Greetings, Friends and Neighbors of our factory, 

Waving to you from the landscape of the Hudson Valley this Holy Daze season. Wishing you and yours good health and happiness this coming year. Thank you for an amazing year. The new year promises to bring more music to our historic waterfront art factory——with exciting new partnerships to ring in the new year.

The winter arrived in real time, framing the river and mountains with dramatic cold winter light skies, sprinkled with comforting snow. The romance of our region never grows old; in fact, with time, the glow of the natural, majestic world’s permanence will only grow.  This landscape, Mother Earth herself, is an anchor of stability in this rapidly changing, splintered world we find ourselves sharing time and space in.

The history of our region offers inspiration: The Hudson River Painting School was founded 200 years ago by local hero Thomas Cole. The movement of artists captured the power of the natural world with their paintbrushes and giant tableaus. So powerful were these depictions of landscapes and skies that they eventually inspired the creation of the National Parks Department — it was the founders of the first art movement of America’s settlers, who continued the tradition of what the indigenous people long already knew, that the beauty and complexity of nature needs to be honored, preserved, and protected.

The Hudson Valley is the birthplace of America’s first art and environmental movements – further empowered by Pete Seeger, the Clearwater movement, and musicians / activists over the past 100 years.

Another golden ethos we embody plenty here is “Think Globally, Act Locally”. The saying originated with Scottish urban planner and social activist Patrick Geddes around 1915, appearing as an idea in his book Cities in Evolution, which advocated understanding broad global environmental contexts to make small, intentional changes locally for better community planning and sustainability. 

Those seeds planted over a 100 years ago grew into a slow but steady effort to raise awareness of the notion of bettering the place you live by  “buying local.” That notion birthed our initial alternative to “Black Friday”- Basilica Farm & Flea – over a decade ago. This past year, we presented three markets- Spring, Summer and Holiday – in partnership with LikeMindedObjects. In 2026, we will continue our commitment to this mission to celebrate local makers and a healthy local economy. 

Spring Market applications HERE As a transplant from Montreal, I have developed great pride in the history of this region. Here is where we have chosen to make our home, raise our daughter, build community, and commit to our love of independent, innovative, and creative voices as a stable solace in this eve-changing world. 

Here we are now. 2026. 

Weird Wide World …. The increasing life lived online only emboldens our commitment to Basilica being a real-life gathering place, keeping us tethered to each other. We must continue to ask ourselves: what can we be for our local and global communities, as individuals, and as a collective? 
 

“The building is the muse. The building does it for us. We don’t do anything but serve it. The building itself is as much of an artwork to be revered as the work being presented inside.” 

• Melissa Auf der Maur, Times Union, 2025
   

This year marks our 16th year of reclaiming and restoring this glorious 1880s factory — been an honor of a lifetime to serve such a location and host, give or take 200,000+ dynamic people in this sturdy structure. This year marks an exciting expansion of our commitment to music, with the launch of a partnership with like-minded concert promoters Bowery Presents, Higher Ground, and Sister Midnight. Together, we will present more shows year-round. Our focus will be on mid-week concerts, as a counterbalance to the weekend destination tourist town Hudson has become. We hope this partnership will be an invitation to people who live here to join us, while stimulating local businesses during the quieter days upstate.

Learn more about our new upcoming concert series HERE

I have personally built my whole life around live performances, starting back in Montreal at a public performing arts school, into my time in 1990s rock bands (read all about it in my upcoming memoir!), then upon retiring from the road to become a mother, and founding Basilica Hudson – aka “Temple of Sound”  with my partner Tony Stone. Gathering as fellow humans around expression, in my humble opinion, provides a strong foundation for bringing out our humanity. 

When in doubt, bring the music. Come together as fellow humans, through the music. 

Some initial shows have been announced, and more are to come.
Stay strange, but don’t be a stranger,

Melissa Auf der Maur and our Basilica Hudson Family 

Dear You, Friend, Neighbor & Fellow Human,

Spring on the Horizon, blossoming unknown continues. Winter hibernation is coming to an end. As the Hudson Valley steps into spring, we step into our next season at the Basilica. 

Founded in 2010, in celebration of our 15 years of programming, 2025 will highlight our longest running, tried and true program: Basilica Farm & Flea

This year, for the first time, we will present three markets: Spring Market, Summer Market, and Holiday Market

Launched in 2013, our inaugural Basilica Farm & Flea market was presented in partnership with beloved Bust Magazine. That’s where we began our dreams of a win-win for everyone marketplace that supports local, independent, organically grown, handmade and vintage, while bringing our community together en-mass. Happy, sustainable, economy if I’ve ever witnessed any.



Now in our 13th continuous year, (2020 prevailed virtually!), Elise McMahon, of LikeMindedObjects, has been our longest standing Basilica program collaborator. Together we have grown and stabilized a program that seems to bring more smiles and joy than any other event we present. 2025 redoubles our efforts to preserve and nurture this core local community program. 

We are forever grateful to all the farmers, makers and collectors that have participated over the last many years, and the new ones for joining in.
This is “Think Global, Act Local” in action.
This is what we need more of across the USA. 
Bringing our humanity, and consuming, down to earth, as a time to share with our neighbors, pass some time together, while supporting small local businesses.

With such big changes, challenges, locally and globally, we’ve been asking ourselves how to best uphold our mission to be a platform for independent and innovative arts and culture, while taking extra care in riding the unknown. Presenting this enduring program is a clear path forward.

SPRING MARKET INFO HERE 🙂

Stay tuned for additional season programs.

As a reminder, as noted in my end of the year letter from the director, we are saddened to not be presenting our most immersive and experimental program 24HR DRONE, this year. But for those most committed to this sonic gateway, tune into the International Drone Day community. If you’re missing the communal experience, we encourage you to keep the DRONE spirit alive with some DIY gathering, it can be big or small, all you need is literally anything that omits a sustained tone.

In DRONE we trust, may the portal open up to us all. Melissa Auf der Maur, Basilica Hudson Co-Founder

VENDOR APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER & HOLIDAY

2025 Marks our first year of three seasonal markets! 

We are excited to support small business all year round 🙂  In the Hudson Valley we live by the seasons, our agricultural activities reflect this and so do our community gathering styles. In this spirit, each market will be unique to the season, hosting different types of regional vendors with their singular wares and cultural programming. For Spring Market think Mother’s Day, planting gardens, spring *green* cleaning products, home improvement & signing up for Hudson River Ferry rides! For Summer Market think popsicles , sunglasses , handmade summer dresses , farm veggie bounty and juicy cocktails. For Holiday Market, which is the cornerstone of our annual BFF marketplaces, think harvest, wool layers , warm drinks and anti big box Black Friday gift giving. 

Next Up: SPRING MARKET ! Mother’s Day Weekend , May 10th & 11th , 10am-5pm 🙂

Celebrate the coming of Spring and Mother’s Day Weekend with us and this curated group of 100+ regional businesses offering family friendly workshops , farm fresh and chef concocted hot foods (buckwheat crepes! pulled pork sandwiches!) , locally produced pantry items, vintage and handmade clothes, printed matter and artwork , home goods like wooden furniture and handblown glassware, even sunglasses made with primarily recycled plastics. Join us in supporting these incredible businesses! Some Highlights: Fantasy Fruit Farm will be making sweet & savory BuckWheat Crepes and bringing Fresh Cut Flowers, Quinnie’s will be making pulled pork sandwiches, ENOKI Catskill will be curating a marketplace , food pop-up and exhibition taking over the Back Gallery, Wally Farms will be hosting a Mushroom Log Inoculation Workshop & LikeMindedObjects will have a DIY Clothing Mending Table with stitch instructions and supplies. ALSO! We are very excited to offer the 3rd edition of our FREE Basilica Farm & Flea Fan Zine, sharing the WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY about some of our incredible participants, farmers , organizers and makers. 

Consider becoming a vendor! Summer & Holiday Market applications are open, learn more at THIS LINK.

