Greetings!

As our 8th season of programming comes to an end, we thank you for joining us at our programs throughout the year.

As you may know, it’s been only two years since Basilica Hudson earned our official 501c3 nonprofit status, which has allowed us to dream of expanded programs and service to our region and our community.

This year marks an exciting culminating point, the crest of a tremendous wave. In October, we upped our own fundraising ante honoring the incredible Courtney Love at our Pioneering People Benefit. We’re now digging into planning for both next year’s programs and for our upcoming 10 year anniversary in 2020 – big dreams, ambitious collaborations, open doors and strong hearted fights for the voices of creators, our neighbors, the Hudson River Valley Region, and for our natural environment.

Now it’s time to prepare for our next phase of expansion and revitalizing Basilica’s mission as collaborators and members of our city’s development and evolution.

Over the next two years, Basilica will redouble our efforts to open our expansive floors and rafters to provide free community space, and to expand our free programs and regional partnerships by taking on the immediate climate and energy crisis our planet faces. We’re committed to growing our environmental programming and supporting and stewarding the work of activists and artists who center environmental action as part of their practice.

This summer, we were honored that Basilica Hudson was designated a Priority Project as part of New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) award to Hudson, which will work in tandem with a number of initiatives for the revitalization of Hudson’s historic waterfront.

Basilica will use the DRI funds as seed funding towards major improvements to our building and grounds, including winterizing portions of the spaces to make Basilica a year-round venue and to allow more community-focused gatherings, town hall dialogues, artist residencies, workforce development and education programs, as well as creating spaces for other local organizations to use for their own programming and events.

While ticket sales to our public events help cover operational expenses, we need your help to increase our artists’ fees and expand our offering of FREE events and educational programs.

Our new Program Fund – a new reserve fund dedicated to arts, educational and environmental programming – will ensure that our operations continue to expand: more FREE programs, more local partnerships, more educational opportunities, as well as allowing our space to be used free of charge for other nonprofits and community activities.

Your support enables the expansion and redoubling of our efforts to be a place that connects, educates, and nurtures sustainable community, economy and the environment in the place we live. If you make one gift to Basilica this year, consider contributing to this fund.

With your help, we’ll keep the lights on for environmental gatherings in our cinematic cathedral hall. We’ll keep the free films streaming on the big screen. We’ll be able to offer free and affordable space to creators, makers, thinkers and to other local community organizations. Supporters like you subsidize operating costs so that we can offer platforms and space to partners and community groups including Perfect 10, Oceans 8 Films, Riverkeeper, Scenic Hudson, Kite’s Nest / SJLA, and YouthFX.

Thanks to your generosity, we’ll continue to provide stipends to artists, along with production support and everything else we need to stimulate hearts and minds and to foster the homegrown culture that is unique to our corner of the world.

Each year, thousands of people from around the corner, over the river, up the hill, and across the country attend our weekend festivals, film screenings, art exhibitions, music performances, community gatherings, and other celebrations in our spectacular solar-powered reclaimed factory. 50% of our audience visits us from outside the region; the other 50% are local residents and regional visitors, demonstrating a balance between the greater art world and our neighbors. Proudly multidisciplinary, our programs support the production and presentation of independent arts and culture while creating one-of-a-kind experiences and workforce opportunities for our neighbors here in Hudson.

It’s time to get to work on all that comes before us, and Basilica Hudson is ready. We hope you will join us!

Please help us support independent voices

Again, please keep Basilica Hudson in mind as you make your plans for year-end giving. Thank you so much for being a member of our Basilica community. We do it for you and we can’t do it without you, your support is very important to us.

We wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Melissa Auf der Maur,
Basilica Hudson Co-Founder and Director