Season 10: Year In Review

A message from Melissa Auf der Maur, Basilica Hudson Co-Founder and Director:

Upon first feasting my eyes on the Basilica building, “TEMPLE OF SOUND” is what was clearly communicated to me. From our annual 24-HOUR DRONE, Basilica SoundScape and Freak Flag Day, to smaller but no less significant sound-based happenings at Basilica in the last decade, we as a collective, can confirm this love at first sight hunch to be true. 

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2020 was Basilica Hudson’s 10th Anniversary Season. After a decade of presenting innovative and genre-pushing programming, our vision for this transformative season was grand: bigger crowds, a diverse range of visiting artists, new marketplace events and an integration of environmental advocacy into every public program. 

The momentum was palpable; then COVID-19 brought us to a sudden halt. Event postponements turned into cancelations, and like so many other arts organizations, nonprofits and independent venues, we had to completely rethink what was possible in 2020. But our commitment and energy did not recede.

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We’re beyond grateful for the many friends, artists and like-minded partners who have been with us through our reimagined 10th Anniversary Season. Thank you to our PROGRAM PARTNERS for helping us bring innovative, independent voices to Hudson and to our SUPPORTERS for making our programs possible.

In what turned out to be such an unpredictable year for all, we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for your ingenuity, and for supporting and nurturing Basilica Hudson’s evolution during this remarkable time of change.

The world is ripe for transformation and we are honored to share that opportunity with all of you. May we build a more just, equitable, joyful future together.

Basilica Institutional Donors

Basilica Program Partners

Basilica Supporters

Thank you also to the Basilica Hudson Board Of Directors, Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Annie Bielski, Rebecca Borrer, Sarah Van Buren, Joshua M. Cohen, Susan Danziger, Angelina Dreem, Cassidy Ellis, James Esber, Cora Fisher, Rebecca Foon, Hillary France of Wylde Hudson, Anita Glesta, Haley Josephs, Patton Hindle, IMPATV, Mayor Kamal Johnson, Samia Khan, Dylan Kraus, Jim Krewson, Mary Mattingly, Shanekia McIntosh, Sayler/Morris, Moor Mother, Music on the Rebound, Amanda Palmer, Pauline Oliveros Trust, Alex Petraglia of the Hudson Business Coalition, Elvis Perkins, Kris Perry, Patty Schemel, Brandon Stosuy, Rufus Wainwright, Jorn Weisbrodt and Rebecca Wolff.

In December of 2020, congress passed a COVID relief bill that includes the #SaveOurStages Act, which provides funding opportunities for venues facing economic hardships as a result of the pandemic. In 2020 we joined thousands of other performing arts centers across the country in lighting up our building for a “Red Alert” nationwide call to action (pictured below). This government support is a crucial step, but not a final solution, to saving performing arts organizations in 2021.

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Inspired by our beloved art factory’s expanded mission referred to as BASILICA GREEN, Basilica Hudson has programmed this series to engage and activate people in the urgent issues of climate and social justice. Hosting a series of conversations between local and national leaders in arts, activism, climate and social initiatives, Basilica will present each of the following online through Zoom and Instagram Live.

Tues Oct 20 | 6PM EST | WATCH HERE
Conversation Series: “Intersectionality and Art” with Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) and Melissa Auf der Maur (Basilica Hudson)

On Tuesday Oct 20, Camae Ayewa of Moor Mother and Basilica Hudson Co-Founder and Director Melissa Auf der Maur discussed intersectionality + art, Ayewa’s musical journey, Black Quantum Futurism, environmental racism and life during the pandemic.
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Camae’s performance at Basilica SoundScape 2017 left a lasting impression on us. Beyond the visceral and shapeshifting sounds and genres she occupies on stage, she is a deeply engaged citizen and community organizer in her home of Philadelphia. Her work helps us find ways for art and action to intersect with sociological systems during this pivotal moment in history.⁣

