It’s not just us – things are getting more and more interesting around our home-base of Cooperstown and the surrounding communities.
Most people know about Cooperstown because of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The opera crowd has long been familiar with Glimmerglass Opera and its stellar summer season. The Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum are two other little gems that have been touted by national media such as the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today.
We’re big fans of all of our traditional cultural attractions. Susan and I even serve on a committee at the Fenimore and Farmers’ Museums to increase appeal to young professionals, which we joined because the committee meets in places like Brewery Ommegang (disclosure).
So there has always been something going on here. Even in the bitter, snow-drift-covered winter months, there’s usually something to do if you look hard enough.
But in the past six months, there are suddenly so MANY things to do it’s hard to keep up.
The Smithy-Pioneer Gallery is proving that you can bring some seriously new culture to a town’s oldest building (here’s their website and their Facebook page, which is more active).
The “Fen & Farm” (short for Fenimore and Farmers’) has continued hosting some wonderful cultural events, such as the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival, as well as a stunning season of exhibits at the art museum, including Walker Evans photography and “America’s Rome.” They’ve also added weeklong immersive daycamp experiences for kids at The Farmers’ Museum, art classes for kids at the Feminore Art Museum and great events such as Taste of the Sublime (full disclosure: my husband works there, and I am friends with many of the other folks there, so I have first-hand knowledge of just how dedicated and passionate they are about what the museums stand for).
Just a few miles south of Cooperstown, Foothills Performing Arts Center is bringing in one amazing act after another from NYC and all over the country. Under new leadership, the team there has focused its mission on providing theater and entertainment that is just not available in this community.
Disclosure: Foothills is a client of ours, and we are honestly humbled by the work they’re doing. Instead of maintaining the status quo and wishing for the staff and money to run the type of venue they dream of, they jumped in and did it. And if it means their executive director is clearing martini glasses at Thursday’s cabaret night, that’s what they’re committed to doing.
And now, just outside of Cooperstown, the new Rangjung Yeshe Gomde meditation center has opened under the leadership of Phakchok Rinpoche. The center’s first weeklong retreat will happen Aug. 30 through Sept. 5.
Honestly, I could go on and on. Every day, it seems like we see one more activity, event or exhibition that makes us slap our foreheads and say, “What a great idea.”
What excited us most, though, is that we believe this type of cultural and creative activity is self-regenerating. Two art galleries don’t split each other’s potential in half; they double each other’s potential.
And in this economy, it’s going to be the creative, collaborative and innovative communities that thrive.