Building Community Through Contemporary Art

Contemporary art, community engagement, and Catskill Art Space take center stage in this episode of Full STEAM Ahead. Gary and Judy Siegel sit down with Sally Wright to explore how art strengthens and connects communities.

Located in Livingston Manor, NY, CAS is a vibrant cultural hub—featuring exhibitions, artist residencies, performances, and educational programs for all ages. Sally shares her journey from the Dia Art Foundation to leading one of the Catskills’ most dynamic creative spaces.

Learn how CAS expands access to the arts with support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts—and why connecting art, place, and people matters more than ever.

Tune in for a conversation on creativity, culture, and community through art.

 Learn More:
https://www.catskillartspace.org
https://steamfund.org
https://steamfund.org/#education
https://steamfund.org/#mogaat
https://steamfund.org/#new



#FullSTEAMAhead #MusicEducation #ArtsEducation #CommunityImpact #SupportTheArts #PodcastEpisode

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Full Steam Ahead. I'm your co-host, Gary Siegel, and together with my wife Judy Siegel, we represent the Essence Steam Fund, the Siegel Trust enriching arts and music. Our mission is to support musicians, artists, and the venues where they share their gift. The Hudson Valley has long been a magnet for incredible musicians, artists, and venues, and through Full Steam Ahead, we get to share the stories behind those who inspire us. Today, we're thrilled to welcome Sally Wright. Catskill Artspace has grown, uh Sally Wright, executive director of Catskill Artspace, located in Livingston Manor, New York. Under Sally's leadership, Catskill Artspace has grown into a dynamic cultural anchor for the Catskills, expanding exhibitions, artist residencies, performance programs, and arts education opportunities that connect artists with audiences of all ages. Before joining Catskill Artspace, Sally worked with the renowned DIA Art Foundation, bringing a unique perspective shaped by her background in anthropology and her commitment to connecting art, place, and community. CAS continues to grow as a hub for creativity with support from organizations like the New York State Council on the Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, helping ensure contemporary art remains accessible and inspiring for everyone. Before we dive in, we'd love for you to join our community. To learn more about Steam Fund, please visit Steamfund.org, like our social media pages, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and share these episodes with your friends. It's the best way to keep the arts and the conversations moving full Steam ahead. So, welcome Sally to Full Steam Ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Thank you guys for having me. I'm glad to be here. We're so glad to have you here and to dive into who you are and what CAS is about. So we'd like to start these conversations with our guest telling us what you're about. What is it you would like people to know about the Catskill Arts Space and when they're done with this to have a full understanding of what it's about? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Well, Catskill Art Space, also known as CAS, is a dynamic space that offers a variety of disciplines in the arts. We are also pleased and proud to go beyond that in offering lectures and speaker series as well. Catskill ArtSpace has long been a cultural anchor for our community. So we think it's vital to meet people at different points of entry, be it a child first taking pen to paper through our Cask Kids Art Education program, a hobbyist who might be interested in deepening their craft in one of our ceramics or drawing classes, or an established artist looking to present their work in a more professional space. Um, which is hugely diverse in reflecting greater Sullivan County. But as we know, um, people drive from further reaches to seek out our programs. So we're proud to call ourselves a regional arts destination and see how um how our audience has grown and diversified.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

And you know, the uh Cass Cass the building itself is is like it it's the anchor of Livingston Manor, New York, which is also one of the rages of of uh of where people are coming to and and uh uh staying and and uh enjoying the the wonderful Catskill Air here.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

So to be clear, Livingston Manor, for anybody who has not been there, which is lots of people, is about a block and a half long. It's a beautiful little town on the uh banks of the Willowemock River, but it's this tiny little space. So it this this takes up a big um uh physical space and also cultural space in what that town has to offer.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Aaron Ross Powell So, Sally, you have a background in anthropology, which really isn't uh the first thing people associate with leading an art space. Uh how does that lens shape the way you think about arts and community?

