“Nobody knew what was under the linoleum,” says Danny Melnick as he and business partner Isabel Soffer lead a tour of the partially renovated Old Dutch Chapel at 16 John Street in the Village of Saugerties. “It was a daycare center for more than 40 years.”
The 1,500-square-foot central space of the circa-1870 Queen Anne-style building is currently in the midst of a spectacular transformation, soon to become a resource that Saugerties has been sorely lacking: a multi-use indoor venue geared primarily toward the performing arts. The Local Center for Arts and Culture, as it’s going to be called, will have its official ribbon-cutting and Open House on Tuesday, July 11 at 6 p.m.
The original hardwood floors beneath the linoleum layer — now freshly sanded and refinished — were far from the biggest surprise that Melnick, Soffer and their historic restoration specialist, Mark Peritz of Joy of Building, found when they started dismantling the adaptations that had been made to the structure for use as a daycare facility. “They put in a drop ceiling in the 1970s,” Melnick explains. “It kept the temperature controlled in here, and kept it quieter.”
But the “modern” ceiling also obscured the soaring dome and glorious stained-glass windows that make this former house of worship inspiring. Along with the ceiling tiles and hanging fluorescent lights, the renovators had to pull out a jungle of structural metal and wiring to expose the space’s major selling points. They added some new chandeliers and a ceiling fan, but those are subdued and tasteful and leave the original arched ceiling’s eye-popping impact intact.
On the day HV1 paid a visit, there was still much work left to be done to transform the Chapel into an arts and community space. The building’s antiquated electrical system – which supplied no outlets at all on long stretches of wall – had already been completely rewired, but a sound system for concerts was still on the shopping list. Without the drop ceiling, the 28-foot-high room now sounds extremely “live,” in sound-design parlance, so Melnick and Soffer plan to soften it with an acoustic curtain behind the stage and acoustic panels along some of the walls.
As of now, that “stage” consists of an 18-by-nine-foot Oriental rug on the same level as the rest of the listening space. “We’re going to bring in a really nice baby grand piano,” Soffer says. She also notes that the wood floor on joists is dance-friendly, which means that their company, known as Hudson Valley Live, will be able to book dance companies, as well as to host community events. “One of the first groups we’re bringing in will be a tango company,” she says. “We want dance parties, too. There’s not a lot to do for young people in this town.”
It would be difficult to find two Saugerties residents who are better prepared and networked to bring live entertainment into this new venue in an old space, which can accommodate an audience of 200 or more. Both Soffer and Melnick already had long and distinguished careers as music producers, tour managers and event organizers before moving upstate full-time.
On the day we visited, Melnick was taking a brief break from preparing for last weekend’s 21-band Saratoga Jazz Festival, which he has been producing for the last 30 of its 46-year history through his company Absolutely Live Entertainment. He first got established in the business as a protégé of George Wein, founder of the legendary Newport Jazz Festival. “I worked for 27 years for the Newport Jazz Festival, first as an employee and then as an outside contractor,” he relates. The Shape of Jazz Series at Carnegie Hall, JusticeAid events, the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour and a variety of other tours and events are among the many feathers in his cap.
While most of Melnick’s production experience is in the jazz world, Soffer found her niche in global roots music. Formerly director of the World Music Institute, she now runs a not-for-profit production company called globalFEST, founded in the wake of 9/11 with a mission to combat xenophobia in America through the shared love of music. GlobalFEST hosts an annual festival as well as coordinating thousands of concerts (including Tiny Desk Concerts for NPR Music), tours, conferences, annual awards and recording projects involving the cream of the crop of the world music and Americana scenes. Soffer is currently hoping to arrange the use of The Local as a rainy-day alternative space for the August 3 Opus 40 performance of the band Jupiter & Okwess, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In any case, the two principals of Hudson Valley Live intend to have some public events happening at The Local before this summer is over. Booking is just getting underway, along with establishing a ticketing platform. High on their list is reestablishing the much-loved James Street Jam that used to meet regularly in this space. As it happens, the Jam’s longtime organizers, Terri Massardo and Steve Thornton, are both elders of the Reformed Church of Saugerties, which owns the Chapel building next door, and were both early champions of its conversion into a proper performance venue.
Renovation is still in progress on the Chapel’s kitchen, and some former classrooms are being turned into offices and storage space for chairs, tables and the like. They’re looking into improving the old building’s insulation for year-round use, with the Reformed Church as fundraising partner. The Church was already able to secure a long-term low-interest loan from the Village of Saugerties to build an ADA-compliant restroom, widen a doorway and install a ramp for handicapped access. Artists and audiences at The Local will also be able to use the breezeway that connects the Chapel to the main Church sanctuary and opens onto a charming courtyard that features a bluestone patio, ivy-covered brick walls, boxwood hedges and a garden.
Soffer and Melnick both envision The Local as the missing piece in the mosaic of downtown Saugerties’ transformation into a cultural corridor, already pioneered by the Saugerties Arts Commission, Inquiring Minds Bookstore, Upstate Films’ Orpheum Theater, the Newberry Artisan Market, Emerge Gallery, the Jane Street Art Center and various restaurants, bars, cafés, shops and small businesses. A venue for live performances and public gatherings was what was most needed, in their view. “Saugerties has been so focused on sports. We would like to add the arts to what makes this town so special,” says Soffer. “It’s a better world with the arts.”
To follow the progress of The Local as it gets up and running, visit www.thelocalsaugerties.com, www.facebook.com/thelocalsaugerties and www.instagram.com/thelocalsaugerties. You can also join the e-mail list by contacting thelocalsaugerties@gmail.com.
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