Dear YOU, Basilica friend, neighbor and collaborator,

I am writing to you at the end of our 14th program season, on the eve of our 15th anniversary, to tell you of big news in our world. This month marks the completion of our historical, carbon-neutral restoration of our beloved factory on the Hudson waterfront. Did you notice: New roof? New windows? Shiny and new radiant heating and cooling concrete floors? Completed white cube Back Gallery? Thriving maple trees surrounded by green grass and wildflower berms, where once dusty rubble used to be? 

Over the last couple of years, our factory has been fully rehabilitated, and most importantly, LOVED. Loved by the manual labor of skilled hands and the devoted creatives that have filled her, and our dedicated team. This winter, Basilica’s Net Zero Campus construction wraps up, transforming Basilica Hudson into an historically restored, all-season, FOSSIL-FUEL-FREE venue. We must imagine and plan for the expanded opportunities this offers.

We did this together.

Music. Art. Noise. Dancing. Poetry. Friends. Markets. Conversation. Movies. Food. Fun. Fun. Fun.

An exchange of authentic spirits and ideas. 

She is a shining jewel, reflecting a world that many of us crave, and consider essential to live a nourishing, well-balanced life…. 

“I’m taking a leap of faith into the shadow side of the world”

This sentence came to me last month, in the middle of the night, while processing the end of the year, and what seems like the end of an era for many things … hard decisions made, and many unknowns ahead which will lead to changes for all. 

In 2010, when Tony Stone and I founded Basilica Hudson, with nothing but a down payment on a factory with no running water or sewer and outdated electricity, we knew we wanted to bring all that we love in the world to this historic building, in this storied city, on the majestic Hudson River, framed by the mesmerizing Catskill Mountains. She grew alongside our daughter River and our life as a little family making a go in the City of Hudson.

Committed to offering a platform to independent and innovative voices in arts and culture …. This seemed important to do then, in an off-the-beaten-path town that did not yet have much of it, as a refuge from the increasingly unaffordable arts, culture, and living in the big cities. 

With 2025, and a new dawn in America, that idea takes on new meaning. The ever-changing town of Hudson also offers new context to what we once were, and what we will be in the future.

Since the 2020 pandemic, Basilica’s not-for-profit arm that presents all of our public programs, struggled to rebound. But thanks to our devoted tiny team and program partners, we pushed ourselves to reestablish all of our existing programs and resulted in 2024 being our fullest program year to date.

Please do enjoy the full recap HERE 

With the many changes around us there are both opportunities and challenges to contemplate, and we must take a pause for much-needed hibernation to revise and stabilize. This winter, we, the founders and the Board of Directors, will review options for restructuring toward a more sustainable model that will assure a commitment to the original mission and vision for Basilica Hudson. 

We’ve come to the difficult decision that we are not able to present our most ambitious program, 24-HR DRONE this coming spring, and need to lay off our fantastic Basilica Arts team. I want to acknowledge Director of Programs Ben Seretan and Programs & Marketing Manager Xe Davis for their dedication and hard work bringing all our programs to life this year, and Stacy Morrison who generously stepped off the board this year to take the reins as Executive Director at a critical time. Thanks are also due to our committed 2024 board members: Sonia Skindrud (Chair), Cecil Castellucci (Director Emerita), Joshua Cohen, Bill Covell, Cathryn Dwyre, Rebecca Foon, Sotirios Kotoulas (Chair Emeritus) Raj Kumar, Cassandra Marketos, John Pelosi, and Jessica Wallen.

As my wise DRONE collaborator Sarah Van Buren recently said, while I struggled to imagine the heartbreak of NOT launching our 2025 Spring season with 24-HR DRONE (the program that literally came from my dream about the power of sound that changed my life at age 19)…

“Maybe sometimes you need to go to sleep, for new dreams to come to be.”

This is not the end of the Basilica dream, but a communal commitment to expand, and build it back better.

Save the Date! In the wake of a feel-good Holiday Farm & Flea Market, we look ahead to our Farm & Flea Spring Market come Mother’s Day weekend May, 2025. 

Season’s Greetings to you and yours,

Happy Holy Daze, 

And Make Basilica Dream Again 

OX

Melissa Auf der Maur

Basilica Hudson, Co-Founder and Director 

Learn More About BASILICA GREEN HERE

The Basilica Net Zero Campus Project is supported by NYSERDA’s Net Zero Energy for Economic Development Program, the City of Hudson Downtown Revitalization Initiative, NY Empire State Development, NY State Historic Preservation Office, Hudson River Bank Trust and National Park Service.

2024 featured packed, once-in-a-lifetime gigs, happy, bustling markets, essential gallery shows of work by local artists, unbelievable parties, family activities, thoughtful film screenings, and so much more. It was an amazing season of programming in our eco-friendly foundry by the river.

Basilica Hudson has enchanted a global audience of diverse dreamers, bringing in performers and attendees from all over the region, the state, and the world for dazzling, epically scaled, in-person gatherings. By now an undeniable Hudson Valley gem, Basilica has in its 14 years of operation become the place where artists, makers, and other wonderful humans collectively enrich our lives.

You are a part of that magic, too, and here’s a look at what we got up to together this year:

24 HOUR DRONE ’24

24 HOUR DRONE threw down the gauntlet and called in the most ambitious of listeners for another uninterrupted marathon of experiments in sound and music. From noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday, we sprawled on the concrete, reverberations clanging in the rafters.

The 2024 edition featured a number of guest curators who expanded the scope of what we ever considered possible: the heads-only label RVNG brought us immaculate calm from the duo Black Decelerant and Rena Anawke’s A Space for Sound; the new and very exciting experimental electronic music festival Dripping organized a block featuring gong wizard Sphente, nodding-off zones by Earthen Sea, and a truly stunning performance by pioneering Butoh dancer Azumi OE with sounds by Lot Radio darling Space Tak. Our longtime curatorial partners Le Guess Who? wrangled a phenomenal, extra large set from Dragonchild, and Heavy Trip — one of the best booking agencies working today — hooked us up with sets by vocalist Nadah El Shazly and a drum machine forward hour from Alex Zhang Hungtai.

We also opened up a quarter or so of the available slots to a popular Open Call, which introduced our curatorial efforts to an unbelievably exciting array of local and international performers interested in the uncanny format of this festival — there were enough applicants to do DRONE ten times over!

It was one of our most cathartic experiences to ever happen in the factory. You can read a full rundown — and a long list of thank yous and credits — at this link here.

Basilica SoundScape 2024

In 2024 Basilica SoundScape returned to its pre-COVID glory as a true “weekend of art and music.” Friday we danced like dervishes at the largest party ever thrown on site, Saturday ushered in a marathon day of innovative and confrontational live performances, and Sunday brought it all home with family-sized performances and activities for community members of all ages.

Friday’s party — presented by the Bunker, lit by Nitemind, and DJ’d by Eris Drew and Octo Octa transformed the space into a sea of lasers, fog, and positive vibration dance music unlike anything that has ever happened at Basilica before.

Saturday’s day of live performances gave us nine straight hours of loud, memorable music, as well as books and words and readings, and continued well past midnight with an extremely cute afterparty in the West Wing. Ambient hip hop dread of E L U C I D, aggressive volume mania of Couch Slut, the barely-there folk music of Greg Mendez and Maria BC, and the always epic Lightning Bolt — we won’t soon forget the many different ways in which we were captivated.

And Sunday was yet another flavor entirely with a free daytime slate of programming focused on Basilica fans that still have strict bedtimes and the people that love them. Surreal minigolf, mystic storytime, thrifting, free ice cream, collage of self-discovery, a marathon set of toe tappers from the upcoming stars at Rock Academy, and a nervous system resetting culminating drone by Guy Blakeslee, such an incredibly wholesome way to cap off a true weekend of art and music.

Please enjoy this video highlight reel of Saturday’s performances:

And a full recap — with even more photos — can be read here.

