Rebecca McNamara, the Frances Young Tang ’61 Associate Curator, leads a tour of “Up to Us: Black Dimensions in Art, 1975–Tomorrow” on July 19, 2025. Photo by Shawn Lachapelle.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announced Wednesday a series of free public tours for the fall season, including Tang Guide Tours each Sunday beginning Sept. 7, and monthly Curator’s Tours.
The Tang rotates exhibitions in and out of its galleries, presenting more than a dozen each year. Fall exhibitions include “See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection,” opening Sept. 13, a sweeping presentation of contemporary art collected over the last five decades; the recently opened “All These Growing Things,” an exploration of becoming and belonging through a selection of work from the Tang collection, which now numbers over 20,0000 objects; and “Sheila Pepe: Where and When We Rest,” opening Oct. 11, the sixth iteration in the mezzanine installation project that invites an artist to design a community lounge space.
Continuing through Nov. 2 is “Up to Us: Black Dimensions in Art, 1975–Tomorrow,” which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the grassroots organization through archival material, oral histories, and art.
Tang Guide Tours
Sundays, Sept. 7– Dec. 7, 2 p.m.
A tour of current exhibitions with a Tang Guide.
Curator’s Tours of “Up to Us: Black Dimensions in Art, 1975–Tomorrow”
Thursday, Sept. 18, noon
Rebecca McNamara, the Frances Young Tang ’61 Associate Curator, leads the tour.
Curators’ Tour of All These Growing Things
Thursday, Oct. 9, noon
Led by McNamara.
Curators’ Tour of “See It Now: Contemporary Art from the Ann and Mel Schaffer Collection”
Thursday, Nov. 13, noon
Ian Berry, Dayton Director, leads the tour.
Curators’ Tour of “Sheila Pepe: Where and When We Rest”
Thursday, Dec. 11, noon
Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator, leads the tour.
For more information about these tours or about other upcoming events, please visit https://tang.skidmore.edu or call the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080.
Mosaic Foundation performs at Putnam Place as part of the 8/20 Block Party concert celebration. Photo by Super Source Media.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Four bands took to the Putnam Place stage on Aug. 20 as part of the Block Party concert presented by High Peaks Event Production.
The celebration featured 3 artist vendors and musical performances by Rome (formerly of Sublime with Rome), Mosaic Foundation, Moon Boot Lover, and Sophistafunk.
The event was initially scheduled to take place on Ellsworth Jones Place outside the Saratoga Springs City Center but was moved indoors to Putnam Place due to rain. Admission to the event was free.
A DeLorean made to resemble the one featured in the 1985 film “Back to the Future,” on display at SPAC on Aug. 23. Photo by Stefanie Waldek.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A vintage DeLorean (although presumably not a time-traveling one) was displayed on the grounds of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) last Saturday for a special “movie night” screening of the 1985 classic “Back to the Future.”
The film was accompanied by a live score courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Event-goers were able to examine the DeLorean up close and take photos with it.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The word “legend” is tossed around quite a bit, but it’s hard not to apply the term to Eric Andersen. The singer-songwriter has collaborated with people like Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, the Grateful Dead, Lou Reed, and Johnny Cash, to name a few.
His career, documented in the 2019 PBS film “The Songpoet,” began in the famed Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, the same time and place fictionalized in films like “A Complete Unknown” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” Andersen himself appeared in front of the camera in Warhol’s 1965 underground film “Space,” as well as “Festival Express,” a music doc chronicling a 1970 train tour that featured the Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, and many others.
But it’s Andersen’s remarkable gift for crafting elegant, lovely, sometimes haunting songs for which he’s most recognized. His 1972 album “Blue River” remains his most acclaimed. The release of his latest LP, “Dance of Love and Death,” preceded a fall 2025 tour that will bring him to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs on Sept. 5. The performance will also include Steve Addabbo on lead guitar and Cheryl Prashker on percussion.
Prior to the start of his tour, Andersen answered a few questions for Saratoga TODAY. Below are his responses.
Saratoga TODAY: You’ve played at Caffe Lena before. In your experience touring the globe, do you find that there are many traditional folk music venues like Lena remaining?