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah. So um first uh I'm very lucky. My parents, when I was growing up, really wanted me to see the world in a really deep and introspective way. And so I when I was in high school, I did these service trips where I went to first um Dominica, where the first in uh native inhabitants of the Caribbean live, as well as Alaska, where I lived with an Athabascan tribe. And with them or on your own in the middle of the year. With them, yes. We were living in their community center. And similarly, when I was in Dominica with the um Carib people. And I so loved this experience and this insight um to our differences and our shared commonalities in looking at that. So when I went to um college, I was really interested and curious in looking at culture in a more academic framework. Um, my dad also studied anthropology. He then decided to study to become a primatologist and pivoted and did other things. But it's been um a part of my family background in looking at culture in different ways. Um and to me, I think it's a really useful framework for looking at art, which I believe to be visual culture. It shares a lot about its people, its society. Um, and for me, it's been a really fruitful lens to look at the work we do, not only in the art that we're presenting, but the different people and perspectives.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Awesome. So before you were here, you were at DIA, which I don't know much about DIA. Um, so you could tell us a little bit about that if you'd like. But how did that help develop your ability to support artists or your desire to support artists and your growth regarding the artists themselves as opposed to your own internal joy that the art bring for you?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah. Um Dia Art Foundation is an organization that's been around for, I think, nearly 50 years. Um it has long been a space and platform that's championed artists in different ways. Um, first started in a very unconventional model in which they offered artists um time and space and money to realize really ambitious artworks that otherwise would not be able to be realized. So DIA comes from the Greek word for through. So they really think of themselves as a vehicle for the creation of art. Um, and in that way, DIA now hosts uh multiple different sites throughout North America, as well as Europe, as well as championing uh a number of different commissions and public programs in which they do just that. They empower artists to realize work that otherwise would not be seen. Um so I was and still am so inspired by this ethos and this um commitment to artistic stewardship. Um, and it's something that I think is hugely important in a time when we are seeing um cultural spaces quickly changing, the scope changing to meet varying uh priorities, and and Dia really prides itself on being a space that is committed to honoring artists' integrity and vision.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

And is it located in Manhattan?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

So uh the administrative offices are based in um Chelsea, New York, um, where there also is an exhibition space. Um they are more commonly known for their um regional art space in Beacon called Dia Beacon, which houses much of their um long-term collection, but uh they host a number of earthworks um that are in the American Southwest.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Um, so what inspired you to bring bring these big institution principles to Livingston Manor, New York?

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah. Letty Bitty Town. Yeah. Well, I think that I think that there's a lot a lot to glean from them, and specifically the works that we are showing. So there's um a James Terrell uh site-specific installation called Avar, which is one of his early space division constructions. So it is a work that is really about looking. Uh you enter an ostensibly pitch black space, with time your eyes come to adjust and you're able to make sense of this aperture or opening in front of you. It's about actually experienced that. Yeah. It's about it's about perception. It's about being and slowing down, which to me is very specific to the cat skills. Uh this is a place where a lot of people come to retreat, take stock of their surroundings, where they are at. Um so in that way it feels reflective of place. Um and then I'd argue our Solwitt installation. Um Solwit is a conceptual artist that passed away a few years ago. Um, but with his works, he offers directives to how the work should be installed or realized. So we worked with five female all female artists local to the region to install this work over 13 days. Um and with that, to me, the work is reflective of its people, though it may not be immediately apparent, um, but it invites similar introspective introspection and thinking about how is this done? How do you get 30,000 lines in this precise, exacting manner applied to the wall? What makes it different from when my child scribbles on my kitchen wall? So it introduces these really big questions about contemporary art. What is what is our where is intention? Where does the importance of uh the concept or the idea lie? Um and then um bringing in more to people in community, we host um uh Francis Cape's A Gathering of Utopian Benches, in which he has recreated different benches from different um profit-sharing communities or societies. And with that, he's looking at, he's using utopian in an ironic way, because it never is just that. There's of course power imbued in these groups, but there are also really important ideas to glean from them about um working for the better good and shared good. Um, and the benches are about coming together. So we hope people come and hang out and spend time there.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So I w I want to say that Judy, those are all the questions that Judy asks about the art. Like, why? Yeah, why? And and and not only that, I think we all need to slow down somewhat at some time in our lives.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

So maybe to experience that uh that's I just think it must be so exciting to be an art-oriented person that then has an opportunity to bring that to being and and to to take all the things that you have learned and that you feel and then have a a space to be able to display it and help other people see it. And I think that must be really inspiring. So at CAS, before you came, it was one way, I'm sure it's different now. What's different? How have you what have you brought those things, but how have you how have you changed CAS from where it was to where it is now?