Basilica Farm & Flea

We hosted two of our very popular Farm & Flea Markets in 2024 on the two opposite ends of the Hudson Valley Season: in July we held our first-ever Summer edition of the market with a focus on sunshine, refreshing treats, and the bursting bounty of the Valley. At the end of November, our mighty Holiday Market returned bigger and more popular than ever for end-of-year holiday camaraderie, gift-buying for gift-giving, and all the cozy knitwear you could ever desire.

The Summer Farm & Flea Market caught us in between visits to swimming holes and county fairs. And the Holiday Farm & Flea Market, which just wrapped up this past weekend, showed us all the light and warmth still available to us in the darker months of the year. Presented, as always, in partnership with LikeMindedObjects, Farm & Flea remains the “feel good hit of the season.”

Jupiter Nights

Our local summer concert series returned for a third year with one notable change — after a lengthy and very beautifully done renovation project, the Back Gallery reopened for our 2024 season. During the day — due to some well-placed skylights — its a breathtaking space, both wide open and intimate. As the sun sets it takes on another character — a few colored spotlights pointed at a stage make it feel magic, shadows dancing on the cave wall. It was the perfect setting for the transformative, celestial magic of Jupiter Nights.

This year’s music, once again curated by Allie Young, offered the by-now-expected mix of live music by locals and traveling performers that — truly — you would never see anywhere else. Paired with a summer sunset and a new fantastic menu by the kitchen wizards at Local 111 for each and every show, these nights were truly wonderful.

The series kicked off with an incantational performance by Odeya Nini, an unamplified blessing of the space. Then Home Body and Kalbells walloped us with two sets of infectious, gleaming synth pop.

The second Jupiter Nights brought us a night of tender songwriting and intimate performances — the unmistakable star power of Cleo Reed, the delicate, soaring melodies of Rose Stoller, and a special, stripped down set from Cryogeyser.

In July, as part of our duties in hosting the Bard MFA thesis show, we turned over a Jupiter Nights to the program’s performing candidates who transfixed a packed North Hall with beautifully confrontational work. Back in the back gallery for the fourth show of the series, laptop jazz sensations YAI gave us reason to bob our heads and made room for MIZU, whose resonant cello, thundering electronics, and handheld lighting rig filled the space with sound and movement.

In August we welcomed Armbruster, a multi-masked violin conjurer, Deerlady, a fantastic, catchy shoegaze band fronted by two musicians known otherwise for their outre work in jazz, and local legend Arone Dyer who played an unbelievable set accompanied by accordion. Then came perhaps the most sonically diverse lineup of the series — new age yoga mat sprawlers from Saapato, 2000s TRL punk energy script flipping from bright burner Yatta, and a masterful and expansive performance from composer and bassoonist Joy Guidry.

The series wrapped for the year with one more celestial hang — Greem Jellyfish somehow made electronic bangers feel emotionally vulnerable, the Fascinating Chimera Project’s bossa-influenced songwriting lulled us (they also performed one of the best-ever Madonna covers), and Wild Pink — performing a special set as a duo with legendary lap steel player Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner, brought it all home.

Other Concerts & Parties

Perhaps the biggest one-off gig of the year came to the Main Hall in June — presented in collaboration with Bowery Presents, noise-rock legend Kim Gordon brought her thunderous, hip-hop inflected cool-girl word salad to Basilica as part of her The Collective Tour. Her album — one of the best of 2024, surely — sounded brash and fantastic in a live setting. Along with opener Bill Nace, himself a legend in the noise music world, this was easily the loudest thing to happen at Basilica this year. Massive!

Speaking of divinely channeled feminine energy, our final large-scale music production of the year was the Hudson Valley’s own the Goddess Party, an arresting, witchy gathering of many wild women, rock ‘n’ roll, set dressing, costumes, wildlife, and giant yonic fabric sculptures. A mystical art choir unlike any other, their performance in the round took us to somewhere beyond the veils. A truly beautiful evening!

We were also able to host a wonderful music video screening by experimental RnB vocalist and saxophonist Allie Young (whom you may also know as the curator of Jupiter Nights). In the summer of 2024, she traveled to Belgrade with Clara Gallagher, a filmmaker and childhood friend. The result of their collaboration is “Back and Forth,” a hypnotic and infectious music video that also serves as proof-of-concept for an upcoming feature film. On a magical-feeling summer evening, Allie screened the video and performed live in the North Hall cinema. Opening the show was Talullah Calderwood, a musician who beautifully bows homemade metal instruments to disorienting effect.

Other screenings this year included another wildly inspiring iteration of the Climate Action Film Festival, a screening as part of the burgeoning Hudson Film Festival, and a special free presentation of moving image works by Otto Ohle, whom we also featured as an exhibiting artist in the Gallery.

It was also a great year for parties at Basilica, particularly because of how much room to dance the Back Gallery gives you. As part of this year’s Hudson’s Pride offerings, we turned the space over to beloved local eatery Lil Deb’s for their All the Bodies party — on a steamy, rainy night, they organized a fabulous collection of avant drag performances, the sweatiest of DJs, and cranked our fog machines to maximum while music pounded from a scaffolding rigged with LED lights. In August, after we had to unfortunately reschedule it, we threw another iteration of (FREAK) Flag Day, a gothwave counterparty to Hudson’s big Americana outpouring. The dark hearts of Troy’s Hellseeker Goth Night brought the noise (and a selection of horror movies on VHS). Given how fun these parties were, we think it’s totally understandable that our pictures didn’t turn out super clear.

Back Gallery Art

Throughout all of our live programming this season, we were lucky to host four fantastic visual art shows once the Back Gallery opened for real.

Our inaugural show utilizing both spaces featured a huge assortment of paintings large and small by local artist Kirby Crone, a familiar face to anyone who has been around Basilica in the last few years. Her work is colorful, full of gesture and movement, and looked fantastic on the pristine walls.

We then turned the space over to this year’s crop of Bard’s MFA candidates who in the Front Gallery, the Back Gallery, and in the exhibition space at our wonderful neighbors Time & Space Limited, put together a truly dazzling group show of various media — sculpture, photography, painting, installation, sound, and more besides.

In August we welcomed two artists for a unique group show — in the Front Gallery we hung works by painter Martin Muñoz, aka the Llama Man, whose paintings are at first glance are outsider folk art par excellence. On closer inspection, however, you can see a deep, moralistic, intelligent throughline in his work. The second artist in this group show — Otto Ohle — is a photographer, documentarian, and multimedia artist whose photos and multimedia works are poignant, funny, and uniquely in touch with our hybrid digital existences. He’s also the director of a beautiful documentary piece on the Llama Man himself.

And our final gallery show of the year features Bob Braine, an artist whose understanding of local history, ecology, and waterways is truly unparalleled. Through drawings, photographs, artifacts from the hull of a kayak, infrared imaging, and paintings, Braine’s “Leave No Trace: Photographs & Works on Paper” tells the ever-changing story of water, heavy metals, shorelines, and the ecosphere.

---

Many thanks to the individual donors and Patreon subscribers who made this 2024 season possible.

Curatorial Partners: the Bunker NY, the Creative Independent, LikeMindedObjects, Sarah Van Buren, Le Guess Who?, Allison Young, Shaker Museum, Hudson Film Festival, Bowery Presents, WGXC

Sponsors: Special thanks to season sponsors Herrington’s and Kneller Insurance Agency. Also thanks to ArtPower, Black Diamond Bookkeeping, Gotham, Hover Foundation, Hudson Valley Ceremonies, Stewart’s Shops, and the Wick.

Additional Thanks: the Avalon Lounge, Changing Times Lodging, Del’s Roadside, Hudson North Cider, Jenny Douglas, Liquid Death, Recess, Tubby’s, Willow Pond Motel.

Basilica Hudson’s 2024 season programming was in part made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at 110 South Front Street over the weekend, whether you attended, performed, or worked the event. Some of you did all three! We honor the thrashers, the LUVers, the headbangers, the poets, the bartenders, the laser wizards, the jokers, the guitar gods, the truth tellers, the treadmill divas, the artists, the security guards, the party animals, the projectionists, the field recorders, the readers, the mystics, the golfers, and the poets among you.