Eric Andersen: It’s been a while, but I think Passim still operates in Cambridge. No more Bottom Line, Gaslight, or Folk City in New York. Otherwise, I think there are very few left.
ST: The Grateful Dead hold an important place in Saratoga’s music history, having played to the largest-ever crowd at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. What was it like spending time with the Dead during the Festival Express? Are there any memories that stand out in your mind?
EA: On the Festival Express, I got to be friends with Jerry Garcia and Bobby Weir. (Janis Joplin, Ian and Sylvia, and Rick Danko were the only friends whom I knew from before). All very nice, talented, good people to know. I wrote the song “Weather Report” with the Dead.
ST: “Dance of Love and Death” is your first album of all-new material since 2003. How do you determine when a collection of songs is ready to be released into the world? What makes an album feel complete?
EA: Complete? Good question! In my judgement, I think most works of art (songs, recordings, albums–maybe even paintings and novels…) are all more or less abandoned rather than ever “finished.” Each project just sort of reaches its own conclusion and becomes a song, album, painting, or novel. In this case, the album “Dance” is a collection of New York recordings I made when I was in town from my home in Europe and we did keep adding songs and recordings over the course of twelve years.
Finally, after arriving at seventeen good works, we called it quits and put out the double album “Dance of Love and Death.” It kind of ended itself and became a sort of a love song album. Maybe the best one since “Ghosts Upon the Road” and “Blue River.”
Barbara Takenaga, Wheel (Zozma), 2008, stenciled linen pulp and acrylic on cotton and abaca base sheet, 20 x 16 1/2 inches, Tang Museum collection, gift of Dieu Donné, New York. Image provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Aug. 23, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College launched “All These Growing Things,” a year-long exhibition of contemporary and historical paintings, prints, textiles, photography, and sculpture from the Tang Museum collection that explores questions of becoming and belonging. The exhibition will be on view until July 19, 2026.
Organized around four central ideas—Ancestries, Masks, Transformations, and Hybrids—the exhibition traces personal, ancestral, and cultural histories; considers masking as both revelation and concealment; explores the transformative possibilities of our lives; and highlights interconnections among humans, plants, and animals. Hybrids functions as a cross-cutting thread that weaves through the other three sections to draw out these interconnections.
“All These Growing Things promises to spark new ideas about the interconnections between all of us,” said Ian Berry, Dayton Director. “As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, this exhibition reflects our mission as a hub of interdisciplinary art and ideas—where exhibitions can catalyze creative thinking.”
Many of the works on view are recent acquisitions that are being exhibited at the museum for the first time, including gifts from Ann and Mel Schaffer, Peter Norton, Jack Shear, Eileen and Michael Cohen, and Dieu Donné, a nonprofit that supports artists and papermaking.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. The Tang Museum, located on the Skidmore College campus at 815 N. Broadway in Saratoga Springs, is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, with extended hours until 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
Six-year-old double bass player Kullyn Hughes (with his “assistant” Camela) after performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC on Aug. 21. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) hosted its eighth annual PlayIN event last Thursday, allowing 90 local string musicians to perform on stage with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Participants ranged in age from as young as six to as old as eighty.
The youngest musician – Kullyn Hughes from Melrose, New York – had been playing for only two months when he joined in with one of the nation’s most esteemed symphony orchestras.
“It was pretty cool,” Kullyn said. “I mean…whoa!”
Kullyn played a double bass that was taller than he was, with some assistance from an adult. He said he was considering switching to the violin.
On stage, Kullyn and company were led by Assistant Conductor Naomi Woo, who provided some helpful feedback and seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself. Other Philadelphia Orchestra pros participating in the event included First Associate Concertmaster Juliette Kang, bass player Joseph Conyers, and nine other string musicians. Later in the performance, two members of the classically trained string group Time for Three – Nick Kendall and Charles Yang – joined on stage as well.
All of the local musicians who participated in the event were given two free tickets to return later that evening for the “Copland & Bates with Time for Three” concert.
