Join us for Woodstock Byrdcliffe’s annual celebration and fundraiser, Celebrate Byrdcliffe! Gather with others in the community for a fun-filled afternoon of food, libations, a silent auction, and a live performance by Brian Mitchell.
This year we are honoring Arts Executive, Historic Preservationist and Architectural Enthusiast Benjamin Prosky and artists Portia Munson and Jared Handelsman.
This event will be held at the Byrdcliffe Barn, 485 Upper Byrdcliffe Rd, Woodstock, NY
PRICING –
– Tickets $150 each. ($105 is tax deductible)
Your support of Celebrate Byrdcliffe helps ensure that Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild continues to inspire artists, preserves a unique historic arts setting, and contributes to the arts in the Hudson Valley, nationally, and internationally. To pledge additional support:
– SPONSORSHIP –
1). $250 (1 ticket to the event) — $205 is tax deductible
2). $500 (2 tickets to the event) — $410 is tax deductible
3). $1000 (a reserved table for 4) — $820 is tax deductible
Sponsor an Artist: ARTIST RESIDENCY FELLOWSHIPS
2025 HONOREES
BENJAMIN PROSKY grew up between Brooklyn and Woodstock. A third generation Woodstocker, his family established roots in the village in 1942, drawn then as now to Woodstock’s beauty, culture, and diverse artistic community, which owes so much to the legacy of Byrdcliffe. About 15 years ago Ben had the pleasure of joining the Byrdcliffe board, on which he served for nine years. His time on the board was formative and enriching; further instilling a life-long love of Byrdcliffe and the Woodstock Community. In his professional life, Ben has been fortunate to serve in several leadership roles at prestigious institutions. With a degree in Urban Studies from Vassar College, followed by graduate work in Urban Planning at Columbia University, Prosky has devoted his career to a range of projects dedicated to the promotion and interpretation of architecture and urbanism.
In 2023 Ben was named President of the Richard Hampton Jenrette Foundation whose mission is to advance education, stewardship and innovation in historic preservation through the support of scholars, educators, curators and crafts people. He has held prior leadership roles at several institutions, serving as Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects New York and the Center for Architecture; as Assistant Dean for Communications at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Director of Special Events and External Affairs at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In earlier roles at international museums and cultural institutions, such as the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal, Canada, and the Institute français d’architecture in Paris, France, his work focused on developing public educational programs and exhibitions. Like previous generations of his family, Ben divides his time between Woodstock and Brooklyn, along with his husband, Jozef and daughter, Maeve.
PORTIA MUNSON creates maximal installations, sculptures, paintings, and digital prints using a vast accumulation of ready-made products to decipher the latent cultural codes embedded in mass-produced items. The resulting works emphasize the role of consumerism on the formation of identity and the resulting connection between the ongoing struggle for gender equality, reproductive rights, and the dire ecological crisis.
Munson lives and works in Catskill, NY. She holds a BFA from Cooper Union, an MFA from Rutgers University, and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Her work has been the subject of over twenty solo exhibitions at the Museum of Sex, New York, NY; P·P·O·W, New York, NY; White Columns, New York, NY; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, NY; and Art Omi, Ghent, NY, among others. Her public works include Pink Projects with the Art Production Fund, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY; Art in the Terminal, the Albany International Airport, Albany, NY; MTA Arts for Transit, Bryant Park MTA Station, New York, NY; and a permanent Metropolitan Transit Authority installation in Brooklyn, NY. Portia Munson is represented by PPOW gallery in NYC.
JARED HANDELSMAN is a visual artist based in Catskill, New York whose artistic practice of over thirty years includes land based site specific works, found object sculptures, landscape photograms and videos and photographs that explore the nature of light. Jared has made sculptures suspending boulders and slabs of rock over their place in the forest, video and photographs made inside a treehouse camera obscura, photograms with flashlights, car headlights and moonlight and videos and photographs documenting interior solar landscape projections.
Jared was educated at Vassar College, where he received a BA in Philosophy and at Rutgers University, Mason Gross school of Art, receiving an MFA. He also attended Cranbrook Academy of Art. Jared has received fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell Colonies, from The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown and from Vassar College.
ABOUT BRIAN MITCHELL
BRIAN MITCHELL has worked with artists such as Levon Helm & The Midnight Ramble Band, Bob Dylan, BB King, Al Green, Dolly Parton, Buster Poindexter, and Allen Toussaint. Mitchell has appeared on five Grammy Award-winning recordings, three with Levon Helm, and one each with BB King and with Les Paul. In 2015, Brian was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. He is known to have versatility on piano, Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, various vintage keyboards and harmonica, plus his distinct vocal stylings. Mitchell believed that music is life music can heal people
Mitchell is a native New Yorker and is a part of Manhattan’s competitive live music scene. Known for kicking out high-energy performances, Mitchell’s music “features a unique blend of gutbucket blues, funky New Orleans style R&B, quirky Latin rhythms, and occasional visits into outer space.”
CELEBRATE BYRDCLIFFE 2025 SPONSORS
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Henry T. Ford and Michael Knauth
Douglas C. James Charitable Trust
Catherine McNeal
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