Left: Kinlaw vibrant haze Right: T4T LUV NRG laser sea

There are too many credits and too many thank yous to fit into one recap, but please enjoy a few iconic photos from the weekend (all by Chase Bauer unless otherwise noted).

Left: Maria BC stunning in the North Hall Right: Bob Braine on view in the Gallery

Friday’s party was easily the biggest that has ever happened here with a palpable, sweaty joy on the dancefloor. Thank you to Eris Drew & Octo Octa for bringing their records and their sound system and going barefoot in the booth. We had enthusiastic dancers giving it their all until the very last record spun, leaving it all on the dance floor. Nitemind was behind the lighting desk all weekend long and their team did incredible things with a hazer, a laser, and a few hung lights – our rafters bathed in pulsating color. Special thanks to the Bunker for presenting and for sharing their deep party wisdom, this was one for the books.

Left: Ella Ghent mystic charm Right: Octo Octa & Eris Drew in the booth

There were only four hours of sunrise silence between Friday’s load out and Saturday’s load in. We hosted ten straight hours of nearly uninterrupted live music followed by some extremely cute dancing in the West Wing for our second day of SoundScape. Many of you were daring enough to make the full use of your weekend passes – shout out to you.

Saturday started off with the chic abrasions of Open Head just absolutely ripping it in the North Hall – it’s no easy feat to begin a festival and they absolutely brought the no wave heat. As they played, Kinlaw hazed out the Main Hall and, as soon as they finished, delivered an iconic set on the floor and in the round, panting on a treadmill and unleashing a torrrent of ping pong balls. As the fog lifted, the five-piece Babehoven band took the stage – Maya’s vocals soared celestially over heavy, syrupy strums, local heroes.

Left: E L U C I D locked in Right: Rahill rocking the afterparty

In deep contrast, perhaps the gnarliest set of the day followed – Couch Slut at maximum volume on the Main Hall stage got right the f*** up in your face, vibrato bridge guitar abuse and crash cymbal chugging. Greg Mendez brought it all the way back down, breaking hearts with his frank, spare songs – we opened the windows and we craned our necks in to hear. As sun set over the river, Cassandra Jenkins filled the Main Hall with recordings of bugs at dusk – awash in blue light, she sang, mega enchantment.

Though there was hardly a break between sets on Saturday, we hope you found time to browse the offerings of our tablers in the West Wing – Better Read than Dead put together an incredible selection of rare books, best ever label Sacred Bones pulled out all the stops, and Everything Nice from Ellenville even brought a turntable listening station. Isn’t it so cute to see people carrying around used books and records while they walk around a festival? It was so great, also, that the Gallery remained open through the weekend. It’s a beautifully reimagined space filled with a lifetime of thought provoking work by artist Bob Braine that served well as a sort of de facto art chill out room. Throughout the weekend, too, we were lucky enough to eat food by Local 111 who consistently offer thoughtful and delicious fare at our events – it’s a crucially important task during such a marathon event.

Maria BC’s set made great use of the North Hall’s cinema capabilities – they sang their unbelievably gorgeous songs joined on stage by Saber who projected eerie, organic forms onto the screen. And then with the most minimal of gear Still House Plants played a captivating, hypnotic set of deconstructed rock, if you could even call it that – mesmerizing and wrought deep from the gut. E L U C I D followed with a beautifully confrontational set of smeared, power ambient hip hop.

Left: rainbow chute remains a classic Right: more T4T LUV NRG

Keeping a beloved SoundScape tradition alive, John-Francis Quiñonez lead us in breathing and read poems after Kate Bush from the spotlight rafter door while Helado Negro – who easily wins the trophy for cutest lil sexy dances – took his seat at the Wurlitzer, delightful. And though we were rolling with unexpected scheduling conflicts beyond our control, the hybrid spectral P̶u̶s̶s̶y̶ ̶R̶i̶o̶t̶ Siberia set delivered pink-hued catharsis. Then there was what some people are calling “the gnarliest s*** I’ve ever seen” – Lightning Bolt in fine, chaotic form, absolutely blasting it out with demented and delightful high contrast lighting from Nitemind – a pit opened up, a peak music experience.

And as if that weren’t enough, the cutest hang of an afterparty popped up in the West Wing – all vinyl and all smiles brought to you by Jess Clark and Eleanor Friedberger (aka DJs Everything Nice) followed by some absolute heaters selected by Rahill. Tons of boogie, lots of dance floor hugs, and some killer deep cuts.

Left: Still House Plants transcends Right: Rock Academy making us all so proud :”)

And though beautifully enough there were plenty of babies, children, and people of all ages in attendance on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday we turned it over to the youth. Soothsaying mystic Ella Ghent blessed us with visions and unicylcing in a story hour presented by the Hudson Area Library and then Rock Academy absolutely destroyed a two hour set of inspired covers, including songs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Paramore, and Boston, among many others. Not a dry eye in the house! These kids were killing it!

You would hardly recognize the Main Hall – the astroturf, gnomes, and giant inflatable flamingo of Lucid Dream Mini Golf took over the stage and concrete floor for a final surreal putt putt experience while we posed for photos in the Thrift 2 Fight booth and toddlers ran around with jump ropes, hula hoops, and a rainbow parachute (still a classic). Reminders to my Future Self taught us to embrace imperfection while we ripped images from magazines and Kite’s Nest encouraged us all to listen deeper. PM Press challenged the status quo with their book offerings and literally everyone enjoyed free cups of ice cream courtesy of Del’s Roadside. Then finally, after a long and beautifully chaotic weekend, Guy Blakeslee took care of us with a tremendously tender electric soundbath – a drone to send it home.

Left: Babehoven sweet and syrupy Right: Lightning Bolt none more thunderous

Basilica SoundScape is no easy feat – a full weekend of production, guest services, and logistics such as this takes many hands, a lot of sweat, and eighteen thousand emails.

Planning it and curating it is one thing – executing it is another. Tremendous credit is due to our beautiful, hard-working team of box office attendants, beverage fetchers, room tidiers, and the ever-on-top-of-it stage hands. Our production leads, too, deserve all the praise – Mike Amari gracefully welcomed our performers, Dan Stout stage managed and provided crucial technical knowledge, and Nick Dixon did incredible work running sound in the North Hall.

Volunteers – working shifts in exchange for tickets – helped people find parking, they sold our merch, and they scooped our ice cream, among other tasks. TYSM for the help – we couldn’t have done it without you.

And of course the staff of Basilica Hudson and 110 South Front Street work hard year round:
Executive Director – Stacy Morrison
Director of Programs – Ben Seretan
Program Manager – Xe Davis
Rental & Staff Coordinator – Jeanne Stark / Hudson Valley Ceremonies
Managing Director, Basilica Industries – Tricia Reed
Building Facilities – Abe Etkin

Left: Cassandra Jenkins at dusk (photo by Will Flamholtz) Right: John-Francis Quiñonez reading in the rafters (photo by David Bruce)

But perhaps the most important aspect of all of this is that people have to gather – it wouldn’t be worth doing if you hadn’t shown up and we do not take your presence for granted. Thank you for being here.

It was a good one – – – until next year / / / /

Left: Helado Negro, just effortlessly charismatic Right: Open Head doing the damn thing

Basilica SoundScape is curated by Brandon Stosuy and Melissa Auf der Maur.

Presented with additional support from The Creative Independent.

Festival support generously provided in part by Gotham and ArtPower

Season support generously provided in part by Herrington’s and Kneller Insurance.

Thanks to our other partners and supporters:

Tubby’s Kingston / the Avalon Lounge / Willow Pond Motel / Changing Times Lodging / Stewart’s Shops / Recess Beverages / Liquid Death /  Hudson North Ciders / Del’s Roadside

Black Decelerant performing, presented by RVNG, photographed by Pete Galgani

DRONE IS DONE!

We are all still in a deep dream state from this past weekend’s 24-HOUR DRONE.