According to SPAC, PlayINs are signature events for The Philadelphia Orchestra and part of the ensemble’s HEAR initiative, a portfolio of programs promoting the role of music in health, education, access, and research. The PlayINs have taken place regularly in Philadelphia since 2012 and in Saratoga since 2017, and are part of an array of programs designed to promote access for people of all ages to experience orchestral music either as listeners or performers.
A rendering of the proposed Mostly Modern Arts Center in the Town of Saratoga. Image provided by Victoria and Robert Paterson
SARATOGA — Since the publication of a story last week about the proposed Mostly Modern Arts Center in the Town of Saratoga, opposition to the project appears to have increased. A Facebook group pushing back against the project grew from 53 members to 92. A similar Change.org petition has also gone from 89 signatures to more than 200.
Victoria and Robert Paterson, the co-founders of the Mostly Modern Festival who are spearheading the project, spoke with Saratoga TODAY about their plans for the center, which they indicated will be smaller, quieter, and less intrusive than opponents may believe.
“We have to help take down the temperature and try to get the facts clear,” Victoria said.
“Almost everything is going to take place indoors and the space is entirely soundproof,” Robert said. “For those rare moments when we have something where we open the front doors towards County Route 68, which is where it faces, those events are going to be mostly classical and all chamber music, and fairly infrequent.”
The Robertsons also said they will attend the Town Board meeting on Sept. 8, when a public hearing about the project is scheduled to take place, according to the town’s Aug. 11 meeting minutes.
“We get that our neighbors get worried because they may not understand everything and they’re still learning,” Robert said. “If there are some facts that seem a little confusing, we want to make sure we get the facts straight.”
A circulated flyer titled “Protect the Peace, Safety, and Rural Charm We Call Home” states that the center would have a 100-car parking lot. Although a variety of documents have mentioned that the center would have 100 spaces total (including grass overflow spaces), there are no plans for one paved parking lot with 100 spaces, the Patersons said.
“There will be 51 total paved parking spaces between the cabins (when those are ever built) and the building,” Robert said. “All those parking spaces will be behind the woods and hidden. There will be grass areas where people can park if there’s overflow. Those are not paved.”
The flyer also states that an outdoor amphitheater for performances is planned. The Patersons said that this outdoor performance space would include a small stage capable of fitting about five performers. A seating area in front of that stage could fit “no more than about 30 or 40 people,” Robert said.
“I don’t want our neighbors to think we’re the next Coachella,” Victoria said.
A project proposal from June mentioned that as many as five cabins could be built on the site. Robert said this number was more of a “maximum potential” and “definitely not what we’re planning right now.” The total number of cabins, which would primarily be used to house visiting musicians and performers, would likely be 2 or 3. These cabins could be as large as 5,000 square feet, but are more likely to be whittled down to 2,000 square feet, the Patersons said.
Any cabins likely wouldn’t be constructed for at least a few years, the Patersons said. And the venue itself, if fully approved, also won’t be built for another two to three years. Although the project proposal lists the venue as being three stories, the third story is a basement that would mostly be used for storage. Overall, the venue would accommodate a total of 150 people maximum, including musicians.
One more thing the Patersons wished to clarify was the project proposal’s inclusion of a statement that they “have been looking for a new home for the [Mostly Modern] festival.” This statement appears to have been included in the proposal in error.
“We have no plans or desire to leave Skidmore at all,” Robert said (Skidmore College’s Arthur Zankel Music Center hosts the annual music festival). “We love hosting our festival there. We can’t possibly host our festival in this structure that we’re building because we need the hall at Skidmore and those facilities… So this venue is definitely not meant for that.”
According to the Town of Saratoga’s Aug. 11 meeting minutes, the next steps for the proposed Mostly Modern Arts Center will be:
• The public hearing on Sept. 8, by which point the town will have a complete application;
• A State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR);
• And then, following the SEQR, a determination if the town will continue with the application.
“We are looking at October or November depending on how quickly we go through these steps,” the minutes said.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Caffè Lena will host the 45th anniversary screening of “Gospel,” a landmark concert documentary directed by Fred Ritzenberg and featuring music recorded and mixed by 7-time Grammy winner Joel Moss, co-producer of Lena’s Jazz series.
