The Art of Rural Resilience

The Prattsvile Art Center is a laboratory for creativity and rural recovery. The inclusive energy of the arts has helped to heal our flood-damaged region and strengthen connections between rural and urban communities. Bringing together histories and cultures through art, music, video, classes, residencies, festivals, community meals, & social services, the Center is a safe space for everyone. Celebrating the diversity that enriches us all, the Center’s programs have been free for 15 years.

The Art Center wishes to honor the Haudenoasunee Confederacy, on whose unceded homelands our Center is located. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of members of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Nations, and are sometimes referred to as Iroquois. To learn more about the current Haudenosaunee Confederacy, visit www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com

Land acknowledgement

Rural Arts and a new Workforce

The Center’s new Digital Studios are part of our arts and workforce initiative to bring diverse new employment possibilities to residents, enabling them to stay in their rural community. Classes in robotics, coding, and computer IT servicing begin this fall. The labs are open for classes from 3:30 - 6. A new partnership with Google allows us to offer Google Career Certificate classes for free

e-mail -nab2@nyu.edu to register

The Digital Studios operate as a Creative Incubator and Co-Working Space for the community and Artists in Residence

The Center was founded after the Town’s Main Street was destroyed by a hurricane.

The damaged building was rebuilt by artists, interns, and local volunteers, and is now home to a gallery, performing arts stage, library, wi-fi coffee bar, digital and mixed media studios, and a residency. Residencies are available to artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and multi-media artists. The Center hosts retreats, workshops and event rentals year round.

Artists in Residence on Schoharie Creek, part of the Catskill Watershed, which provides 90% of the water supply to New York City.

Phoenix Web Free Store and Maker Space is now located at the Prattsville Art Center at 14562 Rt 23. Their Free Store, where everything is free, is the first clothing and household goods shop in the community

Music and Performance Events include an annual 3 day Summer festival, Headed for the Hills, which highlights experimental, electronic, and noise based performers along with multi-media events and theater workshops. The Music Box on Main Street theater also hosts year round performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions for the community

Luisa Muhr with 3 in a Septet performing in the Music Box Theater, Artists in Residence mix established artists, writers, filmmakers, and musicians with emerging practitioners.

The Music Box on Main Street Theater was designed and built by artists Delaney Martin & Taylor-Lee Shepherd, artist Hugo Montoya, and local carpenter Calvin Robinson with Dale Robinson, Homer Snyder, Lily Lasher, and Nancy Barton

PAC’s studios and Phoenix Web’s Maker Space offer mentoring, internships, clubs, and workshops for rural youth. Classes are free and held in small groups with personal instruction.