Take Your Seat” and “Fund for Final Improvements” Are Two Ways to Contribute
[Oct. 15, Ancram] — Ancram Center for the Arts today announced the final phase of its capital expansion project to rehabilitate an adjacent 1790 building and connect it to the mainstage theater. When completed “The Annex,” as the building will be called, will include a new patio for audience gatherings, housing for interns and visiting artists, and community space for free workshops, classes, and meetings.
Ancram Center Co-Director Jeffrey Mousseau outlined ways supporters can contribute to the project’s completion. “We’re inviting our audience to participate in a campaign we’re calling ‘Take Your Seat.’ Theater lovers may sponsor a chair in the complex’s new outdoor patio area where people will mingle before and after showtime. Each sponsored chair will receive an engraved nameplate personalized by the donor, who will also be invited to an exclusive Annex Preview Celebration in December. There are 20 chairs available for sponsorship, and reservations will be first come, first served.” Chair sponsorships are $500, and reservations may be made by visiting ancramcenter.org, emailing info@ancramcenter.org, or calling 518-329-0144.
Another way to participate, said Mousseau, is to make a donation in any amount to the Center’s Fund for Final Improvements. Remaining work includes new porch lighting, accessible community room restroom fixtures, ADA compliant kitchen appliances for guest artist housing, and construction of accessible walkways connecting the Annex and Opera House.
“As we near the end of our 10th anniversary season, we’re excited to bring new resources to the community we serve,” said Paul Ricciardi, Ancram Center Co-Director. “The new Annex community room will be an ideal setting for our free classes, which encourage self-expression. Other community groups also will be welcome to hold meetings there; we envision it as a space for all. Finally, audiences will have the outdoor patio, a new welcoming space to gather before and after the show.”
All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, Ancram Center for the Arts is an award-winning theater located in New York’s Hudson Valley. Housed in an historic Grange Hall, Ancram Center is dedicated to presenting risk-taking productions and new work by nationally recognized theater artists in an intimate performance space. Ancram Center’s 2025 season is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.