More Than Art: Hudson Valley InterArts as a Sanctuary for Connection

Hudson Valley InterArts, located in Patterson, NY, is much more than just an art center. It is a vibrant and welcoming sanctuary for creative exploration, collaboration, and healing. The center features an expansive, multi-disciplinary space that fosters an intergenerational community, inviting individuals from diverse backgrounds to come together and experience the transformative power of art.

Designed as an intersectional hub for creativity, the center nurtures self-expression while also prioritizing the forging of meaningful, authentic relationships. It serves as a refuge for both emerging and established artists, as well as individuals with special needs, where art and human connection intersect.

The center is dedicated to nourishing a culture of inclusivity, diversity, and emotional well-being while addressing the pervasive problems of isolation and loneliness in our modern society. Beyond its role as an artistic space, Hudson Valley Inter Art embraces the idea that creativity can be a bridge to healing and mutual understanding across different communities. By blending creativity with the healing arts, Hudson Valley InterArts stands as a testament to the transformative power of art in its many forms.

Explore their ever-changing schedule of classes, events and exhibitions for all ages and abilities, including ceramics, yoga, music, mixed media art, creative writing, fiber arts, meditation, yoga, Zumba, video editing, and more. The center’s immense facility also offers a multitude of space options to rent, including a sound studio, an 1100 square’ movement studio, a 1500 square’ Great Room, multiple art studios complete with sinks and counter space, and more.

The facility has also issued a “Call to Artists” who may want to weave in their own creative talents and healing ways. Their website reads, “If you are passionate about the intersection of art and healing, hold a commitment to inclusivity, and believe in the power of artistic expression to forge community connections, we invite you to be a part of our team at InterArts!” They are looking for inspired individuals in various fields, including movement, yoga, qi gong, tai chi, theater arts, music production, and visual art, to help create transformative experiences.

Want to know more? Meet Eric Archer Dahlberg, the Creative Director of Hudson Valley InterArts and an accomplished multi-instrumentalist musician, artist, and poet. In addition to his work at InterArts, Eric teaches mindfulness and meditation and has served as faculty at various institutions, including The Omega Institute, The Finger Lakes School of Massage, and The Millbrook School. He is also a senior Jamtse Yin Yoga teacher and co-producer of the community-driven series “Everyday Expert.” As a self-proclaimed naturalist and outdoor enthusiast, he incorporates the visceral and universal experiences of connecting with nature into his teachings. Would you like to learn more about Eric’s personal creative work? CLICK HERE.

Are you ready to explore the magic of Hudson Valley InterArts? Read our exclusive interview with Eric below…

INSIDE+OUT: Who is responsible for birthing the original vision for InterArts?

Eric Archer Dahlberg: Vicki Sylvester, Executive of Community Based Services, and Bhakar Singh, the Strategist of Community Based Services. Community-Based Services funded the building project and imagined an intersectional art center. They brought me on as an artistic and creative consultant to design and reconfigure the building, craft the narrative and marketing story, design and outfit the teaching studios, and hire teaching artists.

Has it evolved much from that original dream?

Bhakar and I have incorporated addressing the Surgeon General’s advisory on the Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. We see the goal of building relationships as central to our mission alongside artistic expression and creative self-actualization. Building relationships is a delicate process to encourage intentionally. Luckily, the arts and sharing of creative processes have natural dimensions of vulnerability, curiosity, mutual sharing and being seen, which all contribute to relationship building. Furthermore, a space that aims to provide programs for different age groups fosters an intergenerational exchange that is nourishing in particular ways for all involved.

Was the inspiration found in other models that helped guide this?

Not directly, but my experience as a professional freelance artist and teacher in multiple disciplines drew on my history of teaching and working at different centers (retreat centers and healing art centers) around the world. I have been working on this project since January 2022 and working with this team since then. As our project developed in the first year, we were introduced to other art center examples, most notably the Cornell Creative Arts Center in Kingston, which I didn’t know about before beginning this project.

What about personal experience?

Noted above, but additionally, I had a very special experience as I began understanding the scope of this project and vision – a whole new kind of feeling that my own experience in multiple fields could converge in this art center – in other words, this project would synthesize my different work paths and skills into one project in a way that was unique and personally previously unseen.

Please share the overall vision for InterArts in a few sentences from the perspective of someone who works intimately as the Creative Director and a contributing artist.

The vision has been to create a multi-disciplinary art center that develops meaningful relationships around creative expression and centers shared humanity at the place our different paths and creative passions intersect. In this way, we can pair the creative and healing arts in service with an inclusive community.

With the proliferation of healing and creative centers in the Hudson Valley, what makes this one unique?

