Hudson Valley Live, a performing arts company founded by Saugerties-based music producers and performing arts professionals Isabel Soffer and Danny Melnick, is opening The Local at the Old Dutch Chapel at 16 John Street in Saugerties, the original house of worship of the Saugerties Reformed Church on Main Street until the full Church was built.
Isabel Soffer and Danny Melnick during renovations
The Dutch Chapel was built in the 1800s and was decommissioned in 1982 and used as a day care center and public gathering space including for the John Street Jam. Giant Steps daycare moved out in 2022 and Hudson Valley Live has transformed it to a space for arts, culture and community as The Local!
The Local adds a unique element to Saugerties’s growing cultural offerings and brings a much needed multi-use venue to Saugerties. The Local is part of an exciting cultural corridor in the heart of the Village that has naturally developed over the years that includes The Newberry Artisan Market, Emerge Gallery, Inquiring Minds, Upstate Films’ The Orpheum, Jane Street Art Center and of course all the great restaurants, bars, cafes, and businesses the Village has to offer.
Arts and culture are a crucial and powerful economic driver in our town and people come from across the state, country and around the world to experience all the beauty Saugerties has to offer.
The Local aims to be Saugerties’ cultural center, a community space, and venue for performing arts events, a space for people of all ages to create, collaborate, educate, congregate, and celebrate and as well as a hub for businesses and individuals.
Check out the renovation photo gallery here.
Saugerties residents joined us for an open house.
Big thanks to Mark Peritz/Joy of Building and Franklin, Skye, Antonio and Yesenia. Joy of Building specializes in historic renovations and restorations and is a joy to work with.
And thank you Terri Massardo, Steve Thornton, John Kelly Plumbing, Dwayne Krause Electric, Jack Dicesare Painting, Smith's Hardware, Scott Roeber and Hudson Valley Architecture, Ricardo Lemos and Rockland Hardwood Floors, Brittany Barnard, Jay Ballesteros Photography, Angela Gaffney-Smith, the Town and Village of Saugerties and The Reformed Church of Saugerties.