A robust schedule of events has been released for October’s month-long Shout Out Saugerties festival, which aims to showcase local artistic talent and bring culture and creative activities to the community. This third iteration of the festival features a swathe of local musicians, dance classes, on-the-spot pet portraits, poets writing haikus for passers-by on typewriters, plays by local playwrights, workshops in writing and collage-making, a performance from a Billboard chart-topping artist and a house made from water chestnuts. The fest’s organizers say that this is the best line-up they’ve had yet.
“Every year we keep working out the kinks,” said organizer Robert Langdon of the Emerge Gallery on Main St. “We find out what’s right and what’s wrong and we try to correct that. This year, a lot of people are stepping up to help, the community is getting more involved. There’s a lot more activity and a lot more events that would be really appealing to the community than we had in previous years.”
The first week of the festival will launch from the New Ulster Marina in Kingston aboard the Dugong Schooner at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 with a series of musical acts on the river. From noon until 5 p.m. on the next Saturday, Oct. 5, 20 local bands will play throughout the village for an event dubbed Make Music Saugerties: artists include Malcolm Cecil, Paul Clarke, Finn, Celeste Graves, The Grit Gang, Hervey Sunside, KAT Sounds Project, Lost Aesthetic, Spaghetti Eastern, Finding Alice, South Indian dance with Sloka Iyengar, Roses and Rust and Walter Dominicis and El Rancho Deluxo’s Cuban Blues Band. After the unveiling of “Reclaimed: Art from Recycled Materials” at the Emerge Gallery, Laura Stevenson will perform with accompaniment from violinist Aidan Kohler at 7:30 p.m.. Stevenson, who has been written up by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone and praised on NPR, recently moved to Saugerties and looks forward to her musical debut in her new home. She describes her style as “writerly alternative folk music.”
“ I was thinking about doing the record release somewhere in the Hudson Valley somewhere where the record came out — This is like my unofficial Hudson Valley record release,” said Stevenson, referring to her newest album ‘The Big Freeze,’ which was released in spring and ranked #11 on Billboard alternative album charts upon its release. “It’s really, really nice. I’ve never played in Saugerties before…I’m really excited to be a part of the community.”
Back from previous years are Will Nixon and Sari Grandstaff, who will write haikus for those who ask outside of Love Bites Café on Sunday, Oct 6. From 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. Close by on the Tamayo Green at 89 Partition St, Rae Stangs “Handmade Carnival,” featuring games of skill and chance, will coincide with a mask and puppet-making workshop with “narrative artist” Joanna Pagano Weber. At 4 p.m., carnival goers can walk back down the street to Emerge Gallery for a talk given by Steven Petrucci, who owned an art gallery in the village from 75 until the 90’s, and art historian Bruce Weber.
“I think people are more aware of the talent we have here. I think artists are interacting more,” said festival-creator Suzanne Bennett of how Shout Out has bolstered the local creative community. “This, I think, could be characterized by the event. It started last year when a group of people came together and made the amazing Flotsam and Jetsam [made of water bottles and] other kinds of plastics…became a huge dragon. It’s now hanging in the public library. That was six people who came together, and other people who stopped by. This year they’re working with water chestnut. That kind of collaboration, it fosters them coming together and exposure to creative activities. I think we have increased community involvement and that really pleases me, the numbers of people who have come forward and contributed ideas and programs that they’d like to see happen. I think there’s a lot more ownership in the community about the festival”
Bennett said that, although a record number of volunteers have already come forward, help is still needed — those who are interested can contact festival organizers on their Facebook page or at www.shoutoutsaugerties.org
OCTOBER 4 -6
Oct 4 5:00-7:00p.m. — Reclaimed: Live … Demonstration of recycled art used for The Water Chestnut House community sculpture project. Emerge Gallery 228 Main, Saugerties
Oct 5 12:00-5:00p.m. — Make Music Saugerties — An afternoon of music throughout the village
Oct 5 5:00 — 7:00p.m. — Opening Reception for Reclaimed: Art from Recycled Materials.
Emerge Gallery, 228 Main St, Saugerties
Oct 5 7:30-9:30p.m. — Laura Stevenson in Concert – Saugerties Reformed Church, 173 Main St, Saugerties (TICKETS ON BROWN PAPER TICKETS)
Oct 6 1:00-3:00p.m. — Street Haiku — Let Will Nixon and Sari Grandstaff write you a Haiku.