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah, so this summer mi marks my ninth year. Wow. Which is wild. Um so I feel like I've grown up a lot as the organization has too. Um and in that we we've really expanded the scale and breadth of what we do. So we of course have these long-term presentations, um, but we also have rotating exhibitions on the ground floor, which are now open year-long. Um prior to that, we would take a winter recess, but we've seen this is a flourishing community. We don't stop in January. There's still people here. In fact, having vital cultural offerings are all the more important in the bowels of winter when we're freezing and looking for something to do. Um, we've also expanded our public programming. So our Caskids Art Education program, which was at not taking place at the time which I started, has now picked up. In the summer months, it takes place six out of seven days of the year, of the week, excuse me. And in the school year, we have it twice a week, as well as every second Saturday of the month. We offer completely free arts education to our kids.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Um and to be clear, all your programs are free. Is that correct? Is that is that your philosophy or not most?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Most all of our programs are free. That is also a change. Prior, we offered um ticketed events. And I feel that even with a nominal um ticket fee, there's a barrier to entry. And I want CAS to be open and accessible to all, and removing this social and economic barrier is vital in getting people in the door and butts in seats.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

That's fantastic. So, so you know, we look at the the building that you're in, and you've done a great expansion of that. But I want to I want to first talk about that when we were kids, that was the Manor Theater building. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Gary and I grew up in Livingston Manor um and in the 60s and 70s.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yeah, so I mean, we we used to go to the Friday night movies um that they would show. I think they were m maybe fifty cents. That's amazing. Well that ages us, I guess. It makes us look old, but we are. Um I guess we are. But uh but since then, uh then the Fulton family uh bought bought the the property um and also the the peninsula that's that's in the back where you have your gala. Yeah right. And and and now this great expansion has happened uh with with the building itself. Maybe you want to talk a little bit about how that came about and what what's been done.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Sure. Yeah, so um Catskill, formerly Catskill Art Society, moved to 48 Main Street in Livingston Manor in 2007, um, to this incredible building that you've spoken of that has always been the cultural bedrock for Livingston Manor, which is so special. Um it's really amazing to hear from people that come in and say, I saw the Wizard of Oz for the first time here, or I saw Gone with the Wind. Living with the Wind.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Had my first kiss there. You know, those kinds of history though.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Listen, they pranced us over from the school to go see Gone with the Wind. And it was in two parts. Yeah. So it was not just one day, it was it was you know, two parts.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

It was a big day, it's a big part of our history. Yeah. But I think it's it you like you call it out so well, there there is this immediate connection between Cass and the school, these two beautiful brick buildings. In Cass boasts itself as having the largest footprint on Main Street. Um and so it in coming in in 2007, the organization did a very cursory renovation to um make the spaces uh adequate for exhibiting art, as well as put in two studio spaces in the rear. And there was always dreams of expanding to the second floor, but it just took considerable time, money, and enthusiasm to get there. Um, so let's see, in 2017, um I my husband was working for uh water defense, uh, which is an offshoot of Catskill Mountkeeper, which is an environmental advocacy group that's based up here. Um and we spent quite a bit of time up here, and I learned of Cass and what Cass was doing and working towards renovating and occupying their second floor and installing this James Terrell piece. And I was really excited by that because I'd seen um the impact that bringing major contemporary art can have to these more rural destinations in the same way that um Dia's um activation at Dia Beacon really transformed that space and the greater region as a whole. Um, so I was really excited by that, and I started volunteering for CASS and helping fundraising, as that's where my background is. Um and it was so exciting to be a part of it from a volunteer perspective because I really I really believed in this project, and it takes a lot of chutzpah to to do something like that. Hutzpah, excuse me. Excuse me, yeah. Um but uh so I ended up um leaving DIA in 2017 and joining CAS, I think it was June 2017, and it wasn't until October 2022, so nearly five years later, that the building reopened. It took considerable time, planning, funding.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Crazy in between, there's a lot that happened.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

I had a baby, I had two babies. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of life happened. Yeah. Right. Um which makes it all the richer.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

So it's really sort of gotten its teeth in the last four years. Would that be an accurate statement? Yeah. It was doing great things before. I don't want to suggest that it wasn't, but it's really, I think with your guidance and with with um absolutely a a stronger understanding of the people that are coming to Living Stamana. More people came after COVID. There is a different emerging in the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

