families, children and home-bound elders.
Tiny Parades will occur four times between May 7 and May 15. The second Tiny Parade will visit the northern reach of Hudson’s Front Street. The third will focus on the neighborhood on Hudson’s northeast side, and the fourth will visit upper State and Columbia Streets between 3rd and 6th Streets. For details, visit https://www.facebook.com/BindlestiffFamilyCirkusKids/
Shaker Museum looks for artworks in many mediums
NEW LEBANON—Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon invites the public to participate in a community engagement project, Call for Art: In Union, Remotely, with artwork that may be submitted in a variety of mediums.
All submissions should draw inspiration from the Shakers’ values or way of life, which the participants can learn more about in the Shaker Museum’s comprehensive online collection, at shakerml.org.
For complete project guidelines, visit https://shakerml.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Call-For-Art-Press-Release-5.6.2020.pdf?mc_cid=da340514dc&mc_eid=25a734b52e
Leaf Peeper fall concert series is a go
HILLSDALE—The 2020 Leaf Peepers Series is in place, with four concerts by artists that include the Shanghai Quartet and flutist Anthony Trionfo, ready and willing to perform in local venues.
Eugenia Zukerman, flutist and artistic director, and Dave Hall, musician and board president, are aware of the tentative nature of the autumn series. They don’t yet know if concert gatherings will be safe by that time, but they are ready to go ahead if they can, and the artists and venues are saving the dates.
In other Clarion Concerts news, the board welcomed three new members: Amy Goldin, treasurer, is a professional singer and bookkeeper; Matt Deming is another Hudson-based singer and teacher
who will help with educational outreach; Emily Daughtry of Copake helps run an arts education program in the Middle East and brings legal expertise to the board. The board also welcomed back Jay Rohrlich.
The board thanks outgoing treasurer Monica Sinclair, former Clarion president John Bevan and Don Moore, who led Classics on Hudson and launched Clarion’s Education programs.
WPA-style program funds Hudson artists’ projects
HUDSON—The Hudson Arts Emergency Program, a community-funded, WPA-style project, will support individual artists with stipends for projects that speak to life in Hudson during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
Developed by the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) Emergency Cultural Task Force, the program seeks to help creative workers in Hudson by supporting projects that would benefit both them and the greater community via meaningful employment during this time when their earning potential has been greatly impacted if not totally eliminated. Creative artists are often ineligible for government aid programs that are based on job losses rather than loss of income and opportunity.
Funding for the program will rely on donations from individuals and organizations. As of April 29, $6,500 had been pledged to the project.
Stipends will be awarded in amounts of $500, $1,000 and $2,000, depending upon the scope of the artists’ projects.
Contributions to the artist emergency fund can be made via PayPal at hudsonfirst.com and reimaginehudson.com or by mailing a check made out to Hudson Development Corp. with Arts Fund in the memo line, to: Hudson Development Corporation Attn: Hudson Arts Emergency Program, 1 North Front Street, Hudson NY 12534.
The program will be administered through the HDC, which is a 501C3 organization and therefore equipped to collect tax-deductible contributions and to distribute funds. All funds raised will go directly to individual artists, with a very small amount set aside for administrative costs.
Potential grantees will complete a simple application form downloadable at hudsonfirst.com and reimaginehudson.com. Proposals will be reviewed as quickly as they come in and funding will begin immediately and continue on a rolling basis.
The program takes its inspiration from the mid-1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency established in the wake of the Great Depression that employed musicians, artists, writers, dancers, choreographers, photographers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, performance and literacy projects. People like John Steinbeck, Alice Neel, Jackson Pollock, Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and Ralph Ellison received such WPA grants years before they became household names.
Some examples of potential projects:
· an artist or group of (appropriately social-distanced) artists could paint a mural or series of murals around Hudson
· a musician or composer could create a song cycle, opera, rap or instrumental work addressing the emotional impact of the pandemic, culminating in a recording, video and/or public performance once the quarantine is lifted
· a historian could record residents discussing life in Hudson during the pandemic shutdown, culminating in a radio broadcast, podcast and historical artifact
· a filmmaker could create a series of portraits for broadcast on the local cable-TV channel or for streaming on YouTube, Facebook or other online media platform
· a painter could be commissioned to paint images of life in Hudson during the pandemic shutdown that will culminate in a public exhibition
· a dancer/choreographer could be commissioned to create a piece about life in Hudson during the pandemic shutdown that will culminate in a video or public viewing
· a photographer could document the streets and scenes of Hudson during the pandemic shutdown that would culminate in an online and/or gallery exhibition
· a writer or poet could create texts reflecting life in Hudson during the pandemic shutdown that could culminate in a chapbook, a slam-poetry session and/or a collection of other writers’ works
With input from the public and the HDC, the program was created by the Emergency Cultural Task Force, led by Seth Rogovoy, working in tandem with Linda Mussmann and Jonah Bokaer, all of them artist- entrepreneurs.
Mac-Haydn board member boosts Bright Future Fund
CHATHAM—Mac-Haydn Theatre Board member Meg Dooley and her husband, Peter LaVigne, have committed $10,000 to Mac-Haydn’s Bright Future Fund, which they will give in monthly installments of $1,000 for the next 10 months.
“For more than 25 years, the Mac-Haydn Theatre has been such an important and joyful part of our lives, it’s hard to imagine a summer in Chatham without it,” Dooley said in a press release. “But we will get through it—just this once! Peter and I are committed to doing everything we can to make sure that the Mac-Haydn Theatre is back and stronger than ever in 2021.”
“Knowing that this recurring gift will be coming in for the next 10 months is hugely beneficial in helping us determine our plans as we navigate through this crisis.” Mac-Haydn managing director James Rodgers said in the release.
As an incentive to other donors, Dooley promised that she would return to the MHT stage for her fourth appearance as Mrs. Higgins in “My Fair Lady.”
Founded in 1969, the Mac-Haydn Theatre strives to present innovative, diverse and professional musical theater productions to the residents of Columbia County and beyond. MHT further aims to cultivate young talent for careers in theater and seeks to provide a supportive environment for the creation of new musical theater works. The theater has cancelled it 2020 season, due to the coronavirus pandemic. More information on the Bright Future Fund can be found on the Mac-Haydn
website, www.machaydntheatre.org.
Look out from Olana’s studio tower, any time
GREENPORT—Virtual visitors to Olana State Historic Site can now experience the iconic view from the studio tower at any time and from around the world at https://www.olana.org/olanaeye/
Visitors can see all sorts of weather conditions and seasons at all times of day using the new olanaeye Skycam. Use the hashtag #olanaeye on social media to share screen captures. Follow Olana at @olanashs
