Anniversaries usually invite institutions to look backward. As Unison Arts celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, however, the New Paltz institution is taking a different tack.
“More than a celebration of the past, we are just looking forward to what the next 50 years are going to be,” says Marielena Ferrer-Harrington, who came on as executive director in April 2024. “Unison today is not what Unison used to be. It’s quite interesting to see people rediscovering what we’re doing.”
Founded in 1976 as an experimental alternative school before evolving into a multidisciplinary arts center, Unison has never been a static institution. For decades its Mountain Rest Road campus was synonymous with concerts, theater, exhibitions, classes, and community gatherings. But its move several years ago to the historic Jacob and Charity Holsted House on Paradies Lane created an inflection point—not simply a change of address, but an opportunity to rethink what an arts center could be.
“The place is changing a lot because we need to be responsive to the place that we have now,” Ferrer-Harrington says. “We inherited a remarkable historic property, and we’re very invested in renovating it while respecting its history.”
That work is happening on several fronts. Unison is pursuing landmark designation for the Holsted House, completing a building conditions assessment, and planning Unison Commons, a proposed new classroom and performance building that would restore much of the programming capacity lost in the move while adding artist residency space and modern infrastructure. A recently awarded state capital grant will fund the project’s design phase as the organization prepares for a larger fundraising campaign.
The physical changes mirror a broader evolution in programming. Alongside its exhibitions and workshops, Unison has expanded partnerships throughout the region. The organization now operates a weekly arts program for women incarcerated at the Ulster County Jail, where participants use collage, visual storytelling, and collaborative projects to explore personal narratives. Another initiative works with preschool-aged children from migrant farmworker families through Agribusiness Child Development, using eco-art and a new pollinator garden as a gateway to introducing families to the arts.
“For whatever reason, they have grown up thinking that art is not for them,” Ferrer-Harrington says of many underserved communities. “We want to reduce that barrier.”
That philosophy also informs one of Unison’s most ambitious new undertakings: the triennial, “Art, Land & Future,” which debuts during Upstate Art Weekend. Unlike traditional triennials, which typically open with a single exhibition, Unison’s project will unfold over three years. Indoor installations and outdoor sculpture will rotate seasonally, with artists creating works that respond to the landscape, weather, ecology, and history of the site. Some pieces will be designed to endure; others will decay, attract pollinators, or otherwise evolve over time.
For curator and board member Jaime Ransom, the format reflects a broader commitment to experimentation. “We’re not following the status quo necessarily of how things have been done,” Ransom says. “We’re trying to carve a new path as to how nonprofits can operate and engage with their community.”
That willingness to experiment extends beyond the artwork itself.
Last year’s Wild Clay Weekend invited participants to harvest clay from Unison’s own property, build instruments, fire ceramics, create land art, and gather around evening campfires for music and storytelling. The event attracted artists, families, and first-time visitors alike, demonstrating how contemporary art can become something participatory rather than simply observed.
“When you have nonprofit spaces and you’re not driven by sales, you can be driven by community,” Ransom says. “You can be driven by experimentation. You can be driven by the artists and what they’re looking for.”
Ferrer-Harrington is careful not to frame that evolution as a rejection of Unison’s past. The gallery continues to present contemporary exhibitions while classes and workshops remain central to the organization’s mission. Longtime supporters still find familiar elements, even as newer audiences are discovering Unison through environmental art, social practice, and community partnerships. “There is space for everybody,” she says. “We would like to offer something for everybody.”
That inclusive vision extends across generations as well. Ferrer-Harrington hopes younger audiences will come to see Unison not as an institution rooted in nostalgia, but as an evolving cultural campus where art intersects with ecology, history, education, and civic life.
The milestone anniversary arrives at a fitting moment. Rather than treating 50 years as the culmination of a story, Unison is presenting it as another turning point. On July 10, the organization will celebrate with its annual gala, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Envisioning What We Are Becoming, at Liberty View Farm in Highland. The evening will honor Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, whose partnership helped launch Unison’s arts programming at the county jail, while raising support for the organization’s next chapter.
It’s an appropriately forward-looking theme for an institution whose history has been defined less by standing still than by adapting to changing times. Fifty years after its founding, Unison isn’t simply commemorating where it’s been. It’s asking what an arts center can become—and inviting the Hudson Valley to help answer the question.