Originally released in 1980, “Gospel” captures traditional gospel music at its height. The film features performances by five of the 20th century’s most notable gospel acts: James Cleveland & His Choir, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Twinkie Clark & The Clark Sisters, Rev. Shirley Caesar, and Edwin Hawkins & The Hawkins Family.
After the screening, there will be a live Q&A with Ritzenberg and music producer Moss. The duo will share stories behind the film and reflect on its legacy 45 years later. (In a convenient coincidence, Ritzenberg’s brother is a decades-long resident of Saratoga Springs.)
“I know I’ve got a reputation as the ‘king of superlatives’, but this is one of the best concert films ever,” Moss wrote in an email.
The screening and Q&A will take place at Caffe Lena on Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. Ticket proceeds will be donated to support Lena’s programming.
An aerial view of the intersection of County Route 68/Burke Road. Image via Google Maps.
SARATOGA — A new music venue called the Mostly Modern Arts Center is being planned in the Town of Saratoga near the intersection of County Route 68 and Burke Road.
According to a proposal dated June 2025, the project site would encompass 18.5 acres spread across three parcels located southeast of the intersection. The site is bordered by single-family residential properties and vacant wooded land. Included on the site would be a 10,000 square-foot, three-story “music barn” that would host performances, art shows, and community events. A parking lot with 51 paved spaces would be created adjacent to the venue, along with additional overflow parking of 39 grass spaces along the entrance road.
Two existing single-family homes on the project site will be renovated and used as residences for the project owners and/or as accommodations for guests, musicians, and artists visiting the center. As many as five cabins would also be built, with each one varying in size between 2,000 to 5,000 square feet. Each cabin would be accompanied by parking spaces for up to two cars, bringing the total number of parking spaces to around 100. 7 or 8 acres of wooded or open fields would be preserved for walking trails and sculpture exhibits. Primary access to the center would be on Burke Road, with secondary access on County Road 68.
The proposal was prepared for Robert and Victoria Paterson, co-founders of the Mostly Modern Festival that’s hosted at Skidmore College’s Arthur Zankel Music Center. The Patersons have been looking for a new home for the festival, as well as a venue for small concerts, community events, and art exhibits. Their representatives on the project include the Phinney Design Group and the Environmental Design Partnership.
According to the proposal, “the proposed project has been designed to maximize the distance from the music and art venue to the existing dwellings while also maintaining existing wooded buffers… The proposed music venue is designed to hold small concerts in a building that is designed to dissipate and absorb sounds. The small outside venue area is designed [for] more small and intimate performances and will be positioned to prevent the projection of sounds to neighboring residences.”
Despite such assurances regarding noise pollution, some locals are resisting the proposed project. As of Aug. 18, a petition on Change.org opposing the music venue had garnered 89 signatures, and a Facebook group called “Keeping Burke Road Peaceful” had 53 members.
“While we applaud the development of the arts and economic development, this commercial project does not belong in our quiet neighborhood,” stated the Facebook group’s “about” section.
A flyer shared with Saratoga TODAY said the project would bring “loud music and noise pollution,” “large crowds into our quiet, rural neighborhood,” “increased traffic,” and “a constant flow of strangers close to our homes and children.” The flyer also encouraged attendance at a public meeting scheduled for Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Saratoga Town Hall.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Fred Astaire Dance Studios in Saratoga Springs is hosting a Saratoga Summer Social on Friday, Aug. 29 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Guests are encouraged to don their finest summer cocktail attire and dance the night away.
The evening will also feature live demonstrations, light refreshments, and a curated atmosphere that celebrates all things Saratoga. Tickets will be available at the door for $32, with all proceeds benefiting the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
“This city is known for its rich history, fashionable spirit, and love of tradition, and we wanted to honor that in the most Fred Astaire way possible,” said John Mandia, co-owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studios – Saratoga Springs. “The Saratoga Summer Social is our love letter to the season. Whether you’ve danced for years or just want to twirl around the floor for the first time, we welcome you to celebrate with us in style and support a Saratoga institution that means so much to this community.”