The community is transformed. And it's I'm actually, you know, there were times when we were kicking ourselves and saying, you know, we wish construction were faster and we wish we could have been open and we could have. But in fact, it it was really affirming to see the community grow and expand, and peoples with existing ties deepen um their sense. Yeah, yeah, ahead of this, and then to have opened in 2022 and then seen the incredibly warm response that we've gotten, it feels really, really worthwhile.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Um Do you think that's I was gonna say just to get back to the space, if you could maybe explain, because we've been to a number of uh performances in the upstairs space and it looks over the music performances as opposed to just the visual arts.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Musical performances that looks over the beaver kill. Maybe explain a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Sure. So um with our renovation, um, we did some work to our existing facade to improve the visitor experience and also just safety of the building. Um uh but really the cornerstone of this renovation was um the activation of our second floor, which allowed us to double our programmatic space. We now have 9,000 square feet um on Main Street, which is big. Pretty huge. Um, and with it in the third floor, we've designated three different gallery spaces, one of which is also our uh multi-purpose performance space. So Francis Cape's uh a gathering of utopian benches are there in perpetuity, I hope. Um, but the work is malleable in that it allows us to utilize the benches when we have big events and we need to provide adequate seating, which is just so affirming to be in a place where we don't have enough seats.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

And how many how many does the with the benches?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

About I I'm supposed to say under a hundred. Under a hundred.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

That's the that's the official word.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

And that's the yeah. Yeah. It just the acoustics are really.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Um, you know, we really we're quick to admit our limitations. So and to that end, I don't find it um uh a handicap in any way. In fact, it's really kind of expansive to say, like, let's think about incredible music that can be presented that perhaps does not rely on amplification. So, in that way, we really carved out and Niche in jazz and chamber music, two disciplines that are of real interest and passion for me. And they sound really good in this phase.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

The acoustics are really good. We've seen the weekend of chamber music there. We've seen uh Thurman Barker perform. Nice. We saw the movie. Uh uh, what was it? Nook, the Nook of uh something uh the Alaskan Nook, what was it? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Um The Nook of the North.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, where Weekend of Chamber Music did this improvisation thing. No, no, I don't think you were there. I think we saw that it was it was really amazing that where they improvised the music soundtrack for it while the movie was. Wasn't that cool? Oh my god, it was it was fantastic. It was fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

So do you think that in in since 2022 or maybe earlier that Cass has sort of grown the understanding of art in our community? Is it the more people come in to see what we have, or do you feel like you're reaching uh an you're creating an opportunity for people to actually tap into their art and their understanding and appreciation of what it is?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

That's a good question. I think it's so multi-pronged. I want to expand our audience. I also want to deepen our audience. I love seeing people come back again and again to see different things, and invariably you're gonna see it in a different way every time. And whatever you may take from that, whether it enriches and challenges your own artistic practice, or if it gives you um the gumption to pursue your hobby uh watercolor practice in a more in intent, intentional way, beautiful. I think there's so much that can be gleaned from art. I think it's so vital to have this here. I think another thing we haven't really talked about, but it's really at top of mind for me after we just had an opening this weekend. It's an incredible space to cultivate community. The people that show up time and time again to our artist openings, there's such a sense of goodwill and uh shared investment in each other. And it's such it's such a beautiful thing to see deepen and grow.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Well, it's a thing that can happen in small communities and small in rural areas in a way that maybe is more difficult in other areas, that you sort of see the same people. You run into each other then at uh one of the coffee shops or at the supermarket, and you can connect, and then you see each other again, maybe at another event, and and you develop relationships. Yeah. It's really in this era that we live in of people sort of staying in more and on their screens more, and it's it's important to have these opportunities to actually find people of like mind. It's there are many different ways that that can happen, but not if you aren't part of a a culture that does that. So it's cool that cast provides the opportunity. And again, your model of being free allows people just sort of be there for the opening, but also pop in and say, Oh, I think I want to be a free glass.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Yeah. I think, you know, we're all living pretty siloed existences. I mean, in a rural community, we are physically, geographically far from each other. It's hard to get together, especially in the winter months. Um and then, of course, with the advent of remote work, people are living and working at home. And to have us all day, every day. Yeah. Something to do. To come together. I also think, of course, in New York City, there's endless things to do. Perhaps with a scarcity of things to do, there's all the more urgency. So when something's happening, everybody kind of dives in. Right. It's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

