Schumer pledges $1.5M for new Hudson Valley Shakespeare theater
Posted August 8, 2024
Schumer pledges $1.5M for new Hudson Valley Shakespeare theater
Nancy Cutler and Peter D. Kramer- Rockland/Westchester Journal News
GARRISON – Hudson Valley Shakespeare can expect a $1.5 million boost to its building fund, thanks to a grant pledged by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York. The festival has unveiled ambitious (and expensive) plans for a permanent theater on the hilltop overlooking the Hudson.
The funding has been placed in the Senate Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill, Schumer announced Tuesday.
Schumer said HVSF brings tens of thousands of visitors to the region every year and it one of the area’s largest employers.
“For too long this long-desired project to create a permanent home for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare and beautiful new theater overlooking the scenic Hudson River faced a question: ‘To be or not to be?’” Schumer said during an announcement at the site. “Well I am here today to announce that I have just secured the final piece of the funding puzzle to say it is to be.”
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare is in its third season the Garrison location, on 98 acres of a former golf course gifted by philanthropist Chris Davis. Prior to that, the festival was held at Boscobel.
Philipstown’s Town Board amended the town code to permit a Garrison Cultural Conservation Planned Development District and the planning board in July passed final approvals for Phase I of the project.
$1.5M To Go Toward New Outdoor Amphitheater In Hudson Valley For Popular Festival
By Ben Crnic
Elected officials have announced $1.5 million in federal funding that will help pay for a permanent home for a Hudson Valley theater festival that attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Aug. 7, US Senator Chuck Schumer revealed that the funds were secured in pending legislation to go toward the expansion of an open-air Shakespeare-style amphitheater overlooking the Hudson River in Putnam County.
The amphitheater, which the Hudson Valley Shakespeare will use, will be built on a 98-acre former golf course property in Philipstown that was gifted to the festival as a permanent home in 2019.
It will serve as a permanent home for the festival, a nonprofit founded in 1987 that puts on repertory theatre under an open-air tent every summer for more than 30,000 audience members, students, families, and educators. The event has received recognition for its productions from publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New Yorker, according to Schumer.
The new amphitheater will allow the festival to expand its programming and offer enhanced productions free of limitations posed by its existing space. It will also be able to be used by the public for local uses like blood drives, community meetings, or farmers markets.
“For too long this long-desired project to create a permanent home for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare and beautiful new theater overlooking the scenic Hudson River faced a question: ‘To be or not to be?’,” Schumer said in remarks on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
He continued, “The $1.5 million I just secured in the Senate appropriations bill is how we can ensure this project quickly moves forward and breaks ground so that the show can go on for this beloved Putnam County tradition bigger and better than ever before.”
The funding will come from Schumer’s congressionally directed spending request in the Fiscal Year 2025 Senate Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill that was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Schumer is now working to deliver the funding in a final Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bill that must be passed by Congress later in the year.
“Thanks to support from Majority Leader Schumer, Hudson Valley Shakespeare will soon break ground on our first ever permanent home in our 37-year history,” said the festival’s Managing Director Kendra Ekelund.
For too long, a beautiful new theater overlooking the scenic Hudson River faced a question: ‘To be or not to be?’ he said Wednesday.
By Lanning Taliaferro
PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — Standing at the future permanent home of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare in Garrison, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer revealed Wednesday that he is securing $1.5 million to complete the expansion of the long-sought, open-air, Shakespeare-style amphitheater overlooking the Hudson River.
Schumer said the boost in federal funding in pending legislation was one of the final pieces of the puzzle needed to create a permanent home for the HVSF — which is one of the area’s largest employers, bringing tens of thousands of visitors every year, providing educational programming to students, and spurring millions for businesses in the Putnam County and Hudson Valley economy.
