Independent singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke, winner of the Grand Prize and Best Female Artist at the 2019 International Acoustic Music Awards, has drawn critical praise for decades for smart, passionate folk-rock: resonant melodies, wise, heartfelt lyrics and riveting live performances. This year, she’s kicking off her 2024 tour of the US, UK, and Europe with a June 22 show at Triform Camphill Community in Hudson, where she’ll be joined onstage by the Triform Bell Choir.
Located on a 500-acre organic and biodynamic farm in Hudson, Triform is a residential, life-sharing community that welcomes young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Triform students live alongside long-term volunteers in family settings, sharing homes, meals, work, recreation, and community life with a focus on mutual respect and consideration for individuals and a deep reverence for the land and its many inhabitants.
“We’re one of the few Camphill communities that works with young adults, people aged 18 to 30 who come here after secondary school and rotate through our different work areas,” says Marcia Cary, development director at Triform. “We have a Demeter-certified biodynamic and NOFA-NY certified organic farm and garden, a bakery, weaving and pottery studios; programs in home economics and landscaping and maintenance. Students rotate through all those different areas for a few years. Then they choose one or two they really like to focus on for the next several years as an apprentice, then graduate as an apprentice from that program.” Along with the vocational training, students take classroom studies and art, music, drama, and movement.
The first Camphill community was founded in 1939 in Aberdeen, Scotland, by an Austrian pediatrician inspired by Rudolf Steiner. Today, there are 119 communities in 27 countries, Triform, founded in 1979, is one of 15 in North America.
Cary says it’s a satisfying place to work. “There’s a grounded, accessible possibility to really connect with your abilities here and I’ve seen people transform, coming here shy and closed-off and blossoming into a really integral part of the community. It’s just amazing to watch. I’ve seen it so many times, and it never gets old.” Currently, Triform has openings in both its residential and day hab programs, along with welcoming volunteers who have or wish to polish one or more of a wide variety of skill sets.
The Triform Bell Choir, veterans of benefit concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, is an ensemble of residents of Triform: students with intellectual disabilities, international volunteers, and long-term community members from around the world. The Brooke concert—her second at Triform—will be followed by a dessert buffet. “It’s only the second June concert we’ve been able to have since the pandemic, and it’s a huge relief to be able to come together and celebrate,” says Cary. “It’s also our major fundraising event, and it helps a lot.”
The Triform Camphill Community 2024 Annual Benefit Concert will take place on Saturday, June 22 at 7 pm. For tickets ($75) and more information, email marcia@triform.org.
