Past Calendar Events

Saturday, April 13, 2024 / 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm / 9 Vassar Street / $85 per person / Click HERE To Purchase Online Tickets through Eventbrite / To Pay by Check, call the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center Administrative Office at 845-486-4571 / NOTE: Limited Capacity and No Door Sales

The Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center’s 2024 Annual Magnolia Party will be held in the beautiful historic Victorian-age Italianate building at 9 Vassar Street in Poughkeepsie, NY , and will include:

• “Live” music by Spanish Classical Guitarist Dan Garcia
• Hot and Cold Buffet
• Bar Service of wine, beer and soft drinks,
• A celebratory champagne toast
• Chances to win door prizes generously donated by our community business partners

This year’s honoree will be Susan Davidson, the founder and former Executive Director of Friends of Seniors – a 19 year old non-profit 501(c)3, volunteer-based organization (now under the auspices of Catholic Charities) that serves the older adult community of Dutchess County with non-emergency medical transportation, grocery shopping, visiting, respite for primary caregivers, and telephone reassurance.

EVENT SPONSORS

Gold Level

Vassar Brothers Institute

Bronze Level

Central Hudson

A. Page & Associates

Mackey Butts & Whalen, LLC

Jackie and Glenn Peterson

Wine Provided By

Millbrook Vineyards & Winery

Door Prize Donors: Shadows on the Hudson, The Amsterdam, Mahoney’s Irish Pub & Steakhouse, The Center for the Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, Mohonk Preserve, County Players Falls Theatre, Mark Pukmel Massage Therapy, Scott R. Halma-Way Reiki & Reflexology, Williams Lumber & Home Centers, Adams Fairacre Farms, Onaje Benjamin (Ujamaa Studios), Magnolia Tree donated by Nora and Charles Porter, Half Time Beverage Tub of Suds donated by Sharon and John Gates, Lowe’s Gift Card/Product Basket donated by Jackie and Glenn Peterson, and Basket of Wine donated by the CHAC Board of Directors

Saturday, March 16, 2024 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Ticket Information: $40 Advance or $30 Door / Purchase Online Tickets at Joe McPhee Eventbrite Tickets   

Joe McPhee

The legendary Poughkeepsie-based multi-instrumentalist, Joe McPhee, performs with a large string ensemble which includes such acclaimed musicians as bassists Michael Bisio and Hillard Greene, cellists Daniel Levin and Aliya Ultin, violists Melanie Dyer and Mat Maneri, violinists Rosi Hertlein and Gwen Laster and guitarists James Keepnews and Billy Stein. Elysium Furnace Works

Saturday, February 3, 2024 at 2:30 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / No Registration Required / Information: Poughkeepsie Public Library District Calendar of Events

Saturday, January 13, 2024 and Sunday, January 14, 2024 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Performance Times and Tickets: From Stage To Screen Acting Studio

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. How will this naïve newbie rise to the top of the popularity pecking order? By taking on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady and her friends devise a “Revenge Party” to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. Adapted from Fey’s hit 2004 film, Mean Girls was nominated for a staggering 12 Tony Awards.  This queen-bee took Broadway by storm and has joined the musical in-crowd. And now, so can you with Mean Girls High School Version.

Saturday, January 6, 2024 and Sunday, January 7, 2024 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Performance Times and Tickets: From Stage To Screen Acting Studio

Rebellion is nigh in Matilda JR., a gleefully witty ode to the the anarchy of childhood and the power of imagination! This story of a girl who dreams of a better life and the children she inspires will have audiences rooting for the “revolting children” who are out to teach the grown-ups a lesson.

Thursday, December 21, 2023 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Free

Make Music Day 2023 is a global celebration of music shared by over a thousand locations in 120 countries. Bring your instruments, your voice and your energy!   

Sunday, December 17, 2023 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: (845) 337-5467

Saturday, December 16, 2023 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Ticket Information: Elysium Furnace Works

Joe Fiedler (Photo Credit: Peter Gannushkin)

This solo performance by the consummate trombonist/composer/arranger, Joe Fiedler, builds on his recent solo recording The Howland Sessions.  This performance is sure to be startling and deliriously engaging to close out Elysium Furnace Works 2023 Season on a multi-phonically high note.

Saturday, December 9, 2023 and Sunday, December 10, 2023 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Performance Times and Tickets: From Stage To Screen Acting Studio

Transporting audiences from the Jungle of Nool to the Circus McGurkus, the Cat in the Hat, our narrator, tells the story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust containing tiny people called the Whos, including Jojo, a Who child, who gets in trouble for thinking too many “thinks.” Horton’s challenge is twofold — not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must also guard an abandoned egg that’s been left in his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird. Although Horton faces ridicule, danger, kidnapping and a trial, the intrepid Gertrude McFuzz never loses faith in him. Ultimately, the powers of friendship, loyalty, family and community are challenged and emerge triumphant!

Saturday, October 21, 2023 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Advance Tickets: $20; At the Door: $30 / Click HERE to purchase Advance Tickets

Sana Nagano

The Brooklyn-based noise-jazz violinist Sana Nagano leads an adventurous ensemble performing her compositions which bring together gorgeous chaos, explosive energy and exceptional musical dexterity, featuring Nagano on violin and effects, Anna Webber on saxophones, Jonathan Goldberger on guitar, Kim Cass on bass and Danny Sher on drums.

