DUTCHESS COUNTY IS CULTURE COUNTY

Vacations should refresh your mind and spirit as well as your body. Dutchess County, New York has a wealth of cultural diversions to excite, intrigue and inspire you. Performing arts venues stage theatrical, dance and music performances all year long, including Hudson Valley Philharmonic concerts. For those who appreciate the fine arts, works from the dawn of civilization to those just completed are on exhibit at fine college art galleries and Dia:Beacon Riggio Gallery. Dutchess boasts the oldest operating theater in New York State, the Bardavon, as well as the Richard C. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Upstate Films, in popular Rhinebeck, features independent films.

Legends such as Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, Mark Twain, the Barrymores and many presidents have trod the boards at the Bardavon Theatre (Bardavon.org) in Poughkeepsie. Built in 1869 as a symbol of Poughkeepsie’s stature as a Mecca for culture, the Bardavon has been entertaining audiences for more than 130 years. The beautifully restored theatre is a National Historic Site in its own right, and from fall to spring, offers a full season of theater, music, dance, children’s shows, opera and special events. A Film Series shows classic films as they should be seen, preceded by a rare treat – a concert on the Wurlitzer Theater organ, painstakingly restored by volunteers. The vintage pipe organ, with its numerous effects, makes the Bardavon reverberate with a mighty, awe-inspiring resonance rarely heard anymore. The Bardavon is also the home of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the region’s only symphony orchestra. Maestro Randall Craig Fleisher conducts six symphony concerts from October through May, and special guests light up the holidays at their pops concerts.

The Richard C. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts (Fishercenter.bard.edu), a stunning two theater performance venue designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, is located on Bard College's campus. The center's 900 seat concert hall and 300 seat black box theater offers a wide variety of cultural events, including music, drama and dance. A summer arts festival, known as Summerscape, as well as the annual Bard Music Festival, with the American Symphony Orchestra in residence, are held in the Performing Arts Center. Other orchestral and chamber music, opera, contemporary and classical dance, theater, and other special events are also scheduled throughout the year.

The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck (CenterForPerformingArts.org) traces its origins to summer stock performed under a tent. The organization now boasts a warm, inviting theater designed to resemble a Dutch gambrel barn so indicative of Dutchess County’s architecture. The venue, equipped with the latest in lighting and sound equipment, is home to many artists. Both professional and amateur theater groups stage classics, new dramas, favorite musicals and new works in frequent rotation. Contemporary music, including blues, folk, jazz and world-beat, attracts visitors of all ages. Saturday mornings are devoted to kids shows, from clowns, ventriloquists and magicians to theatrical and musical productions. Very few nights are dark in Rhinebeck!

Also in the picturesque village of Rhinebeck, Upstate Films (UpstateFilms.com) has been providing alternatives to the multiplex since 1972. The vision of Steve & Diane Lieber has remained constant: to show the best independent, foreign and classic films from around the world to inspire discussion, action or enlightenment. The movie business has changed considerably, including the advent of home theater, but they continue to treat film as a vital art form. Upstate Films often invites filmmakers and film professionals to lead discussions of their works at screenings, and hosts events for film buffs. Recently undergoing a major expansion and renovation, Upstate has two screening rooms in their convenient location on Rte. 9. But the popcorn hasn’t changed – it’s still the freshest you ever tasted!

Dutchess County is home to other beautifully restored cultural centers nearly as old as the Bardavon, also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Vassar family built the Cunneen-Hackett Art Center (CunneenHackett.org) in Poughkeepsie with two locations, 9 & 12 Vassar Street. The buildings themselves are superb examples of Victorian architecture and both have art galleries which host local and regional artists and photographers year round. The 9 Vassar location also has a newly renovated 200 seat theater and a dance studio. Richard Morris Hunt designed the Howland Cultural Center (Howlandculturalcenter.org) in 1872 as Beacon’s first circulating library in the recently restored end of Beacon’s Main St. It is an arts center for the visual and performing arts, with art exhibits and music programs. The Howland Chamber Music Circle and others fill the vaulted interior with the sweet strains of classical music.

