Basilica HudsonDigital programs, green initiatives and public art are at the heart of new announcements for Basilica’s Ten-Year Anniversary Season

Hudson, N.Y. - Having postponed its planned 2020 spring season of programming due to Covid-19, Basilica Hudson - the 501(c)(3) non-profit multidisciplinary arts center founded by musician Melissa Auf der Maur and filmmaker Tony Stone - has announced a revised plan centered on continuing to support art and artists through digital programming, the creation of new work, climate action films, and the presentation of a new piece of public art.

As Melissa Auf der Maur says:
“2020 is both Basilica’s ten year anniversary, and the 50 year anniversary of Earth Day and, with that, our BASILICA GREEN Initiative and Net Zero Campus Project are launched. While we’re disappointed not to be able to mark these important milestones with the in-person company of our fellow humans, we remain committed to our mission of fostering sustainable community, ecology and economy. As Basilica enters a moment of transformation, we consider what our mission can look like in the wake of this new unknown and the ongoing climate crisis. We are confident and grateful that the creative spirit will persist, and that this moment will inform our communities of how to work together and create a more sustainable future. We invite our friends and neighbors in Hudson to take a solo walk on our grounds and visit Mother Earth, the timely artwork of our longstanding neighbor and collaborator, Kris Perry."

New Public Artwork: Mother Earth
Basilica’s revised program launches with the unveiling of artist Kris Perry’s 35’ CorTen steel sculpture Mother Earth, which will be on display on Basilica’s grounds until summer 2020. Rooted in both ancient and futuristic architectural forms, Mother Earth compels viewers to contemplate their relationship to the natural world. The sculpture asks viewers to both look inward towards the self and outward towards the cosmos to discover one’s personal and collective responsibility to the planet we all call home.

Artist Kris Perry says:
“Since its inception, Basilica has proven itself a thriving hub for the arts in the Hudson Valley. A multinational array of artists, makers, and other creatives have worked in this venue; it has proven to be a welcoming place for all, and has become the epicenter of a vibrant community. While their doors are closed for now, the creativity and community nurtured within lives on. Basilica's focus in 2020 is on the natural environment, so I have been thrilled to install my newest steel sculpture, Mother Earth, on their grounds. I have worked with their team to create an outdoor space to visit in this difficult time - a perfect place for self-reflection. I hope that during its stay at Basilica Hudson, Mother Earth will serve as a symbol of hope and a testament to resilience in the days ahead.”

Re-imagined programming: 24-HOUR DRONE and BASILICA GREEN
Online and digital reworkings of Basilica’s postponed programs are also being planned, with streaming options for audiences to participate in both BASILICA GREEN and 24-HOUR DRONE while safely in isolation in their homes.

In celebration of Earth Day, on Tuesday, April 21 Basilica will continue its collaboration with Certified BCorp SunCommon to present a streamed selection of short films focused on solutions to the climate crisis, as part of SunCommon’s Climate Action Film Festival. Filmmakers will include long-time friend of BASILICA GREEN initiatives Jon Bowermaster, whose award-winning work presents striking and beautiful local and global studies into those working to combat the climate and energy crisis. Further films will tackle topics ranging from the work of Extinction Rebellion, to the innovative activism of two indigenous poets.

Later in April, with 24-HOUR DRONE’s in-person event postponed until April 2021, Basilica will continue to collaborate with both its long-established local and international community, with web-based DRONE programming taking place during its previously scheduled weekend of Saturday, April 25 - Sunday, April 26.

In the continued spirit of creating music without borders, local and international partners will join forces to keep the DRONE dream alight, including 24-HOUR DRONE’s long-standing co-presenters Le Guess Who?

Basilica will also be working in partnership with a number of other droners who will present their own streams from around the world. These partners include the newly-formed, Hudson-based initiative Live from Quarantine, collaborators and Sweden-based Lumen Project, Brooklyn-based The Lot Radio, The Deep Listening Institute with online festival Music on the Rebound, and Salford, UK-based Fat Out Fest with Islington Mill Public Access TV. The full lineup of partners and artists will be announced shortly.