Our center focuses on supporting artists of all abilities and sees the integration of adults with special needs specifically as a pivotal way of building understanding and honoring communication through arts and shared experience. Our interest in bringing inter-generational connection and offerings is another goal, specifically for elders and early childhood (more nascent now, but in the works). Lastly, many art centers have a few of these demographics and disciplines covered. Still, not many or any have this breadth of disciplines accessible to the public at large and for people with disabilities specifically. Our center offers classes year round and includes classes housed in each of these disciplines and teaching studios: ceramics, music, dance, yoga, fiber, digital art, photography, etc. It is hard to say how many students there are at once and how many classes as we are constantly expanding and adjusting our programming. Our website has up-to-date schedules and programs.

How large is your team?

We have two directors, Taylor Martin and me, two executives and a marketing director from Community-Based Services who consult with us, and we have anywhere from 20-25 current teaching artists. There are also numerous support staff for folks with disabilities, maintenance and gardeners, etc.

What are some of the most significant rewards for your team in running and supporting this project?

The most significant reward is supporting and witnessing creativity in action and how our center is seen as a safe and inclusive place to exchange and explore different expressive arts. Another is how simply being around art, artists, and functional teaching studios allows people to feel inspired – even beyond formal art or craft.

What are the greatest challenges in establishing and growing this?

Educating people about how this center is not just for people with special needs. We have assisted classes for particular demographics but also serve the larger community of different ages and skill levels to have introductory and advanced art classes. Also, if you build it, they don’t necessarily come. You must undertake a serious campaign to let them know, and help them get here!

Are there any surprises that your team did not anticipate along the journey?

We didn’t expect to include the Epidemic of Loneliness and social connection as part of the heart of our mission. This feels meaningful, and I feel like most people I speak with about this agree and can feel the importance of this – myself included. It is harder to address, but it is vitally important to see relational health as part of the creative community. As mentioned above, it is delicate work to try and build relationships intentionally – this is more a by-product of a safe, creative space that honors all forms of creativity and has a culture of encouragement and acceptance.

 It seems like a more European model to have people with noticeable cognitive and physical disabilities integrated with the mainstream population for classes and events. (Is this perception correct in terms of InterArts?) Although seemingly uncommon, this is not something you address overtly in your language on your site beyond a mission of inclusivity, diversity, and openness to anyone in the community. How has this braiding been beneficial for your attending artists and participants? How has it been challenging, if at all?

I’m not sure if it’s more European, but I could believe it. We have attempted to walk the delicate balance of being inclusive while also not alienating other artists or attendees from the public by having them think our center is only for folks with disabilities, as there are meaningful considerations and differences to account for in programming, pedagogy, safety, etc. This is indeed a challenging blend to achieve, and we are just beginning, but it has been important to continue to educate people and uplift this different type of model. Certainly not at full capacity or full tilt, as we still have another 12,000 sq ft of the building we are aiming to develop into creative, maker space, as well as potential educational and theatrical additions. Furthermore, the 15,000 sq ft of space we already have opened is quite large and has a lot more room to grow into. The center opened in May 2024 and will have a one-year anniversary party and community art exhibition on May 9th, 2025. To fully achieve the vibrant community we have built this space for, it will entail more community members helping to co-create out of this space. It is a unique and unexpected joy to see how the community may continue to help direct how and what this center may grow into.

As an artist and musician, has working with InterArts affected your own creative process or expression in any way?

Yes, it first has allowed me to understand the convergence of my different creative paths, as noted before, and helped me see how this center is an artifact that itself will be a vessel for others to create out of. Very special. I have always felt I have been of service in some ways through my arts and teaching work, yet this is a whole new level of expression and understanding for me. Furthermore, having direct access to ceramics, fiber arts, and video production has jump-started those practices in my own life. I have been making/mending my clothes, making ceramics, and greatly advancing my videography through engagement with the space!

Are there any exciting visions for InterArts this year ahead and beyond?

I am excited to continue to curate our gallery for group shows and performances this year. An upcoming show in collaboration with the arts and ecology group FROGS – Friends of the Great Swamp – pairs environmental research, nature connection, and artistic expression. Having their community of artists hang a group show later this Winter will be special. Further building out our co-working space and developing creative membership formats for community engagement. I am looking for someone to spearhead our Healing Arts programming and potential community clinic. I will also begin hosting film showings on Disability Activists and Artists, as well as leading an Art Synectics class, which teaches and supports creative thinking and artistic experimentation.

I will continue to host my Art Jams, where I open the entire building for artists to work on their own projects in community, while having access to the entire suite of teaching studios. These Art Jams will also hopefully have a fun offshoot I’m calling ‘An EP Evening’, which will bring a curated group of musicians into our little music studio for one night to write, perform, and record a 3-track EP from scratch based on our unique musical constellation.

Each population will engage with upcoming programs in unique ways. An intersectional art center does not presuppose that all classes can be open or accessible to all, just that the center provides programming, entry points, and opportunities to share/perform for all. In this way, the center itself is a meeting place, a hub, a vessel where different artists may meet, share life, and cross-pollinate their experiences, regardless of taking formal classes together. New classes are launched each month, so please stay tuned in 2025 for the launch of our programs mentioned above.

Photos by Hudson Valley InterArts

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