The organizers of Warwick’s most prominent arts festivals have spent years working separate but similar territory. In August, they are finally coming together. This month marks the first-ever August for the Arts, a creative collaboration between the Hudson Valley Jazz Festival, the Hudson Valley Film Festival, the Orange County Short Play Festival, and the Fuller Moon Arts Festival designed to highlight Warwick as an artistic hub of the Hudson Valley.
The festivals run from two to five days, and have joined forces to host a Celebration for the Arts kick-off on August 5 at Stanley Deming Park, which features live music, dance performances, and a parade.
The Hudson Valley Jazz Festival, now in its 14th season, runs August 9-13 at local restaurants, libraries, and music venues. On August 11, Jerry Vivino, from Conan O’Brien’s Basic Cable Band, leads a quartet at a 7pm show at the Warwick Village Green. On August 12, renowned composer and musician David Amram (who will turn 93 in November) performs at the Howland Cultural Center. Closing the festival on Sunday at the Falcon in Marlboro is the Analog Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece ensemble of current and former service members of the West Point Band and West Point Jazz Knights. Founder and Director Steve Rubin describes the festival as “a celebration of jazz via musicians deserving of wider recognition.” He hopes the festival is helping to create an identity for jazz in the Hudson Valley.
Hannah Maxwell, creative director of the Hudson Valley Film Festival, shares a similar sentiment. “There are so few opportunities to showcase and celebrate indie films, and we wanted to create space for them,” Maxwell says. The festival screens a curated selection of around 60 short indie films, from horror to comedy to films that address social issues, all shown at the Warwick Drive-In. Gates open at 7pm, with the films beginning at dusk around 8:30pm. Popcorn is readily available and audience members can vote for the winner of the Audience Choice Award; the festival also awards prizes for Best of Fest and Student Rising. Now entering its eighth year, the festival runs August 15-17, with pre-parties including food, drinks, and live music taking place at Penning’s Beer Garden and Cidery each night before the screenings.
Like the film festival, plays at the Orange County Short Play Festival span many genres, though they come together around a common theme. This year, the festival presents “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows,” seven short plays about climate change. One explores the role of corporations in the climate crisis. A more comedic entry revolves around an environmental activist who brings a polar bear home to her city apartment. “Some of them are painful, some are very funny, some very pointed, and some you’re going to have to think: ‘How does this affect me?'” says Paul Ellis, coproducer of the festival. The performances will take place at the Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center on August 18 and 19 at 7:30pm.
The second annual Fuller Moon Arts Festival, taking place on August 26 and 27 from 3-9pm in Mountain Lake Park, is an interactive, multimedia event bringing together site-specific performances, artmaking, and craft vendors. From covered tents with lake views, guests can purchase beaded jewelry, handmade quilts, and wooden toy animals from local artists. At an open studio space, festival-goers can make hand-printed posters and learn hapa zome, an art form involving printing flowers onto fabric. In the evenings, the Warwick Dance Collective, the Brasskill brass band, and a traditional Irish music group will perform by a campfire overlooking the lake.
Each festival director aspires to promote Warwick as an artistic hub, and create opportunities for members of the local arts community. “It’s also been great to be able to promote one another’s events in a cohesive way,” says Maxwell. “We all couldn’t be more excited about the future of the arts in the Hudson Valley.”
This article appears in August 2023.