Basilica will also be streaming the audio from its inaugural 2015 24-HOUR DRONE in its entirety on WGXC / Wave Farm Radio. Tune in at noon on Saturday till noon on Sunday via wavefarm.org or locally in Greene and Columbia counties at 90.7 FM.
 

Supporting the Creation of New Work: Hudson As Muse
Thanks, in part, to the support of Basilica Hudson’s first NEA Art Works Visual Arts Grant, the Hudson As Muse Basilica Back Gallery Artist in Residence Series will continue to support the creation of site-specific work centered on Hudson’s unique geographic location and community. The series will launch later in 2020 when circumstances and schedule permit. Seven artists in residence have been selected by a Curatorial Advisory Panel and will collaborate with program partners, community members and neighboring cultural institutions to design, create, implement and present new works. 2020’s selected artists include Marka Kiley, Scott Keightley, Kamau Patton, Godfrey Nelson, Erika deVries, Mary Mattingly and Julie Evans. Following each 1 - 4 week residency, Basilica Hudson will host a free public culminating event, including exhibitions, artists talks and participatory activities, with digital presentations being scheduled wherever possible to allow for an immersion in art in uncertain times.

Expanding the Basilica Green Initiative: Toolshed 

As part of BASILICA GREEN - Basilica Hudson’s expanded commitment to sharing and informing its audience on sustainable and regenerative practices - the directors and team have also forged a number of new program partnerships that will complement the organization’s expanded mission.

Basilica will launch a new collaboration and partnership with artist duo Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler / Morris), who will join Basilica Hudson as artists-and-curators-in-residence for 2020. Sayler / Morris are also co-founders of The Canary Project, a collective that has produced more than 20 art and media projects that deepen public understanding of ecological issues such as climate change, extinction, food systems and water resources. As part of their partnership with Basilica Hudson, Sayler / Morris will be working on a long-term, multi-faceted project called Toolshed that gathers and shares tools for a livable future. Toolshed will be developed in tandem with Basilica’s Net Zero Campus infrastructure improvement project supported in part by NYSERDA. The addition of Toolshed will form the core of BASILICA GREEN, an expanded initiative that enriches Basilica Hudson’s public programming, and supports the creation of new joint initiatives, including site-specific installations, ecological workshops, and educational programming series.

Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler / Morris & The Canary Project) say:
“COVID-19 has only made apparent what was already there beneath the surface: a global emergency; a need for community; a re-centering of our relationship to earth (not The Earth, but earth). And here is the thing about Basilica Hudson: it already gets all that! Basilica is the sort of cultural institution we need post-virus—ecologically focused, rooted in place, open and forward-thinking. We are so grateful to be working with Basilica to forge this vision for the future and to partner in developing our new project: Toolshed, an ambitious cultural platform where we gather and share tools for a livable future. We can’t wait to share with the entire Basilica community and invite everyone out there to join in. Launching just as soon as we can!”

More information on all upcoming programs can be found at basilicahudson.org


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SUPPORTERS
The Hudson As Muse Basilica Back Gallery Artist In Residence Series is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

The Hudson As Muse Basilica Back Gallery Artist In Residence Series is generously supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Basilica Hudson’s music and marketplace programs are supported by a large roster of generous sponsors and community partners. More information is available at Basilica Hudson Supporters.

ABOUT BASILICA HUDSON
Founded in 2010 by Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone, Basilica Hudson is a 501(c)(3) non-profit multidisciplinary art center supporting the creation and production of innovative art and ecological programming to further the region’s creative economy and help build a more liveable future.

Housed in a reclaimed solar-powered 1880s industrial factory on the riverfront in Hudson, NY and walking distance to a major Amtrak station, Basilica produces 30+ free and low cost programs that invite visitors to discover the Hudson Valley’s rich legacy of cultural and environmental movements.

In celebration of its 10-year anniversary, Basilica 2020 brings local and global green initiatives to the forefront of its creative mission through expanded programs and new strategic partnerships with leaders in the field of sustainability.

Basilica looks forward to another decade of furthering the creative economy, serving its community and inspiring collective climate action while bringing people together through the transformative power of music, art and culture.