Sana Nagano was born in Tokyo, where she began playing violin as a child, and moved to the United States as an exchange student. She earned performance and composition degrees from the Berklee College of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music of Queens College. Living in New York City since 2010, she’s been highly active as both a collaborator and bandleader. She has played as part of Karl Berger’s Improvisers Orchestra and Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra, in addition to working with artists such as William Parker, Daniel Carter, Harvey Valdes, and numerous others. Her debut album, Inside the Rainbow, was released in 2014, featuring Berger on vibraphone and John Ehlis on guitar. Nagano formed several ensembles during the decade, including avant-rock quartet Atomic Pigeons and experimental pop duo Peach and Tomato (with Leonor Falcon).

In 2018, Nagano played on the Grammy-nominated self-titled full-length by pop star Shawn Mendes, as well as Berger’s Tzadik-issued In a Moment and Coheed and Cambria’s Unheavenly Creatures. Astroturf Noise, a mutated bluegrass trio with mandolinist Sam Day Harmet and bassist Zach Swanson, issued their self-titled debut album on 577 Records in 2020. The same label also released Smashing Humans, a 2021 full-length featuring Nagano’s quintet of the same name, including saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, bassist Ken Filiano, guitarist Keisuke Matsuno, and drummer Joe Hertenstein. The album’s pixelated cover art was designed by Michigan-based artist Rachel Viola (aka dr!p). 

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 and Wednesday, October 25, 2023 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm / For more information visit NAACP Northern Dutchess Branch

Saturday, October 14, 2023 @ 7:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Purchase Tickets HERE 

“The Pot Calling the Kettle Black” is a “comedic and hilarious” play written by Rocky C. Moore set during the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. The play follows an interracial couple as they grapple with themselves and their relationship in the tumultuous social climate.  

Friday, October 6, 2023 @ 7:30 pm and Saturday, October 7, 2023 @ 7:30 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $55 VIP Advance Tickets (Limited) and $45 General Admission / General Admission – Doors Open at 7:00 pm & VIP Advance Tickets – Doors Open at 6:00 pm (The VIP Meet & Greet starts 6:30 pm sharp.) / VIP Tickets include Early Admission to the Theatre, Priority Seating, and Meet & Greet performances by the Magicians at 6:30 pm / Seating is very limited. Advance tickets are strongly recommended. This is a family event with a suggested age of 8years and older. / Purchase Tickets at Magic Beyond Imagination

Magic Beyond Imagination features: Adam Wilber – a master magician, inventor, and speaker who has been captivating audiences for over two decades. His unique blend of sidesplitting comedy magic and mind reading has won him fans around the world. He has appeared at TEDx, on The Discovery Channel, and has triumphed on “Penn &Teller’s Fool Us.” Adam is the man The Discovery Channel called “The real deal in magical entertainment,” and Penn & Teller called Adam, “A genius!”; Ryan Bliss – recognized as one of the top sleight-of-hand performers in the world. He is not a big, flashy stage magician with assistants and enormous props. Seated behind a table, he performs close-up miracles in an intimate setting. Ryan is truly the King of Sleight of Hand.; and Kozmo – a legendary street performer, who has thrilled audiences from Bourbon Street to The Great Wall of China with his hilarious brand of magic. He will keep you in stitches and blow your mind with miracles using ordinary objects. In addition to performing at festivals and on street corner saround the U.S., Kozmo has appeared on the Tonight Show and toured China. 

Saturday, September 23, 2023 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Advance Tickets: $20; At The Door: $30 / Click HERE to purchase Advance Tickets.

Sam Pluta, director of the CHIME (Chicago Integrated Media Experimental Studio) Studio at the University of Chicago and laptop artist, and Jeff Snyder, director Electronic Music and director of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra at Princeton University, create real-time electronic sound architectures which fluidly warp space-time, leaving far behind any conventional definition of “music.” Elysium Furnace Works

Saturday, September 16, 2023 @ 7:30 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $20 / Information: TRANSART The Bluocracy Project

The Bluocracy is a masterwork, composed by Craig Harris exploring the great democratic process that is essential to the music called “jazz” and examines how it parallels the fiber of American relationships, especially those considering gender, race, class, and politics. People are often in a bubble all alone with information that feeds their ideas, without being exposed to contradictory information. 

The featured ensemble is Craig Harris and Harlem Nightsongs, a 9-member group of musicians. Harris assembled this ensemble to explore extended compositions for a large group while maintaining the spontaneity and flexibility of a small group. The band’s complex arrangements supply broad choices for the improvisers within the band thus conveying a small group feel with a large group sound. TRANSART The Bluocracy Project

Thursday, September 14, 2023 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Advance Tickets: $15 ; At The Door: $25 / Click HERE to purchase Advance Tickets.

Eugene Chadbourne (left) and Jim McHugh (right)

Elysium Furnace Works is thrilled to present the dynamic duo of legendary multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, author and all-around creative force Eugene Chadbourne, joined by guitarist/vocalist Jim McHugh from the NYC-based band Sunwatchers. Following up on their 2021 recording Bad Scene, this talented pair will perform originals, covers and who can say what else?  Elysium Furnace Works

Saturday, September 9, 2023 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm & Sunday, September 10, 2023 from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm / 9 and 12 Vassar Street

Poughkeepsie Open Studios presents a free self-guided, all-inclusive art tour of local artist studios and art spaces showcasing regional artists. Free family-friendly art-making activities, artist demonstrations, and interactive experiences are part of this fun-filled event!

Visual Artists featured at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center

Visit Poughkeepsie Open Studios for complete Tour Roster. 

Saturday, August 12, 2023 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Performance Times and Tickets: From Stage To Screen Acting Studio

June 26, 2023 – August 4, 2023 / Weekly Workshops / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / NOTE: Scan the Bar Code to Register / Information: Phone (845) 943-2100 or Email info@transartinc.org / www.transartinc.org