“For too long, this long-desired project to create a permanent home for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare and beautiful new theater overlooking the scenic Hudson River faced a question: ‘To be or not to be?’ Well I am here today to announce that I have just secured funding to say it is to be!” he said. “The $1.5 million I just secured in the Senate appropriations bill is how we can ensure this project quickly moves forward and breaks ground so that the show can go on for this beloved Putnam County tradition bigger and better than ever before.”
Tens of thousands of theater lovers every year come to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare, pumping millions into shops and restaurants, he pointed out. “I helped save the Hudson Valley Shakespeare during the pandemic with my Save Our Stages Act because I know how important the arts and live theater are to this community, and I won’t stop fighting to deliver this $1.5 million in the final FY 2025 Ag-FDA appropriations bill. Today, we take a major step forward to turning this ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ into a reality for the Hudson Valley.”
Founded in 1987, the HVSF, a designated nonprofit, has presented repertory theater under its iconic open-air theater tent each summer for over 30,000 audience members, while also reaching over 30,000 students, families, and educators in schools and communities throughout the Hudson Valley. The critically-acclaimed theater has been highlighted for its productions by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New Yorker.
On top of the annual HVSF audience of over 30,000 supporting local small businesses as they go out to dinner and shop along Main Street, the HVSF is one of the largest employers in western Putnam County. The HVSF’s 100-person seasonal staff of directors, designers, actors, technicians, ushers, concessionaires, and more, consists of local and national union talent. These staff members live, work, and play in the community during the summer season with a significant impact on local small businesses.
The expansion is expected to create dozens of new construction and permanent production jobs.
After years at the historic Boscobel estate on Route 9, the HVSF was given a 98-acre property in Philipstown in 2019 to build a permanent home, still with a panoramic view of the river.
The organization has been working nonstop to raise funds for the construction of an open-air amphitheater there, meanwhile offering performances in the familiar tent on the grounds nearby.
“We are in a position to break ground on our new home not only because of Senator Schumer’s fight for federal funding to help our new home become a reality, but also because his pioneering leadership of the Save Our Stages legislation during the COVID 19 pandemic, which allowed us to remain open and re-emerge positioned for future growth,” HVSF Managing Director Kendra Ekelund told Patch.
Once completed, the new facility will be fully open to the public, offering more than 98 acres of ecologically restored native green space for recreation and additional spaces for local use such as blood drives, community meetings, and farmers markets. In addition, the new project will enable the HVSF to expand its programming and offerings for new productions that were inhibited by the limitations of the existing space.
“For decades, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare has been at the beating heart of Putnam County’s cultural and economic success. Thanks to community input, the work of the Philipstown Planning Board and Senator Schumer, we can now ensure that a vibrant HVSF continues to support our region through outstanding live performances, engaging education programs, and accessible community initiatives,” said Putnam County Legislator Nancy Montgomery.
The avant-garde theater will be the first purpose-built LEED Platinum certified theater in the country. It was developed for the Hudson Valley by the architectural firm Studio Gang, who has designed worldwide renowned projects such as the Richard Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Tour Montparnasse in Paris, France, and the new O’Hare Airport Global Terminal in Chicago, Illinois.
Schumer said the funding was included as a congressionally directed spending request submitted by the senator through the Rural Development, Community Facilities program in the FY 2025 Senate Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill that was recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Schumer is now fighting to deliver this funding in a final, full-year FY25 appropriations bill that Congress must pass later this year. Schumer’s push for $1.5 million would ensure that the organization has what it needs to get shovels in the ground.
It will be the HVSF’s first permanent home, Ekelund said. “Support from the Senator through Community Project Funding affirms our ability to build not just a theater, but to design a campus that responsibly and sustainably engages with both the land and the community. This project will serve as a model of how arts and the public good can exist not just side-by-side, but in a mutually supportive relationship to one another.”
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare is a vital cultural institution, said New York State Assemblywoman Dana Levenberg. “For my part, I will continue to advocate for state assistance to ensure the success of this project. It will be such a boon for locals and visitors alike to be able to enjoy theater against the backdrop of such spectacular views.”