Monday, March 22, 2021
8:30pm CT
Streaming on YouTube
FREE
Sam and Melissa welcome Elena Siyanko of the stunning PS21 of Chatham NY back on POA along with board chair Marian Karaupskopf, to dig deeper on public space, socialism, and performance, re upstate praxis.
Elena Siyanko is the Artistic & Executive Director of PS21, Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, a state-of-the-art green-energy black-box and open-air pavilion theaters that sit above nineteenth century apple orchards at the apex of over 100 acres of beautiful Hudson Valley land, two hours north of New York City.
In her first full season as director, despite the cancellations necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, PS21 was able to present an abridged program of live and livestreamed music, dance, film, and multimedia performances in the center’s open-air pavilion theater and in the adjacent wooded meadows and trails. Among the concerts were the New York premier of John Luther Adams’s Ten Thousand Birds, performed by Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, and Modern Music Fest, with Conrad Tao’s rendering of Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, and Conor Hanick performing complete piano sonatas of Galina Ustvolskaya.
Before joining PS21 in 2019, Elena was Director of Advancement Initiatives at the Clark Art Institute for six years, creating programs linking exhibitions to social and cultural concerns, including the intersections of old and new art forms such as painting, contemporary music, and film. Prior to the Clark, Elena served as Executive Director of Monadnock Music, a chamber music festival that pioneers works by American composers (for which it received an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award); was Associate Director for Cultural Development at Bard College; Director of Marketing and Business Development at Louise Blouin Media, focusing on art, lifestyle and culture; and founded her own marketing communications and producing agency, Red Osmosis.
Relevant Links -
https://berkshireonstage.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/ps21-announces-first-ever-spring-season-and-executive-director/
https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/PS21-offers-sessions-for-neophyte-dancers-14387951.php
https://www.chronogram.com/hudsonvalley/pollock-at-ps21/Content?oid=9175180