The Art of Rural Resilience
The Prattsvile Art Center is a laboratory for creativity and rural recovery. We have seen the inclusive energy of the arts help to heal a flood-damaged region and strengthen connections between rural and urban communities for over 15 years. Bringing together histories and cultures through art, music, video, classes, community meals, & social services, the Center is a safe space for everyone, celebrating the diversity that enriches us all. All of the Center’s programs are free; from classes and community meals, to festivals, everyone is welcome.
The Art Center wishes to honor the Haudenoasunee Confederacy, on whose unceded homelands our Center is located. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of members of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations, and are sometimes referred to as Iroquois. To learn more about the current Haudenosaunee Confederacy, visit www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com
Land acknowledgement
Rural Arts and a new Workforce
The Center’s new Digital Studios are part of our arts and workforce initiative to bring diverse new employment possibilities to residents, enabling them to stay in their rural community. Classes in robotics, coding, and computer IT servicing begin this fall. The labs are open for classes from 3:30 - 6. A new partnership with Google allows us to offer Google Career Certificate classes for free
e-mail -nab2@nyu.edu to register
The Digital Studios operate as a Creative Incubator and Co-Working Space for the community and Artists in Residence
The Center was founded after the Town’s Main Street was destroyed by a hurricane.
The damaged building was rebuilt by artists, interns, and local volunteers, and is now home to a gallery, performing arts stage, library, wi-fi coffee bar, digital and mixed media studios, and a residency. Residencies are available to artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and multi-media artists. The Center hosts retreats, workshops and event rentals year round.
Music and Performance Events
include an annual 3 day Summer festival, Headed for the Hills, which highlights experimental, electronic, and noise based performers along with multi-media events and theater workshops. The Music Box on Main Street theater also hosts year round performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions for the community
Luisa Muhr 3 in a Septet performing in the Music Box Theater
he Music Box on Main Street Theater was designed and built by artists Delaney Martin & Taylor-Lee Shepherd, artist Hugo Montoya, and local carpenter Calvin Robinson with Dale Robinson, Homer Snyder, Lily Lasher, and Nancy Barton
PAC’s studios offer mentoring, internships. and workshops for rural youth. Classes are free and held in small groups with personal instruction.
The Music Box on Main Street: Prattsville Outpost
The Center’s performances take place in The Music Box on Main Street - a magical theater that is also an interactive work of musical architecture. Delaney Martin and Taylor Lee Shepherd the force behind New Orleans Airlift came to our mountaintop to re-imagine the Prattsville Art Center as a “musical House,” and participate in community discussions as part of an NEA Our Town project. Artist Otto Ohle’s video shows these artists developing the project with the local community and collaborators Terry Dame, Ranjit Bahatnagar, and Nick Yule.
The Art of Rural Resilience
Loated at the apex of the Catskill Watershed system, the Prattsvile Art Center’s Exhibitions, Performances, Library workshops and Residency have been using the inclusive energy of the arts to heal our flood-damaged region and strengthen connections between rural and urban communities for over a decade. Bringing together histories and cultures through art, music, video, classes, community meals, LGBTQ+ events & social services the Center celebrates the diversity that enriches us all.
Land acknowledgement
The Art Center honors the Haudenoasunee Confederacy, on whose unceded homelands our Center is located. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of members of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations, and are sometimes referred to as Iroquois. To learn more about the current Haudenosaunee Confederacy, visit www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com
The Center’s 2 Digital Studios are open for classes from 3:30 - 6 including - Coding & Robotics for Beginners. - Google Career Certificate classes - and Introduction to Computer Basics
e-mail -nab2@nyu.edu to register
The Digital Studios operate as a Creative Incubator and Co-Working Space for the community and Artists in Residence
Residencies are available for artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and multi-media artists. Facilities include the Music Box on Main Street Theater, Digital Studio and Maker Space, Library, Gallery, and coffee bar. he Center is available for retreats, workshops and event rentals in Spring, Summer, and Fall.
The Prattsville Art Center is located at the apex of the Catskill Watershed, which provides 90% of the water for New York City.
We are engaged in the planning process for the community and creating new initiatives to support rural residents.
Music and Performance Events welcome experimental, electronic, and noise based performers along with multi-media events and theater workshops. The Music Box on Main Street theater also hosts rehearsals and recording sessions for the Community
The Music Box on Main Street Theater was designed and built by artists Delaney Martin & Taylor-Lee Shepherd, artist Hugo Montoya, and local carpenter Calvin Robinson with Dale Robinson, Homer Snyder, Lily Lasher, and Nancy Barton
PAC’s studios offer mentoring, internships. and workshops for rural youth. Classes are free and held in small groups with personal instruction.
The Music Box on Main Street: Prattsville Outpost
The Center’s performances take place in The Music Box on Main Street - a magical theater that is also an interactive work of musical architecture. Delaney Martin and Taylor Lee Shepherd the force behind New Orleans Airlift came to our mountaintop to re-imagine the Prattsville Art Center as a “musical House,” and participate in community discussions as part of an NEA Our Town project. Artist Otto Ohle’s video shows these artists developing the project with the local community and collaborators Terry Dame, Ranjit Bahatnagar, and Nick Yule.
Library & Learning Hub
The Center offers a free community library and workshops in art, performance, and ideas. This Spring we will begin research on a pilot program of college and workforce development classes for rural communities across the Northern Catskills
A celebration of “Hands On” thinking
Artists and rural residents share a unique understanding of hands-on thinking and unconventional problem solving. The Center is working to build a future that brings together the skills and wisdom of these two communities to create new art and new solutions to the urgent problems we face together. By connecting rural experience and urban innovation, the Center has become a laboratory for the development of magical experiences that seek to foster a rich and equitable future.