Love Bites Restaurant — 69 Partition St, Saugerties
Oct 6 1:00-4:00 p.m. — Rae’s Handmade Carnival & Mask and Puppet Making with Joanne. Tamayo’s Green — 89a Partition St, Saugerties
Oct 6 4:00-5:30 p.m. — A Conversation with Walter F. Petrucci and Bruce Weber.
Emerge Gallery, 228 Main, Saugerties
OCTOBER 11 – 13
Oct 11 6:00-8:00 p.m. — Latin Dance class with Carlos Osorio.PC Smith’s Hardware Tunnel, 227 Main St, Saugerties
Oct 12 3:00-8:00 p.m. — Theater Alive: Three Original Plays by Local Playwrights
Masonic Lodge, 19 Russell St, Saugerties
Oct 13 1:00-4:00 p.m. — Street Pet Portraits — Artists will create a painting of your pet
Lucky Chocolates, 113a Partition St, Saugerties
Wednesday Oct 16 — 7:00-9:00 p.m. Cinema Alive: Screening of “Little White Lie” with Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz Delgado. Saugerties Public Library, 91 Washington Ave, Saugerties
OCTOBER 18 – 20
Oct 18 7:00-8:00 p.m. — Willem & the Werewolf: A Medieval Love Story — Actors from Actors & Writers will be performing a play by writer and former Executive Director of Opus 40 Tad Richards.
Opus 40, Barbara Fite Room at the House on the Quarry, 50 Fite Rd, Saugerties
Oct 19 3:00-4:30 p.m. — Secret Saugerties — Think you know all the art-filled nooks and crannies around Saugerties? Think again (various locations).
Oct 19 5:00-7:00 p.m. — Collage Demo with Loel Barr & Ann Morris. Emerge Gallery, 228 Main, Saugerties
Oct 19 7:00-9:00 p.m. — Cinema Alive: Screening of High School Student Short Films and “Voices of the Esopus” Preview. Saugerties Public Library, 91 Washington Ave, Saugerties
Oct 20 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. — Workshop: Exploring the Collage Essay with Nancy Kline.
Emerge Gallery, 228 Main, Saugerties
Oct 20 10:00am-12:00p.m. — Upcycled Jewelry Workshop w/ Alicia Stang.Rosie’s Vintage, 114 Partition St, Saugerties
Oct 20 2:30-4:00 p.m. — Laugh-Cryathon: Interactive Sounds of Release with Linda Mary Montano & Special Guests. Saugerties Public Library (lawn), 91 Washington Ave, Saugerties
Oct 20 5:00-6:30 p.m. – Discussion: Artists, Commitment, Community, with Linda Marsten-Reid
Emerge Gallery, 228 Main St, Saugerties
Wednesday, Oct 23 — 7:00-9:00 p.m. Cinema Alive: Screening “Killer of Sheep” with director Charles Burnett. Saugerties Public Library, 91 Washington Ave, Saugerties
OCTOBER 25 – 27
Oct 25 7:30-8:30 p.m. — Theater Alive: Skin of Our Teeth — Community theater reading of the Thornton Wilder Pulitzer Prize winning play. Masonic Lodge, 19 Russell St, Saugerties
Oct 26 4:00-5:30 p.m. — Reading: Writing With Scissors — Interactive Writing project happening throughout the month followed by a reading. Emerge Gallery, 228 Main St, Saugerties
Oct 26 8:00-11:00 p.m. — Theater Alive: Cream of Shorts — Staged reading of short plays.
Masonic Lodge 19 Russell St, Saugerties
Oct 27 2:00-4:00 p.m. — Unveiling of “The Water Chestnut House” community sculpture (location tbd)
EXHIBITIONS
September 7 – 29
Terrain: Art Inspired By Landscape,
Cityscapes and Seascapes
September 6 – November 3
Peter Bradley: New Work
Oyster Point Gallery, Red Bank NJ in
collaboration with Oyster Point Hotel
and Ellen Martin
October 5 – 27
Reclaimed: Art Created With Recycled Material
Join the family! 
