New Episodes: Basilica Conversation Series Podcast
The Basilica Conversation Series Podcast, hosted by Basilica Hudson Co-Founder and Director Melissa Auf der Maur, highlights people and organizations that reflect and inspire our mission to be a platform for independent and innovative voices, and to support artists, filmmakers, musicians and climate change advocates.
EPISODE 7: Nakita Reed
“Unintentional Consequences of Progress and Other Modern World Quandaries”
This episode is a special joint re-broadcast presented in collaboration with the Tangible Remnants podcast hosted by Nakita Reed.
Basilica’s co-founder and director Melissa Auf der Maur sat down with Nakita Reed for an in depth conversation on polite racism, gender roles, feminism, climate change, preservation, sustainability, music, culture, inequities designed into the American system, cultural differences between the US & Canada, as well as where they think we are on the pendulum swing of progress and our hopes for the future.
Thank you to Nakita for collaborating with us on her podcast Tangible Remnants and for sharing your time and thoughts with Basilica Hudson and our listeners.
Tangible Remnants is a podcast that explores the interconnectedness of architecture, historic preservation, sustainability, race & gender.
EPSISODE 6: Elizabeth Sobol & Maureen Sager
“NATURE, ART & PEOPLE: The Divine Union and the role the”y play in shaping our experience and world”
This episode features Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) and Maureen Sager, Executive Director of the Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy (ACE).
EPISODE 5: CA Conrad, Kate Durbin & Cat Tyc
“ECO POETICS: From Somatic Rituals to Everyday Trash and Everything In-between”
This episode features poetry readings and conversation with CA Conrad, Kate Durbin and Cat Tyc, director of The Home School. Their upcoming season of virtual workshops offered us an opportunity to discuss the way they teach, but more specifically the rituals in which they create. The realms explored range from electronic poetry arts, to hoarders and the tricky relationship between people and things, traumas, healing and the sacred EARTH.
EPISODE 4: R.B. Schlather & Roddy Bottum
“The Future of Opera: Sasquatch, Rip Van Winkle and Chosen Families”
Conversation about the intersections of the underground world of art and the old world of opera between Opera Director / Artist R.B. Schlather and Musician Roddy Bottum. Opera was created 100s of years ago as an artistic experiment of the European elite, but after speaking to RB and Roddy we find ourselves wondering if it could stand to benefit from being reclaimed by local communities and the underworld. From DIY dioramas and pen pal projects, to mutual understanding about queer solitude, we may wonder what world would not benefit from such creativity?
In honor of Pride Month and our commitment to artistic subcultures, we celebrate these two independent and innovative artists on this Basilica Conversation Podcast.
EPISODE 3: Elise McMahon of LikeMindedObjects
“Cross Industry Solution Hunting, Wastestream Research, & Regional Manufacturing!”
Learn about the underworld of FAST FASHION and it’s connection to West Africa, about RESOURCEFUL DESIGN and a new design headquarters in Hudson that aims to inspire the “spinning of gears” to deconstruct the design, materials and previous lives of objects on display.
LMO creates furniture, accessories and custom interiors in a contemporary joyful aesthetic with a resourceful design eye looking to local materials and technologies that respect communities and environment
EPISODE 2: Jon Bowermaster, Susannah Bradley & Rebecca Wolff
How do we break out of echo chambers? How do we mobilize both individual action and systemic change, and what role can the arts play in climate action?
This episode of the Basilica Conversation Series Podcast features oceans expert, journalist, author, and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster; SunCommon’s Regional Director of Marketing Susannah Bradley; and writer, publisher and City of Hudson Alderperson Rebecca Wolff as they tackle these questions and more.
EPISODE 1: Rebecca Foon & Jesse Paris Smith of Pathway to Paris/1000 Cities
Becky Foon and Jesse Paris Smith are both musicians, activists, and co-founders of Pathway to Paris, a non-profit organization dedicated to turning the Paris Agreement into reality. They bring together musicians, artists, activists, academics, mayors and innovators, to raise consciousness surrounding the urgency of climate.
Becky Foon also is a member of the Basilica Hudson Board of Directors, and based in Montreal. Jesse Smith is based in NYC.
Basilica x H0l0 Podcast
PLACE OF ASSEMBLY: The Art Emergence in Upstate New York
W/ Co-Host Sam Hillmer of H0l0 & Melissa Auf der Maur of Basilica Hudson
We were thrilled to partner with H0L0 and Experimental Sound Studio Chicago on their Place of Assembly Podcast last spring. Place of Assembly is a podcast that looks at the role of physical space in cultural production and in the lives of artists and creative communities of practice. Together we produced a 4 part series titled “The Art Emergence in Upstate New York” to explore in depth three established arts organizations founded a decade or more ago in the Hudson Valley: Basilica Hudson, WGXC/WaveFarm and PS21 Chatham. Then by comparison, in the fourth episode we met three emerging arts organizations— The Tenth Magazine, Hudson Eye, and The Hudson Art Fair— taking root in the dynamic City of Hudson, NY, where the city itself is the Place of Assembly.
Place of Assembly is produced by H0L0.NYC in partnership with Experimental Sound Studio Chicago and 8 Ball Radio.