Amazingly, the entire livestream is already archived on the WGXC website – you can find it here and listen along as you read our note of gratitude. Thank you, first of all, to our longtime partners WGXC for broadcasting this very long song – it really is incredible that you can hear the whole thing online and on the airwaves.

Nadah El Shazly performing, presented by Heavy Trip

The lingering collective primal screams, the growling beauty of Nadah’s voice buzzing through our bones, remnants of vacuum-sealing sacraments with Mirrored Fatality, blessings by Mother Teresa and newt hymnals, electric angel Butoh performance by Azumi OE seemingly floating through the aisles with Space Tak singing into his trumpet above the beats, the rainbow crystal reflections of the manyhanded, psychedelic, omnipresent chandelier and pieces throughout the building made by Gracelee. It is nearly impossible to fully capture all that happened in this granular but grandiose span of shared time with simple words.

White Hills performing

It’s safe to say that 24-HOUR DRONE is a totally singular experience for all who attend, but it’s also a singular experience for all who curate, organize, work and perform. Every single hour counts in the 24 hour portal, and every minute within that hour. Every single part of this experience has been considered – how one act melts into the other, how to move within the space as engineers of sound, how to create an environment for both deep dreaming and sonic awakening. We are realm builders.

azumi OE (left) and Space Tak (right) performing, presented by Dripping

It is a rarity for all of us as individuals to enjoy stillness in this world and even more of a rarity to enjoy stillness together in duration. 24-HOUR DRONE lives as an annual marker of reinvention, resetting and a reminder of the endurance of humanity and its creations. One simply needs to open the portal and jump in. 

an iconic, cathartic closing set by Faccia Brutta
(check out the final group primal scream!)

Thank you to the singular artists who filled our temple with sound: Cal Fish, Scratch, S.P.A.L.L., Cowboy Sadness, Dragonchild, Proxemia, Black Decelerant, A Space for Sound, Push for Night & Jon Mueller, Alex Zhang Hungtai, Nadah El Shazly, Tyondai Braxton & Ben Vida, White Hills, Space Tak, Earthen Sea, Sphente, azumi OE, mirrored fatality, Vocalnori, Moundabout, Peepers, Ghost Ensemble, Ana Roxanne, Ephraim Asili, Senem Pirler & Monica Duncan & Faccia Brutta.

Peepers summoning the power of the newt

And thank you to our guest curators, who beautifully expanded our scope: RVNG, Heavy Trip, Dripping, and our longtime partners Le Guess Who?

Thanks, too, to everyone who applied to this year’s open call – many of DRONE ’24’s performers were brought in as a result!

DRONErs sleeping away in the sea of sound

Thanks, too, to Linda Mary Montano for bringing the flower-blessing sacraments and to Gracelee Lawrence for the iconic window-and-stage sculptures.

Linda Mary Montano appearing as Mother Theresa

We were nourished in other ways, too – thank you to these folks who did the hard work of feeding our bodies and spirits:

Lunch, Dinner, & Brunch by Local 111 from the Basilica Kitchen
Snacks of intention by Woodland Pantry
Coffee of attention by Coptic Light
Dreams guided and teas served by Grace Woodard
Tattoos and spells hand-poked by yokosnoopy

Local 111 serving it up!

CREW CREDITS

24-HOUR DRONE is an impossibly large lift and is only possible through the skill, effort, and dedication of a big group of humans:

Sarah Van Buren – Curator

Production:
Daniel Stout – Technical Director / Stage Manager
Roman Horst – Lighting & Production Design
Wesley Harper – Overnight Stage Manager
Emily Flores – Overnight Backstage Manager
Nick Dixon, Dylan Nowik, Matthew Cullen – Sound Mixer
Tyler Wood – WGXC Stream Engineer
Lukas Wheeler, Dan Schwartz, Jon McCarthy, Brandon Minnervini, Ethan Johnson, Kevin Halcott – Stagehands
Lina Dahbour, Caiti Friel, Talullah Pratt – Artist Liaisons

Jared Ashdown, JP Basileo, Kendra McKinley, Bri McCabe – Bartenders
Cycilie Graham, Michael Rivenburg, Seven Hall, Enky Bayarsaikhan – Box Office
Alex C – Merch

Ancil Dorsey, Tom Mignone, Makisha Brown, Devon Gaymon – Security
Jeanne Stark, Jamie Jackson – Artist Hospitality
Ben Vitale, Liam Stark – Vehicle Coordinators
Talia Thomas – Facilities

Hudson Valley Safer Spaces Volunteers:
Matt Evans, Jennae Santos, Bryan Kasenic, Giselle Manzano, Lenora Jayne, Brad Daschbach

Pete Galgani – Photography

Basilica staff:
Ben Seretan – Director of Programs
Xe Davis – Program & Marketing Manager
Stacy Morrison – Executive Director
Abe Etkin – Building & Facilities

24-HOUR DRONE is lovingly curated in collaboration with Sarah Van Buren and Le Guess Who? and streamed live on the radio in its entirety on WGXC. Accommodations provided by the Wick. Season support generously provided in part by Herrington’s and Kneller Insurance.

The return of DRONE, the return of SoundScape, the most heavily attended Farm & Flea on record, and our largest ever dance party – these are just some of the tremendous things Basilica Hudson was able to accomplish in 2023. Thank you for being a vital part of it, whether you attended an event in person, found a way to support our efforts through donations, sponsorship, or our Patreon, or simply watched the proceedings and rooted from a distance. It was a banner year, as you’ll see.

Sometimes the biggest swings and the most crucial efforts can go unseen. Though so much work and imagination went into our Net Zero Campus Renovation project last year, you may not have even noticed these improvements. Yet the concrete floor, newly poured in April of 2023, now keeps the space cozy and habitable with efficient, solar-powered, radiant heat. New air conditioners, freshly mounted throughout the spaces of the Main Hall, similarly make it more humanly possible to gather in the summer. Underlying every huge gathering in 2023 were our efforts to make the space better: a greener, more usable, more beautiful restoration of a 19th-century factory, all part of the BASILICA GREEN initiative.

Gigs & Parties

The season began with what might be our most ambitious annual program: 24-HOUR DRONE. Equal parts challenging and transcendent, 24-HOUR DRONE throws down a sonic gauntlet and rewards the patient and resilient listener with revelations of sound in a totally unique performance environment.

In 2023 we featured performances by local talents, revered legends, an entire gamelan ensemble, and the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Raven Chacon, pictured above during a marathon 3-hour late night endurance set that was transcendentally confrontational. Photay, Celia Hollander, Laraaji, and Arji OceAnanda also played a set together, their first ever collaboration. You can read a more thorough recap here.

(by the way DRONE returns in 2024 on May 18th – tickets are on sale now)

In June the famous and patriotic Hudson Flag Day parade once again made its way down Front Street and so there was only one possible response: (FREAK) Flag Day, an all-ages gothwave counterparty featuring unstoppable dance party sets by xMAdMx, Scotia, and DJ Lavish. We fogged it out and raged all night in the newly refurbished West Wing Bar and had the absolutely best possible view of the town’s truly epic fireworks display, set off right in Basilica’s parking lot.

Thursdays belong to Jupiter. In the spirit of cosmic abundance and expansion, we once again spent our summer presenting Jupiter Nights, an intimate concert series in our Gallery Building. Taking place among the brick and art on the walls, these shows are special and despite taking place in a smaller building they feel just as grand as anything that happens in the Main Hall. Plus, we make a point to offer extremely good food every time there’s a show. Curated broadly by musician Allison Young, 2023’s series featured everything from the ethereal trombone clouds of Kalia Vandever to the data crunched rock of Water From Your Eyes and the visceral outre gestures of Neti-Neti, the duo of vocalist Amirtha Kidambi and percussionist Matt Evans. Songwriter Emily Ritz, pictured above, closed out the series.