And you have the summer people that come. How do you balance what what your programs are to uh you know accommodate all of all of those uh Well I think I think that the I wouldn't want to silo those groups.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

I think that there's a lot of differences and commonalities and overlap amongst them all. Um and I never think of developing a program for a specific cohort. We are strategic with timing, though. So we know that um over a long weekend in January or February or November, we're gonna be much more likely to get a bigger crowd. Um we've also we've been doing this for now so long that we've also built in expectations around our calendar. So they know that if they come um the beginning of June, they're very likely gonna see a jazz performance. And over Memorial Day weekend, we will very likely have our um Ardsley Dance residency performance. So there's a sort of tenor to the work we do that allows people to expect and plan. I hope people plan. Um make the schlep, come see us. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

And you also make sure that you don't conflict with other us organizations too, right? I know we talked about that.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Aaron Ross Powell I think it's really important to buoy everyone. Um, there's no reason to cannibalize yourself or someone else um for the sake of programming. So we're really strategic in that way.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

That's great. So let's talk about Cass Cas Kids and maybe the development of that program and and um maybe how it started and then and then uh uh how it's developed to to today.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

So CAS Kids is an entity that's been around for a number of years. It was in existence prior to my appointment, but um I find it to be vitally important now more than ever. Arts funding is being cut. Um and visual and performing arts are the first to go with budget cuts in different ways. Um and so thanks to the tremendous generosity of the Goianis Family Foundation, we've been able to expand this programming. Um previously it was uh exclusively visual arts programming, but it since expands to uh theater, which is our oftentimes movement play-based. Um we've also done yoga classes for children in the past as well. Um so each Wednesday we have um after school art classes from 4:30 to 5.30, um, which are really rooted in art historical context. So we will introduce an artist or an artwork or an art movement, and then the kids will make art artwork based on that.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

So it's what kids, what age kids, and where do you find them? What's where do these kids come from?

SPEAKER_01 29:12

So we work closely with the local school districts. Bose's has been incredible in helping us get the word out, but also grassroots marketing. So going on Facebook and Instagram and pushing has been tremendous. We've seen a huge uh group of homeschooled children that come and of course are coming not only for the program, but the socialization that it offers. Um it takes a village. It takes a village. And it's open to any kid. Any kid, totally free. Generally ages four to twelve. We have specific teen programs, but sadly we see we kind of lose their interest as they get a little bit older. Um but any age, completely free, drop-in-based, you don't have to register for a full session. We know that sports picks up and dance and you know, people's availability change when the weather gets nice, kids want to be outside. But we really pride ourselves on being the this constant uh source of support um for the community. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

So I think I think you shared a story about teenagers that were in the local school at Livingston Manor High School or or the Rockland Central School District, uh discovering pathways into their careers. Is that can you tell that?

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Sure, yeah. So um we are really proud, our gallery attendants most often are coming from the Rockland School, former or formerly Livingston Manor, now Rockston's.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

We're about an hour and a half northwest of Manhattan. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

Not to be confused with Rockland County. Exactly, exactly. Thank you. Yes. And our gallery attendants, um they're stewards for the artwork. So they are there to protect the artwork, but also to enhance meaning and understanding for visitor experiences. So they are our front lines, they are the face of cast. And they in doing this job, they've come to see and experience that there's so many different viable careers and pathways in art, in thinking about um pursuing work in galleries, museums, um, other cultural institutions, and then also, of course, the proximity to other practicing artists and knowing that you can be an artist. It's a viable career path.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

You can meet an artist. You know, I can tell you that I I guess you can't say that I never met an artist growing up in Livingston out in New York, because you meet them. You're our teacher was an artist, no doubt. Many people but to be able to m meet and interact and speak with somebody who's making their living as a an artist in the world is is an incredible opportunity in a rural county, in a rural community. So that's really special.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

It's really it's beautiful, and it's been amazing to see they've since gone on to art school. Very good. Tyler is is applying has applied to art school and we'll be hearing imminently. Um but I it's just it's yeah, I'm so I'm so proud. I'm so proud of these guys.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Aaron Powell So talk about AI and the arts and the impact that AI might have on, in your opinion, on the future of art, on art at Cass, on art at these and these with these students. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Aaron Ross Powell Well, I think that you know the only way in which it's good is that it re it makes a case for art. There you can't take human touch and experience from art. And to me it's it feels all the more urgent to embolden and nurture artists to create art. And I think that it's something that people see and immediately respond to. You see it if you're looking at a painting and you're able to make sense of a brushstroke, make sense that an artist's hand was once there, and then you can connect to that person. Um but I think that yeah, the only good is that it uh it spotlights how how vital it is to our future.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Okay, great point. Great point. So uh you recently received a uh maximum award from the New York State Arts Council on the Arts, right? And also uh two-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation uh for the visual arts. So what does that recognition mean to CAS?