There are many area community theater groups, but only one, County Players (Countyplayers.org), has their own theater. They have been producing four quality dramas and musicals a year since 1957 in their County Players Falls Theater in Wappingers.

Set in Tivoli on 153 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains is the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center (Kaatsbaan.org). A residence and performance center for all forms of professional dance, Kaatsbaan’s first new structure recently opened - the dance studio complex. The Visitors Center is in a Stanford White music barn (from its days as a Livingston family estate.) Performances and workshops will be staged, but primarily dancers are encouraged to create new works here at what will be a $12 million complex. Kaatsbaan (Dutch for “playing field”) is the future second home of the American Ballet Theater.

Children are important visitors in Dutchess County’s arts world. The Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum (MHCM.org) at 75 Water St., Poughkeepsie, houses more than 50 interactive exhibits. Children can learn about simple machines through IBM’s internationally traveled exhibit of 20 working models of da Vinci’s 16th century inventions, or meet a 15-foot dinosaur. Other exhibits introduce kids to outer space, health, geography, music, art and even banking. Science and learning have never been as much fun as at this astoundingly creative museum. Additional activities change daily and there’s an exhibit area for toddlers!

Dia:Beacon (DiaBeacon.org) is a museum for Dia Art Foundation's renowned collection, comprising art from the 1960s to the present. The museum occupies a nearly 300,000-square-foot historic printing facility located on the Hudson River in Beacon, New York. Among the artists featured in its exhibits are Joseph Beuys, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra, and Andy Warhol.

The opening of Dia:Beacon in 2003 led to an increase in art studios and galleries in the city of Beacon. These studios and galleries specialize in all areas of art including contemporary and fine arts, as well as other creative mediums. RiverWinds Gallery (Riverwindsgallery.com) features the Hudson Valley’s finest artists and specializes in fine art and contemporary crafts. Hudson Beach Glass (Hudsonbeachglass.com) is located in an 1890 firehouse. The renovated firehouse now serves as a glassblowing studio and art gallery, which shows glass creations from the studio and from internationally recognized glass artists. Visitors can not only peruse the gallery, but can also watch glassblowers demonstrate the ancient art form!

Barrett Art Center (Barrettartcenter.org) is an 1830’s Greek Revival house in Poughkeepsie and is the home of the Dutchess County Art Association (DCAA.) Committed to ensuring that the arts flourish throughout the county, the center provides exhibits, art classes, lectures and demonstrations that focus on the visual arts. The twice yearly nationally acclaimed art shows feature works by curators from well-known museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum.

Tallix Art Foundry (Tallix.com) in Fishkill fabricates and casts world-famous art works at their fine arts sculpture factory. Take a unique tour by appointment of the lost wax process of casting sculpture, and see the sparks fly as enormous art works take shape before your eyes. Tallix has produced the Korean War Memorial and FDR Memorial, both in Washington, D.C. They also completed Leonardo da Vinci’s so-called lost horse, “Il Cavallo,” a sculpture he designed but never completed. It was given as a gift to the people of Milan, Italy, in 1999.

Poughkeepsie’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College ( Vassar.edu) houses the largest art collection in Dutchess County. Their 12,500 works include pieces from the Hudson River School, Dutch masters, and a da Vinci drawing. The permanent collection includes works from ancient Egypt as well as contemporary art. The Bard (College) Center for Curatorial Studies ( Bard.edu) in Annandale focuses on works by internationally recognized contemporary artists. Steel Plant Studios Art Gallery at Marist College and the Mildred I. Washington Art Galley at Dutchess Community College feature works by students, faculty and contemporary regional artists working in all fine arts media.

Art Along the Hudson (ArtalongtheHudson.com) celebrates the arts in Beacon and Poughkeepsie every month. Second Saturdays are highlighted in Beacon and ArtHop Tours (ArtHopTours.com) are featured third Saturdays in Poughkeepsie. Art galleries and cultural venues stay open late and welcome visitors and arts advocates to gallery openings, artist receptions, music, theatrical events and more. Kingston and Newburgh observe first and last Saturdays respectively.