Wallkill River Center seeks to raise $400K

By Nadine Cafaro
Posted 1/4/23

In 2020, the Wallkill River Center for the Arts had to pause their Capital Campaign due to COVID. Now they’re excited to launch the fundraising again.

In June 2018, the Wallkill River Center …

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Wallkill River Center seeks to raise $400K

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In 2020, the Wallkill River Center for the Arts had to pause their Capital Campaign due to COVID. Now they’re excited to launch the fundraising again.

In June 2018, the Wallkill River Center for the Arts launched a Capital Campaign with goals to raise money to purchase the 200-year-old Patchett House, a space they’ve been working out of for years. They have raised $430,000 so far, with a big chunk coming from a $300,000 donation from owners Ed and Marc Devitt. Roughly $400,000 is all they need to raise now to own the property. The Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan is the organization that is holding their fund.

Executive Director Sarah Fortner Pierson explained why owning the historic Patchett House is so important for their continuing success.

“The Center needs the funding due to not having state funds or endowments. We have been in the community for over fifteen years and have lived on a knife’s edge financially. Owning the property means a steady, secure income stream from rents received from the tenants who share this property,” said Pierson.

The property hosts numerous tenants, all of which would help the Wallkill River Center for the Arts stay around longer. “The carriage house is rented out as an apartment upstairs and it’s rented to the Montgomery book exchange down below. The upstairs of ours is rented out as offices to the Business Council of Greater Montgomery and a couple of counselors,” Pierson explains, “We’d be able to hire more staff and expand our programming with that sort of stability. It’s really what we need to be sustainable, and to be in the community indefinitely.”

Previously the art center only had part time staff, and owning the building would give them the capability and comfortability to hire full-time workers.

The center’s main ongoing goal is to make art more accessible to the community. They do this with various art exhibits, affordable classes for all age groups, senior programs, local scholarships for kids and more. Pierson also noted some ideas she has for the art center, including music jam groups and writing classes.

“We could have a blues jam night, we could have a jazz night [or] we could have a fiddler’s group, ukulele circle, anything like that. We also are starting some writing programs [and] a novel writing teacher is coming on board later this spring,” said Pierson.

She also mentions a free community group that she is working on. “I’d like to get a free community group going if there’s somebody [for example] who wants to lead it just for creative writing, we could do poetry and creative writing for people who just want to meet some other writers and have some peer to peer feedback.”

Pierson considers the arts extremely important and hopes the donations pour in. However she does note that one way or the other, they will close on the Patchett House in 2023.

“We are committed to closing [in] late 2023 regardless, but obviously if we have to carry a mortgage, we won’t be able to do as much. So, we’re trying to do a final push to raise that last 400,000,” said Pierson.

Whether it’s $10 or $5,000 dollars, Pierson encourages people to donate to their fund since anything helps. “We’d be so happy to receive a $50,000 donation, but, you know, $100 is gonna help us get over that finish line.”

Donations to their Capital Campaign can be made online on their website, but those with questions are encouraged to reach out to Pierson or Chair Maureen Crush.