This conversation was generously supported in part by Red Bull⁣

Thurs Oct 22 | 3PM EST | Watch here
Conversation Series: “The Climate Crisis Affects Us ALL: Activating Local, Global and Virtual Voices” with Joshua M. Cohen (Director of Campaigns, Environmental Advocates NY), Susan Danziger (The Spark of Hudson), Rebecca Foon (Pathway to Paris / 1000 Cities), Samia Khan (Storyteller, Founder Railbed Productions), Shanekia McIntosh (Artist / Organizer) and Rebecca Wolff (City of Hudson Alderperson). Moderated by Melissa Auf der Maur (Basilica Hudson)

Join us for a live panel discussion about the connections between the climate crisis and challenging social and economic issues our communities face, featuring City of Hudson elected officials, climate policy advocates, social and economic justice advocates, youth organizers, storytellers and global climate crisis specialists.

Tues Oct 27 | 6PM EST | WATCH HERE
Conversation Series: A Discussion on Watersheds and Climate with Artists Mary Mattingly and Anita Glesta

Artists Mary Mattingly and Anita Glesta speak about watersheds, cultivating ecological understanding, the role of art in imagining the future and more. Both Mattingly and Glesta have been working at Basilica Hudson during the month of October and there are many intersections between their work. Among other things both have been thinking recently about watersheds and climate—Glesta through her large-scale Watershed video installation that is showing now at the Hudson waterfront and Mattingly through her Year of Public Water project and also through her Ecotopian Library project, which she is working on while an artist-in-residence at Basilica. The conversation will be facilitated by artist Edward Morris of Sayler/Morris, The Canary Project and most recently Toolshed, a key partner with Basilica Green. Toolshed and Basilica are collaborating with Mattingly on a Hudson version of the Ecotopian Library.

Dear Friends of Basilica Hudson (and everyone who misses being at an alternative music, cultural art event in a crowded old factory anywhere on planet earth!),

I am writing to you today because Basilica is launching our first Kickstarter Campaign and because I wanted to talk to you personally about why I hope you’ll support us.

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This upcoming weekend would have marked our eighth annual Basilica SoundScape: A Weekend of Music + Art. Like so many other arts organizations and venues, we once again had to make the difficult but necessary decision to cancel due to COVID-19. With another Basilica seasonal landmark passed, we wanted to give a special thanks to our collaborator since the beginning Brandon Stosuy of The Creative Independent, and all the artists, partners and attendees – lovers of the emerging, the fringe, the avant-garde, the loud, the beautiful, the weird – who have shared their art and energies with us and believed in our vision.

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10 YEARS OF BASILICA HUDSON

In 2020, Basilica Hudson turns 10. To celebrate this important milestone, we’re opening up our archive to share highlights from the last decade of championing independent and innovative voices. 

Our BASILICA TEN campaign will feature tributes, audio/video footage and photography of past visiting creatives and programs to reflect on moments that have shaped Basilica, offering a window into the past to help define our future. This moment of PAUSE in our world offers much time for reflection and opportunity for change. 

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Dear Invaluable Friend of Basilica Hudson – 

Hello from my isolation to yours. I hope this finds you and yours first and foremost, healthy and feeling safe. 

I have been thinking so much about the fate and changes to our big and beautiful factory, and the people who make it what it is: YOU. The Basilica people who visit us, follow us, celebrate with us and share in our love of the emerging, the fringe, the avant-garde, the loud, the beautiful, the weird, the friendly, the handmade, the unique, the yummy and the ABSOLUTE BLISS OF SHARING NEW EXPERIENCES WITH FELLOW HUMANS. 

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Saturday, April 25 – Sunday, April 26 2020

“An ocean will never separate us it will always connect us. Music is free and travels without being hindered by borders, differences or distances.” – NEVER TEMPLE (Toronto, CA + Amsterdam, NL)

 

This past weekend’s 24-HOUR DRONE was our very first foray into online music + sound events during these strange times. It was both a communal learning experience in what it means to “gather” online when “IRL” is not possible, as well as a communal healing process for many that left us feeling deeply connected while still apart.

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