SPEAKER_01 33:58

I it's it's huge. It's incredibly validating. Um it means the world to us. Um and of course, these are vital dollars that go towards our programmatic operation so that we are able to do what we do and do it in an in an equitable, uh free um uh way. Um but also, um especially most recently with the Warhol Award, to me it's it's incredibly affirming to be held in the same company as as the other award recipients, and it's um huge. Huge.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

So you don't just survive through grants, though, you have a really strong membership base, right? How does how did how do people help you that way? How is that membership base supporting you? And talk a little bit about those members and what what that offers.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Yeah, so we get a lot of support from individual donors, individual foundations, uh, grant-making entities in that way, but our our membership is really our our first point of entry. Um it offers people a way to support at a level that feels appropriate for them and in their means. Um and we really we're so grateful to our members for supporting us in this way, and also the sense of community and identity that it gives in saying that you believe in this organization. So in turn, we offer a number of benefits to our members, including um discounts at cast classes, discounts at local participating um businesses, which are pretty extensive, um, as well as privileged access to um different events and film screenings and things of that sort.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

And there is also obviously the intrinsic reward of supporting something is amazing as cash and and really, you know, it a person, I think that we belong to a number of organizations differently, and the opportunity to just do something because it's it feels good, it's the right thing to do, and you're gonna be able to do that. Well that's you know that's more valuable than most of the those those rewards, which are also important and and I don't want to dismiss them, but truly the intrinsic reward of saying, wow, I I helped keep this alive, I helped keep the arts alive in this crazy world, I think has uh incredible value.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Yeah. I always say I think philanthropy feels good. You know, no one no one regrets those dollars you gave to an organization or cause you really believe in.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

I will always say that we we receive much more than we ever give from the city.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

And you guys are profoundly generous.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

So we know that we we get so much more out of giving than we ever receive.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

So we've been to your gala the last couple years and there's so much fun. In the in the tent. Yeah. Right right next to the river in this beautiful rural setting. Uh how how did that come about? And and tell us, why don't you talk a little bit about the gala? Sure. And and it the annual, I guess it's it's an annual event, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

So yeah, so our gala is our largest um fundraising event of the year. It raises vital funds that sustain us the year round. Um it's also a really important point for us to get together as a community. So we invite all of our participating artists, our artist council members to join us. Um it previously was held at an off-site venue, but we thought that it's really important that we put the program front and center. So um cocktails take place in CAS, which is really fun to be able to go through the space with a cocktail or wine glass in hand. It's very fancy. And take in, yeah, and take in the new art, which is um usually had opened a week or two prior. Um, and then we have a seated dinner in a tent in Renaissance Park, which is the town very generously allows us to use. Um and it's a great party. It, you know, I think a lot of these galas feel there's a lot of virtue signaling, and sure it's a time for us to wave the flag and tell everyone who we are and what we do, but we also we want to celebrate and take stock of everything that's been done and everything to come.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

It's a wonderful event. It's fun.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

It's just a feel-good event. You just you know you're supporting something good. It's in this beautiful space outside. And and it is just a chance to to mingle with people that you don't always get to just sit down and have dinner with. There's big long tables under a tent. It's great. Yeah. It's uh something that I I hope that people listening to this say, oh, I want to attend that because it's it's so worth not just because of the support, but because you it's such a you leave there feeling like, wow, that was just a great night. It's not stuffy, it's not like that. It's just no, it's really fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

And it's also the site now is all the more important because it's the site of where the town's river walk will be, which will be a pedestrian thoroughfare that connects from Main Street to behind our building. Um, so you will be able to walk right along the little beaver kill into the Willowemock, along the Willowemock Creek. Um, and part of the river walk um includes our own plans to develop our rear yard into a sculpture garden.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

