$10K 'Tent Pole Commission' Grant To Hudson Valley Shakespeare Fest

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for its Tent Pole Commissioning program.

"The Tent Pole Commission is a new play development program that serves artists across theatrical disciplines as they create new work for HVSF’s mainstage and beyond, and inspired by the landscape of our new permanent home overlooking the Hudson River," HVSF Managing Director Kendra Ekelund told Patch. "HVSF provides participating artists with flexible development and financial support through three phases of creation: Creative, Research, and Workshop. Tent Pole artists have the opportunity to move at their own pace through each phase, with the guidance of HVSF staff and collaborators. HVSF is also committed to offering the majority of our commissions to underrepresented and BIPOC artists."

Since its first season in 1987, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has been wowing audiences with open-air theater performed against the stunning backdrop of the Hudson River. It moved to a a new 98-acre permanent home in Philipstown from the historic Boscobel estate in 2022 with plans to break ground on a new theater there this summer.

The federal grant provides a perfect framework for the 2024 season, Ekelund said, "as one of our three productions (performed in rotating repertory) is the world premiere of a new play by Heidi Armbruster, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which was commissioned and developed here at HVSF through a Tent Pole commission. The 2024 season is a real exploration of what it means to be a classical theater for the 21st century. We have three astonishingly talented living American playwrights who have written fresh and relevant works inspired by three writers of the classical canon: Shakespeare, Euripedes, and Agatha Christie."

The awards — dozens of grants to organizations across upstate New York — were announced by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, to whom Ekelund expressed gratitude for their unwavering support of the arts in New York.

The senators said the $1,225,000 in funding would allow beloved cultural organizations and nonprofits to support artists, musicians, exhibitions, educational programing and public engagement and outreach to help grow those vital industries.

“The arts define who we are as a nation and are pivotal in the advancement of our education and economy,” Gillibrand said. “Promoting the arts sparks life in our communities, and this $1.2 million in federal funding is a major investment in local organizations to advance art, music, and culture in Upstate New York."

Learn more about the HVSF's 2024 season here.