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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.

Read on the Daily Voice

For too long, a beautiful new theater overlooking the scenic Hudson River faced a question: ‘To be or not to be?’ he said Wednesday.