Expanding on the tremendous T4T LUV NRG party that went down in 2022, Basilica and the Bunker teamed up once again last July for a classic, sweaty, packed, laser lit rave in the Main Hall (with a chill-out room in the Gallery, of course). The DJs, the sound techs, and the lighting designers completely transformed the space and took all of us dancers to another planet (see the photo above). Is there anything more beautiful than hazer escaping from the doors of the foundry as dawn breaks over the Hudson?

Along with 24-HOUR DRONE, Basilica is probably best known for the ambitious weekend of art and music known as SoundScape. And though 2023’s iteration of the revered festival took place over the course of only one day, the event was no less crammed full of unbelievable music, visual art, dancing, used books, food, curios, and other delights. The North Hall featured a pop-up version of Dan Bunny’s Warren Street staple John Doe Records with open mic performances from a barrage of visionaries. The Gallery featured the colorful pop art and bonafide rock star personage of Niagara Detroit, curated by the New Gallery. The West Wing featured both an opening invocation by Zannie and a slamming afterparty organized by Audiofemme and DJ’d by Alima Lee. And the Main Hall barely contained a blistering set by Irreversible Entanglements, a grandly moving performance by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and readings in the rafters – one of this festival’s most unique offerings – by Shanekia McIntosh and Hanif Abdurraqib, pictured above.

Ethel Cain easily wins the record for almost instantaneously selling out a gig at Basilica – we have never before experienced such a demand for a performer! Her anthemic, soaring, dark Americana epics nourished a young, yearning, enthusiastic crowd, many who traveled a long distance to simply be in the same room as her. Also featuring a special opening set from Skullcrusher, this gig was certainly one for the books and we thank our collaborators at the Bowery Presents for putting together this vividly coveted concert.

Following the hugely successful Stereolab gig we teamed up for in 2022, Chosen Family once again brought an enormous rock ‘n’ roll spectacle to the Main Hall: legendary Britpop spacemen Spiritualized, a band that needs no openers. Packed house, towering guitars, two straight hours of music, a lighting rig that could probably give the band a sunburn, plus gospel choir backup singers – what more could you want in a gig?

Film / Moving Image

During the big shutdown of 2020, the band Buke & Gase refused to stay quiet. Instead, they set up a barrage of microphones and their homemade instruments in our giant, empty space and cut a ferociously powerful live recording of soaring melodies, off-kilter rhythms, and joyful string noise. In 2023 we had the sweet opportunity to finally host a free screening of the resulting documentary – and yes, we played it LOUD! It should be mentioned that the doc is currently available for on-demand viewing.

We also hosted screenings from the inaugural year of the Hudson Film Festival, an exciting new weekend summer series bringing a wide range of new names, festival favorites, and films you couldn’t otherwise see in a theater in the Hudson Valley. Highlights included a documentary on scholastic mariachi and a campy, gnarly, horror film, plus dazzling shorts. Their second year of programming will take place the weekend of August 9th – stay tuned!

Though the work of Anita Glesta does involve projected moving images, her work is deliciously neither film nor sculpture and we were delighted to feature a show of her work across the entire Main Hall curated by Jessica Wallen. Hung from the rafters, installed beyond the sliding blast door of an old factory kiln, and spilling out from the cinema screen, Glesta’s uncanny representative meditations on bodies and anxiety engendered an uncannily beautiful unease.

And though we weren’t able to host the Climate Action Film Festival in 2023 (due to our ongoing renovations toward a net zero campus), we were enthusiastic partners in its screening at Hudson Hall. It was incredible to see so many people show up on behalf of the planet!

Gallery

The Gallery overflowed with ambitious presentations of visual art this year.

During Jupiter Nights, we showed sumptuous painting works in progress by Bei Ni and a typewriter-and-lace heavy installation by Alex Patrick Dyck (the result of a monthlong residency on site).

In the Fall, Basilica hosted the New Gallery as guest curators. They presented an entirely new show each month from September through November (a truly impressive feat!), including a survey of the works of Iranian street artist Mizra Hamid, a fantastic group show featuring graffiti legend Crash, and an impressively rock ‘n’ roll solo show of works by musician and painter Niagara Detroit, pictured above.

Farm & Flea

Though our extensive construction work meant that we were unable to host a Spring iteration of Basilica Farm & Flea in 2023, you all came out for local business in a big way for the 10th anniversary Holiday Market over Thanksgiving Weekend – our largest attendance to date! Record sales all around on tickets, food, and goods. With over 90 cheerful vendors from our community, the Main Hall took on a festive, warm, communal air – friendly chatter mingled with the smells of tooled leather, vintage clothes, dried flowers, and freshly cooked food for a totally charming atmosphere. We thank the team at LikeMindedObjects for curating and organizing such a wonderful event!

Family Events

Though we like to think that every event at Basilica – with perhaps the exception of all night parties – are open to people of all ages and friendly to families of all configurations, some of our programming is more geared toward education, community engagement, and fun for kids. Two events we hosted this year were particularly successful in getting out the youth. In October, all manner of ghosts, ghoulies, and goblins made the long rainy walk down Warren Street for a culminating costume contest as part of the Hudson Halloween Parade and a spooky, amazing time was had by all. Then, in the run up to the Farm & Flea Holiday Market, we collaborated with Shaker Museum and LikeMindedObjects on an incredible and inclusive textile reuse workshop and panel, an event that combined ecological fashion practice, knowledge sharing, and local history for a uniquely enriching night. Finally, to round out the year, Basilica loaned its space to the Hawthorne Valley School for their winter concert – an incredibly sweet (and well attended!) night of music.

As you join us in reflecting on Basilica Hudson’s year of programming, we hope you can feel a sense of price: truly none of this would be possible without our artists, supporters, audience members, individual donors, community partners, and generous sponsors. What we’re able to accomplish in this eco-friendly factory is truly a group effort, a communal lift, and we hope you’ll join us again in 2024.

Many thanks to the individual donors and Patreon subscribers that made this 2023 season possible.

Partners: Chosen Family, the Bunker NY, the New Gallery, the Creative Independent, LikeMindedObjects, Sarah Van Buren, Le Guess Who?, Second Ward Foundation, Allison Young, Shaker Museum, Hudson Film Festival, Hudson Halloween Parade, Hawthorne Valley School, Scenic Hudson, Bowery Presents, WGXC

Sponsors: SunCommon, Kneller Insurance Agency, Hover Foundation, Hudson Valley Ceremonies, Black Diamond Bookkeeping, the Wick, Hudson Roastery, Wylde Hudson, Gotham Dispensary, Williams Lumber & Home Centers, Stewart’s Shops, Wm. Farmer & Sons, Bank of Greene County

Basilica Hudson’s 2023 season programming was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

DRONE happened later in the year than usual – ongoing renovations and general eco-friendly improvements of Basilica’s 19th-century foundry meant that the DRONE took place in May instead of the usual April. Longtime DRONErs may have noticed that the sun angled differently or that the dark of night was more brief. Perhaps it was due in fact to having returned to an in-person gathering, maybe it was the Spring’s full bloom, but this DRONE felt sunnier, warmer, lighter, more shiny and optimistic – from the moment Gamelan Dharma Swara clanged their first gong, it was clear that something wonderful was unfolding.

But that isn’t to say that there wasn’t darkness – the brightness of the day caused the night to glower and there were moments during the evening’s more intense nighttime performances when all the collective grief and outrage we’ve shared over the last four years bubbled up unbidden. The goodness of this gathering couldn’t help but point out all the other good times and good people we’ve lost.

There was also an interesting change in formatting this year – the lineup featured four three-hour-long “endurance sets” which gave the DRONE a new topography. Hour-long sets began to feel almost brief, time warped, and we all enjoyed stretching all the way out during the longer performances.

And though every DRONE is unique, this one felt particularly resonant. A sense of return, a sense of relief, a gladness to be back on the concrete floor all together.

