Calendar

Friday, March 6, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Ivars Sprogis, Oil and Watercolor Paintings
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Kevin Sterne, Abstract Art 
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Shirley Tuttle, Acrylic Paintings 

Saturday, March 14, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theater – 12 Vassar Street / Ticket Price: $30 / Advance Online Tickets: Tyshawn Sorey and Cooper-Moore Eventbrite Tickets

Tyshawn Sorey and Cooper-Moore

Saturday, April 11, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theater – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $30 / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: “Strings & Things” Eventbrite Tickets    

Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Mary Halvorson

Harmolodic bass legend Jamaaladeen Tacuma (Ornette Coleman) is joined by yet another MacArthur “genius” grantee this season, guitarist Mary Halvorson in “Strings & Things”.  Elysium Furnace Works

Saturday, April 18, 2026 / 11:00 am – 2:00 pm / 9 and 12 Vassar Street, Poughkeepsie, NY / $75 per person or $140 per couple / Click HERE To Purchase Online Tickets through Eventbrite / Click HERE to Make A Donation / To Pay by Check, call the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center Administrative Office at 845-486-4571 / NOTE: Limited Capacity and No Door Sales / Ticket Price includes entry in Door Prize Raffle Drawings / Ticket Purchase Deadline is April 10, 2026

Celebrate the arts at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center’s fun-filled 2026 Annual Magnolia Party Brunch!

The event will be held in our two beautiful historic Victorian-age Italianate buildings beginning at 11:00 am with a music concert in the VBI Theater at 12 Vassar Street. Brunch will be served following the performance in the Grand Parlor at 9 Vassar Street. This year’s honorees are Community Leaders Maung Htoo, President of Vassar Brothers Institute and Ray Watkins, Musician and Vocalist.

This popular fundraising event includes:

• “Live” Music performances by Hudson Valley Gospel Festival Choir and Sisters in Spirit
• A scrumptious Hot and Cold Brunch Buffet along with delectable sweet treats provided by Mahoney’s Irish Pub & Steakhouse and The Bagel Shoppe
• Complimentary Bar Service of Wine, Beer, Mimosas and Soft Drinks
• Chances to win Door Prizes

The Annual Magnolia Party Brunch marks the memorable occasion in April of 1865 when Matthew Vassar cut a flowering branch of the Magnolia Tree at 9 Vassar Street and laid it atop President Abraham Lincoln’s coffin as his funeral train stopped at the Poughkeepsie Train Station. A descendant of that Magnolia Tree still graces the grounds of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and blooms every spring just in time for the Magnolia Party.

EVENT SPONSORS

Gold Level

Vassar Brothers Institute

Bronze Level

Central Hudson

A. Page & Associates

Marshall & Sterling

NBT Bank

The Bagel Shoppe

Renaissance Kids, Inc. 

Jackie and Glenn Peterson

Wine Provided By

 Millbrook Vineyards & Winery

Saturday, April 25, 2026 and Sunday, April 26, 2026 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Performance Times and Ticket Information: From Stage To Screen Acting Studio

Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School, Jr. is a heartwarming musical based on the bestselling books and continues the saga of the wisecracking first-grader who is a self-appointed expert on all things first grade.  Determined to write the ultimate guide, Junie B. deals with writer’s block, constantly gets into trouble and quickly realizes that she still has a lot to learn.

Friday, May 8, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Joel Mason, Photography
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Julian Allen, Acrylics and Watercolor Paintings 
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Monika Kalra, Giclee Prints 

Friday, May 8, 2026 and Saturday, May 9, 2026 / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Showtimes and Ticket Information: Standing Room Only Theater Company

Saturday, May 16 @ 10:00 am / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $20 Advance and $30 Door / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: gabby fluke-mogul and Charles Burnham Eventbrite Tickets      

gabby fluke-mogul and Charles Burnham

String duos remain the Elysium Furnace Works thing with this incendiary gathering of two contemporary violin virtuosi: educator and Creative Music Studio executive director gabby fluke-mogul joining forces with veteran Downtown musician Charles Burnham. Elysium Furnace Works

Saturday, June 27, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $30 Advance and $40 Door / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: For Living Lovers Eventbrite Tickets       

Brandon Ross and Stomu Takeishi

String duos continue into the summer for Elysium Furnace Works with this celebrated, long-running, unplugged project featuring acoustic guitarist/banjoist/vocalist Ross and acoustic bass guitarist Takeishi, building upon their initial association in the ensembles of Henry Threadgill to craft an innovative, distinctively chamber-like approach to modern string music.  Elysium Furnace Works

Friday, July 10, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Onaje Benjamin, Mixed Media and Shirley Parker Benjamin, Mixed Media
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Meghan McDonough, Oil Paintings 
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Mukta, Oil Paintings

Saturday, July 18, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $20 Advance and $30 Door / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: Ingrid Laubrock and Cecilia Lopez Eventbrite Tickets    

Ingrid Laubrock and Cecilia Lopez

A duo of very different sort, composer/saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and multimedia artist Cecelia Lopez sculpt otherworldly soundscapes rich with electro-acoustic invention in this startling collaboration. Elysium Furnace Works

Friday, September 11, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Liliana Washburn, Acrylic Paintings
• Hancock and Reception Galleries @ 12 Vassar Street – Sustainable Hudson Valley Group Exhibition 

Friday, October 22, 2026 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Hancock and Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Grace Smith House – “The Clothesline Project” 

Saturday, October 24, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $20 Advance and $30 Door / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: sinonó Eventbrite Tickets     

This singular trio, sinonó, highlights three prodigiously talented up-and-coming artists — vocalist/composer isabel crespo-pardo, cellist Lester St. Louis and bassist Henry Fraser — who weave together Latin American folk, chamber music, and free improvisation to create a space of inimitable, crackling vitality. Elysium Furnace Works

Friday, November 6, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Daniel Pailes-Friedman, Abstract Art
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Melissa Small Cooper, Floral Paintings 
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Christal Ortiz, Painter/Mixed Media 

Saturday, December 12, 2026 @ 8:00 pm / VBI Theatre – 12 Vassar Street / Tickets: $30 Advance and $40 Door / Advance Online Ticket Purchases: PAKT Eventbrite Tickets 

The members of PAKT

This prog-prov supergroup closes out our 2026 season in soaring fashion when these four enormously accomplished musicians — guitarists Alex Skolnick, Tim Motzer, fretless bass guitarist Percy Jones, and drummer Kenny Grohowski — perform a completely improvised set of music notable for its peerless, expressive intensity and imagination. Elysium Furnace Works