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The Art Emergence in Upstate NY created in partnership with Basilica Hudson
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND ART EMERGENCE IN UPSTATE NY
Deeply rooted in its geographical location, Basilica Hudson has evolved over the last decade in tandem with the City of Hudson and the region’s ongoing transformation. Basilica has drawn inspiration for its mission and programs from the city’s eclectic and epic history, as well as the region’s legacy of arts and environmental movements. As a platform for innovative voices in arts and culture, it strives to explore the new culture of the people who live there, within the context of those who were here before us.
Basilica Hudson is situated directly on the Hudson River, which itself is one of the biggest “superfund sites” and ecological disaster of epic proportions in the USA, and which served as a catalyst for the modern day environmental movements that took root in the region.
The “Niagara Falls” painting by Thomas Cole, founding father of the Hudson River School Painters (the first american arts movement) was somewhat responsible for the creation of the National Parks Department, and government entity that acknowledged the power and the beauty of nature which is their responsibility to protect for the people of the country.
What role do art and culture movements play in the change we want to see in the world?
In honor of its 10 year anniversary in 2020, Basilica as an organizer of and platform for innovative expression and culture, extended its commitment to the climate crisis and the intersections of social, ecological and economic inequity. We will all have to work together to elevate the places we live during the post-COVID, post-Trump and post-Truth era.
What we explored during this podcast is the role that “places of assembly” in Upstate NY play during this major moment of transition, revision and healing in the aftermath of a pandemic, a divisive political climate, social media fueling post-truth mania.
ABOUT PLACE OF ASSEMBLY
Every episode of PLACE OF ASSEMBLY features a new artist space. We look at any space that exists in the physical world, and in some way house creative communities and cultural production.
During a time of enforced isolation, while all of our places of gathering and work have been closed off to us, we were in a unique position to consider what these places mean to us.
Place of Assembly is produced by H0L0.NYC in partnership with Experimental Sound Studio Chicago and 8 Ball Radio.
ABOUT Sam Hillmer
Co-host Sam Hillmer is a Brooklyn-based musician, artist, and curator. He is creative director of the Queens-based venue H0l0, founding member of the band Zs, and one half of the art duo Trouble. He also makes music as Diamond Terrifier. Recent collaborations include Dirty Projectors, Laurel Halo, Arto Lindsay, and Tauba Auerbach.
In 1998 Sam co-founded the new music presenting organization Wet Ink, from 2010-12 he ran the weekly out music party PRACTICE at erstwhile Williamsburg venue Zebulon, from 2013-16 he founded and operated Ridgewood based venue Trans-Pecos, in 2016 Sam participated in beginning the live music program at Maspeth Queens based Knockdown Center, and in 2017 co-founded H0L0. Sam has led music and performance programs for fine arts based institutions including Sculpture Center, the Queens Museum, Pioneer Works, and art fairs New Art Dealers Alliance, Satellite art fair, and Miami Project.
Sam has been active as a youth and community based arts organizer for over 20 years.
ABOUT MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
Co-host Melissa Auf der Maur, Co-Founder and Director of Basilica Hudson, was born in Montreal, Canada and raised with a fine arts education, focusing on music and photography. From 1994-1999, Auf der Maur was a member and bass player of the alternative rock band Hole and is featured on the Grammy nominated album Celebrity Skin. She joined the Smashing Pumpkins in 2000 for their Farewell World Tour. She has also released two solo albums, Auf der Maur (2004) and Out of Our Minds (2010). The latter project comprises an album, a comic book, and a fantasy film which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Auf der Maur’s photographs have been exhibited internationally, including at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and have appeared in such publications as Spin, Elle, Nylon, and American Photo. In 2010 with filmmaker Tony Stone, she co-founded Basilica Hudson, the multidisciplinary arts center supporting the creation, production and presentation of independent and innovative arts and culture while fostering sustainable community, ecology and economy. Basilica welcomes over 40,000 visitors each season to a wide range of music festivals, performances, and large scale market place events, alongside a regular film screenings series, an artist in residency program, and other community gatherings.
ABOUT H0L0
H0L0 – is a Ridgewood Queens based music and performance venue devoted to outsider communities of creative practice. H0L0 was founded in July of 2017 by Sam Hillmer, Marco Boggio-Sella, and Craig Kalpakjian.
THE ART EMERGENCE IN UPSTATE NY PT. 1 – W/ COHOST MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
March 8: Part 1 takes a deep dive into Basilica Hudson’s history and evolution in the arts, organizing, green energy and creative economy. Plus Melissa’s stories as a Canadian rock artist and what, after traveling the world, led her to lay down roots in Hudson, NY.
THE ART EMERGENCE IN UPSTATE NY PT. 2 – W/ COHOST MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
March 15: Sam and Melissa talk to co-founders Galen Joseph-Hunter and Tom Roe of Acra, NY’s Wave Farm about transmission and experimentation on air!
THE ART EMERGENCE IN UPSTATE NY PT. 3 – W/ COHOST MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
March 22: Sam and Melissa welcome Elena Siyanko of the stunning PS21 of Chatham, NY along with board chair Marian Karaupskopf, to dig deeper on public space, socialism, and performance.
THE ART EMERGENCE IN UPSTATE NY PT. 4 – W/ COHOST MELISSA AUF DER MAUR
March 29: Sam and Melissa speak with leadership from three emerging arts organizations in the City of Hudson: The Tenth Magazine, Hudson Eye, and The Hudson Art Fair. Hudson as Place of Assembly… Find out about that!
WATCH/LISTEN:
ON MIXCLOUD – Archived episodes