The Fader published two in-depth pieces about this year’s DRONE, featuring interviews, photography, and highlights with the artists, staff, and curators:

Transcending Time with the artists of 24-HOUR DRONE

&

Melissa Auf der Maur passes “the baton of sound” at 24-HOUR DRONE

And due to a truly heroic 24-hour documentation effort by photographer Peter Galgani, we are blessed with really nice images of every single set. In order:

Gamelan Dharma Swara began the DRONE with a beautiful clanging: traditional Balinese dance, gongs, and chimes that ricocheted through the space

gushes (fka WSABI) ceremonially adorned the DRONE with beetroot blood and flying flower petals.

Drone reflects the pacing of the earth & cosmos~ the monumental shifting of tectonic plates, tree growth, fossil records, rain & tidal oscillation carving mountains & coastlines, plant & animal evolution, glacial melt & climate change, the formation of moons, the emblazoned long delay harbinger of star death, rhizomatic contrapuntal weaving, polyrhythms across simultaneous orbital dances of celestial bodies from which emerge seasons…

Drone’s format, space, season, lunar phase & people inspired gushes’ drone score to sound & embody our astronomical & bio-mythological take on the sun, moon & earth triangulation, as represented by 3 bodies playing 3 drums…

If we move, breathe, play, & listen more like a landscape, melting the factory clock, our hearts could expand in spiritual compassion to the greater story around us, which is animated by nuance and constant transformation. This is what I’m INTO. 

gushes

Michael Foster & Luke Stewart’s duo daringly expanded what seems possible with saxophones and upright bass, coaxing unearthly sounds out of their instruments

Veena & Devesh Chandra – two masters of Indian Classical music – gorgeously realized one of the oldest and most ornate musicological forms of DRONE.

Then, Sarah Hennies – a composer / percussionist who for this performance manipulated a small orchestra of hanging gongs – and Tristan Kasten-Krause – an upright bassist with an uncanny ability to surreally sustain tones with a nominally acoustic instrument – performed in a new format, a study in gesture.

Following their set, we were blessed by an hour in the presence of eucademix aka Yuka C. Honda, a “decomposer” whose vivid collection of sounds perfectly brought to mind the image of light dancing and reflecting on moving water.

The first marathon set of DRONE surrounded a glorious sunset which many DRONErs stood to watch through our south windows. The first of two first-time-ever quartets performing and this one color-coordinated – at the orange table, Laraaji + Arji OceAnanda. At the blue table, Photay + Celia Hollander. The last rays of the day stretched across the concrete as their samples, zithers, singing voices, and water being poured in front of a microphone unfolded.

Marathon events like 24-hour drone are a gateway into listening deeply and differently. It’s the combination of listening with others in community and long durational sound that brings about a new sensation. A heightened presence and awareness that has left me beaming! 

Photay

Then, the first true nighttime set, when darkness becomes palpable and the boundaries of sound grow larger. Liturgy (performing a rare solo set) conjured a pummeling & transcendental wall of guitar while joined by the ecstatic movements of special guest Davon.

Laura Ortman took hold of the DRONE next for a cathartic violin, electronics, & megaphone set that was powerful, loud, and literally dazzling as a spotlight reflected off her sequins.

Wolf Eyes – long-standing weirdo luminaries of the noise music world – played a more subdued, syrupy, haunting set that bended time around their tables full of electronics.

Raven Chacon played the second endurance set of DRONE, harnessing a massive midnight energy that ranged from the most delicate of homebrew electronic gestures to the loudest, most embodied wall of noise of the entire event – a deeply cathartic crecsendo that, amazingly, many people slept through.

As musicians, our medium is time. Sometimes it is the only thing we are truly working with. Time, realized as music, shows us where we are in the long window of the universe. But to play or hear only long tones, or endless loops, reminds you that you have always existed.

Raven Chacon

In the deepest depths of the night Kelman Duran infiltrated the dreams of the DRONErs in a set filled with the haunts, rhythms, and spirits of a million forgotten parties – the melted sounds of a club down the block.

From the depths of dark straight through to the full brilliance of morning, C. Lavender unfurled a sunrise incantation during the third endurance set of DRONE. Rolled gongs and incantations, a brilliant dawn chorus.

With so much of our time dictated moment by moment in our society, immersing ourselves into live sustained music creates a portal to transcend time. In a sonic liminal space we’re able to better access moments of emotional freedom and reflection. As a sound healing practitioner and experimental musician, I’ve explored expansive sonic realms for many years and have experienced first-hand with varied audiences how durational listening can bring about healing, inspiration, and a renewed sense of connectedness to our inner and outer worlds. From a performer’s perspective, I love the sensation of giving musical ideas room to unfold in an unhurried manner; it feels liberating to improvise in the moment not only on where I want to take the music, but where it wants to take me and the audience as well. Getting into that kind of a creative flow is less viable in many typical concert settings.

C. Lavender

As dawn gave way, the Evans Saxl Seretan Thayer Quartet quite literally said good morning to everyone in a delightful hourlong set that included violin, many electronics, double congas, shaking bamboo leaves and, of all things, a bubble machine, seen here in the photo.

The final endurance set of the featured one of the most delicate gestures of the entire 24 hours – gently amplified rocks clicked together in the palm of the hand (seen in the photo!). Fujiiiiiiiiiiita’s set brought to mind the eerie and serene calm of standing alone in a vast forest and guided our collective attention toward the delicate, hand-pumped bellows of his pipe organ.

It was full of love, wonder, and an ephemeral, magical quality that I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced before. Fujiiiiiiita, himself, was the embodiment of grace and his sounds were sublime. But, I’ll also attribute it to the cumulative effect of continuous mass listening. There was a subtle attention to sound in the space, a subtle reverence for it. I noticed that people spoke very little and when they did, they whispered quietly. I think that might have been what united the diverse crowd that had become a shared resonance body—a love for listening, a love for the possibilities in the manipulation of sound outside the boundaries of the purely functional. I left feeling lighter, quieter, and more orderly inside—like my auditory and aural channels had been cleansed.

Schuyler Brown, the Art of Emergence

The final hour of the DRONE focused on collectively heard music’s power to heal. With a table full of singing bowls, Nea Mckinney drew our focus with crystalline ringing and the gentlest of tabletop chimes.

Anneice Cousin – in a powerful, vocal-forward, beat-heavy set – invited catharsis with her deeply felt performance.

And in a grand, final act, Lisa B. Kelley led the collected DRONErs in a collective performance of Pauline Oliveros’ “the Heart Chant,” an almost indescribable communal happening that left the room stunned.

The continual collective experience through dreamtime allows us to tap into the deepest levels of human connection consciously and subconsciously. 

Lisa B. Kelley

When the humming comes to a natural halt, I hear the music that hides in silence as much as I did in the sound that rang for nearly 24 hours before.

Vanessa Ague, the Wire

A long and wild cycle of the sun. Thank you for joining us. 24-HOUR DRONE will return in April of 2024.

THANK YOU TO OUR STAFF & VOLUNTEERS

Melissa Auf der Maur

Basilica Hudson Director + Co-Founder

Tony Stone

Basilica Hudson Co-Founder + Construction Manager

DRONE Logistics Team

Sarah Van Buren, 24-HOUR DRONE Co-Curator + Artist Liaison / Staffing Manager

Ben Seretan, Basilica Program + Marketing Manager

Liz Shaw, Interim Operations Manager 

Jeanne Stark, Basilica Industries Rental Coordinator

DRONE Production Team

Roman Horst, Facilities and Setup

Daniel Stout, Technical Director + Stage Manager

Emily Flores, Stage Manager

Matthew Cullen, Audio Engineer: DRONE stage + stage crew

Tyler Wood, Audio Engineer: WGXC livestream + stage crew

John Rosenthal, Event setup + stage crew 

Chad Dziewior, Video setup, tech + design

Walter Sudol, Video setup + tech

Lukas Wheeler, Production Volunteer 

Nick Dixon-Santiago, Production Volunteer

Security – Ancil Dorsey (Head of Security), Makisha Brown, Tom Mignone, Antonio Williams, & Victoria Lowe

