U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York traveled to Garrison this week to announce that he plans to provide $1.5 million via a Senate appropriations bill to help fund the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s (HVSF) construction of a new permanent facility at Route 9 and Snake Hill Road in Garrison. It’s estimated that the new theater and site restoration will cost about $26.8 million.
The Philipstown Planning Board has approved plans for the project, which will see a new amphitheater that has a roof and open sides. The theater will be the first purpose-built LEED Platinum certified theater in the country and has been designed by the architectural firm Studio Gang. It would cover more than 13,800-square-feet, seat 500, and allow part of Storm King Mountain, Breakneck Ridge and the Hudson River to be visible in the distance. The HVSF has been operating in a tent theater that has open sides. In 2019, a 98-acre property that formerly was a golf course was donated to the nonprofit by philanthropist Chris Davis.
In addition to building the theater, the project calls for improvements to the land that would incorporate restoration of greenspace and creating spaces for local use such as community meetings and farmers markets.
HVSF notes that its annual economic impact in the region has been running at about $4.6 million. In 2019, it attracted 30,750 audience members. It estimates that the new theater and expanded programming will enable it to increase its audience by about 65% and produce an economic impact of $7.6 million.
HVSF says it is one of the largest employers in western Putnam County during the warm-weather months when its programming takes place with 160 on its seasonal staff. It says it is planning to add 50 employees when the new facility is completed. and its performance season is expanded to cover 18 weeks. In addition, it plans to add five more year-round administrative jobs. Its on-site food service supplier plans to add 20 jobs once the expansion is completed.
“Tens of thousands of theater lovers every year come to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, pumping millions into our shops, restaurants and the Hudson Valley economy,” Schumer 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,” said HVSF Managing Director Kendra Ekelund. “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.”