So that's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Very, very, very exciting. Um last year we had a temporary activation from Samuel Green, who's a tremendous artist who we've shown before. Um Is that the benches? Yes, the stacked chairs that were activated with um a light. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

So for those viewers and listeners who who have never been to Livingston and Manor, New York. Just come. Um that that river walk is gonna be amazing because you you you walk along along the the Willoughemock River, and uh to your right, if as you're walking, you the the WPA 1939 uh Rockland Central School District, which was originally the Livingston Manor Central School, um the building is a WPA it's a monument.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

It's really designed after Const like it looks a little bit like Constitution Hall in Philadelphia. And uh it it sits back uh with a courtyard between it and the river, and then there's Main Street. And it's really quite it's just charming outside and inside. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

The woodwork inside, the marble staircase. It's it's uh it's really uh a beautiful, beautiful setting for for anyone to come and visit.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

So Livingston Mountain is a really sweet little town. Everybody should come visit and and see what we have there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

So if we fast forward five or ten years, where do you see Cass? Where do you see Sally Wright in five or ten years?

SPEAKER_02 41:14

It's like an interview question.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Um Well, you know, I think I think doing doing more of the same, you know, continuing the work that we've done, the river walk and and the rear yard sculpture garden project to be realized, um, which I'm so excited to have this other point of entry to cultural offerings, similarly, completely free, open, accessible, beyond gallery hours. It feels really democratic and and beautiful in that way. So I'm so excited for that. But as we were talking about before we started, um CAS has a number of residency programs in which we offer time and space for artists of varying disciplines to um come to the CAT skills, drop out of their life, um, and create. We believe this place to be hugely inspiring. So I'd love to think of different ways to expand our residency programs.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

Um lastly, if there's one thing that people would take away from this interview that you would want them to remember about Cash or yourself, what would that be?

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Yeah. Um I think similar to how I started, there is something for everyone. Um it doesn't matter what your point of entry is, if you're a kid doing scribbles, or if you're an incredibly sophisticated artgoer, if you're just curious, because you saw something that piqued your interest through the windows. I think that it's it's for everyone. And there's something to be gleaned and something to be taken away. Um and I love that you asked these questions. Why? Like why why is this here? What is that? And I like that what she does. Yeah, you're very good at it.

SPEAKER_02 43:17

You're very good at it. He may have he may disagree on some occasions. He said sometimes it's exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

But I like in turn, I'd also say to our audience, there's no right or wrong answer. And that's what I find to be so expansive and inclusive about the arts and what we do at Cass is How do you grow?

SPEAKER_02 43:38

How do you learn? And and you know, it it's it's just too simple to say, oh yeah, it's whatever it means to you. That's not enough for somebody that's like me. I'm like, well, but why? You know, but what? How how much more could it mean to me if I understood more? And what is there to understand? And those are sort of the quests that I feel like having a an actual structure. Like Cass, where you could actually go and see and perhaps meet the artist or the people that know is such an incredible gift to a community, to a county, and to somebody who knows so little.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Full Steam Ahead is all about is to answer those why questions and to be able to uh showcase Cass and Sally Wright.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

So how do they find you when if people want to get more involved, how do they find you?

SPEAKER_01 44:30

You can find us at CatskillArtspace.org or on Instagram at CatskillArtspace. Um and we are open Friday and Saturday at 48 Main Street in Livingston Manor from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And of course, our kids programs expand beyond that on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4:30 to 5.30. We have yoga classes. There's so much more. So visit our website. Visit our website.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Exactly. And and not only uh try to go and experience these programs and the art uh exhibits there, um, but also uh uh consider making a donation to CAS because uh you know I'm sure all all of your donations uh will help to be able to support these programs that uh and sustain the programs and grow the programs.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Yeah, so thanks, thanks, Sally. It's so so great to have you uh here with us and we we really appreciate you taking the time to be here. So uh so once again, uh for our listeners and viewers, we encourage you to check out Catskill Artspace at CatskillArtspace.org where you can access videos, photos, upcoming exhibitions, artist residencies, education programs, and contact info. To learn more about the Steam Fund, please visit our website at steamfund.org, like our social media pages, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and share these episodes for your friends. It's the best way to keep the arts and the conversations moving full steam ahead. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on Full Steam Ahead.