Box Office – Michael Rivenburg, Gabriel Korngold, Nkoula Badila, & Sonie Ruscoe

Hospitality – Jamie Jackson & Jeanne Stark

Artist Check-In – Annie Reynolds, Jessica Chappe, & Del Montgomery

Bartenders

Destiny Pierce (Bar Manager), JP Basileo, Susan Humphries, & Kendra McKinley

Merch

Jody Fish, Annie White

Setup, Parking + Clean Up

Abe Etkin, Mounanou Badila, Liam Stark, & Cache Holt

Volunteer Ushers

Cat Tyc, Marcel Reid-Jaques, & Sam Panken

Hudson Valley Safer Spaces Volunteer Monitors

Widow, Kevin Muth, Mike Amari, Rebecca Borrer, David Silberberg, & Dina Percia

Food Vendors

Local 111 – Josephine Proul (Chef), Paul DiMaria, Jenna Limoges, Michael Riozzi, Kadrian Laporte,

Woodland Pantry – Tanya Himeji-Romero (Chef), Jamie Gillespie, Clare Delaney, Toko Harada, Rachel Sanzone

Coptic Light Coffee – Esther Shaw, JR Robinson

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

Thank you to our DRONE supporters, partners and collaborators. This event would not have been possible without your generosity and like-minded spirit:

Le Guess Who?

The Wick Hotel

Wave Farm

Second Ward Foundation

New York State Council on the Arts

Thank you to all the friends, artists, sponsors, program partners, individual donors, ticket buyers and event attendees for a remarkable year at Basilica Hudson. Our programming would not be possible without their creativity and support.

2022 SPONSORS AND PROGRAM PARTNERS

Evan Abramson, Jon Bowermaster, Warren Brown, CAConrad, Nadia Conners & Walton Goggins, Devesh & Veena Chandra, Erika deVries, Sam Hillmer, Basilica Hudson Board of Directors, Ben Fain, Rebecca Foon, Jim Krewson, Raj Kumar, Christopher Lindstrom, Sotirios Kotoulas & Karline Moeller, Stacy Morrison & Ryan Myers, Amanda Palmer, Cathryn Dwyre & Chris Perry, Leila Conners & Matthew F. Schmid, Rudy Shepherd, Bill Covell & Sonia Skindrud, Jesse Paris Smith, Benedikta Karaisl von Karais & Matthew Stinchcomb, Marc Swanson, TROUBLE, Jennifer Venditti, Jessica Wallen, Patrick Watson

2022 was a year of milestones. We expanded our programming to welcome more artists, neighbors and collaborators to our riverfront factory than ever before. From the launch of our new weekly Jupiter Nights series, to the return of Basilica Farm & Flea in full capacity, to the official start of construction on the Basilica Net Zero Campus project, this past season laid the groundwork for a new era of connectivity at Basilica Hudson. 

Music

Our programming kicked off with Temple of Sound, an homage to our beloved 24-HOUR DRONE musical festival. The event featured 12 hours of experiential sound, with sound installations and performances by regional artists Arone Dyer, Samer Ghadry, Madeline Darby, Kamau Amu Patton and Hellish Cashstrap. 

Temple of Sound found inspiration in Basilica Hudson’s founders’ original impression of Basilica Hudson’s commanding halls over 10 years ago: a temple of sound, a place to connect diverse musical communities and traditions, offering a localized snapshot of experimentation within the larger context of universal sound. 

This ethos connected us to all of our music programming in 2023, including the launch of our brand new Jupiter Nights series with co-curator Sam Hillmer, which brought weekly music programming to Basilica’s campus for the first time ever. The series took place in our newly expanded Gallery Building, a smaller, more intimate space that allowed musicians to make new connections both with each other and with attendees. We are proud to have featured over 75 artists in the series over genres that straddled experimental, folk, indie rock, Cumbia, jazz, dance, electronic, soul, darkwave and more, welcoming audiences and artists to Basilica who had never been before.

As COVID numbers dropped in our county, we began to also host large-scale shows at Basilica once more, including a stunning free performance by the Albany Symphony, Cassandra Jenkins and a sold-out Stereolab concert.

BASILICA GREEN

Thanks to the generosity of many partners and supporters, BASILICA GREEN programmed art exhibitions, film screenings, a carbon drawdown solutions forum, an Earth Day celebration, concerts and conversations to share knowledge and build community around ecological initiatives.

In September, we presented the BASILICA GREEN Benefit Concert with Pathway to Paris, an uplifting night of inspiration and adventurous talent. The evening featured live music, conversation, poetry, a sculpture installation and a letter writing campaign to the New York State Climate Action Council recommending the prohibition of fossil fuel combustion in the construction of new buildings. 

At the BASILICA GREEN Benefit Concert, City of Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson officially announced joining the 1000 CITIES Initiative for Carbon Freedom, a global network of cities committed to implementing ambitious climate action plans.

Thank you to the artists CAConrad, Devesh and Veena Chandra, Rebecca Foon, Jim Krewson, Rudy Shepherd, Jesse Paris Smith, TROUBLE and Patrick Watson for bringing their craft to our factory, and thank you to all the generous donors and sponsors who supported the expansion our BASILICA GREEN initiative.

We officially began construction on the Net Zero Campus Renovation Project, a partnership with NYSERDA and Empire State Development, taking the first steps to transform our campus into a carbon neutral facility. Our commitment to tackling climate action through cultural programming continued with the Basilica Non-Fiction Screening Series, showcasing films by local filmmakers Leila Conners and Jon Bowermaster that brought awareness to critical action being taken today to reduce carbon emissions.

Art

Our Gallery Building housed six art exhibitions in 2022 – including our first Upstate Art  Weekend exhibition and our third collaboration with The Hudson Eye – all by local artists: Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Grace Lang, Elizabeth Celeste Ibarra, Sean Desiree, Alison McNulty, Bob Braine, Leslie Reed, b-e-i-n-g-s-o-u-n-d, Jim Krewson, Louise Smith, Jessica Chappe and Annie Reynolds. From spray paint murals by local youth, to psychedelic blacklight canvases, to sculptures that address present-day questions of sustainability, each exhibition added a different perspective and backdrop to the musical performances that unfolded in the space.

The tie between visual art and sound is at the heart of Jupiter Nights, and we were lucky to have had several exhibitions where the artist was directly connected to the musical act of the night. 

In collaboration with A24, Basilica Hudson was honored to host the launch of filmmaker Jennifer Venditti’s new book Can I Ask You A Question? The Art and Alchemy of Casting. Through hundreds of polaroids, casting snapshots and personal anecdotes, her book showcases the beauty of vulnerable human connection. Our North Hall was filled with over 200 eager storytellers from all around the state, who then paired up with strangers to ask each other questions they found taped to the bottom of their chairs. Basilica’s halls rang with conversation and optimism.

We were thrilled to host more free arts programs in 2022, including a pay-what-you-can art dispersal with Free Columbia, and the Mad Hatters’ Parade, which ended with a procession through Basilica Hudson’s Main Hall.

Community

For the first time in Basilica Hudson history, our Main Hall transformed into a skate park for the winter of 2022. Local skaters, as well as some who drove hours to be there, brought a new, electric energy to our factory. Toolshed and Super Stories led the open skate sessions and also hosted several workshops, including ramp building and a spray paint mural workshop. These works of art became the first exhibition in the Basilica Gallery Building. 

As part of our Strategic Planning Process to guide the next decade, Basilica Hudson also hosted a series of community roundtables this past year. Thanks to the insight and openness of local leaders, organizations and causes, we deepened our understanding of cross-sector collaboration.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we hosted the extraordinary return of the Basilica Farm & Flea Holiday Market in our main hall featuring the incredible work of 85 makers, farmers, dreamers and doers. Our building was brimming with energy and excitement as we greeted the thousands of visitors who streamed through our doors, connecting with local talent and taking home some handmade holiday goods.

Basilica Hudson’s programming would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, individual donors and community partners. Thank you for believing in our mission to uplift independent artists and foster connectivity. We have an amazing season ahead of us in 2023 and we hope to see you at the factory soon!