Basilica Hudson Founders Receive 2024 Pillars of New York Award!

The team at INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY heard the news and had to share it. Congratulations to Hudson Valley locals Melissa Auf der Maur & Tony Stone, Co-Founders of Basilica Hudson and River House Project on winning the prestigious 2024 Pillar of New York Award from the Preservation League of NYS. We’re doing the happy dance for you!

For more than 25 years, the League has been honoring individuals and organizations that have taken extraordinary action to protect, preserve, and promote New York’s artistic and architectural heritage with the Pillar of New York Award.  This year’s Award reception will take place on Thursday, March 14 at the Rainbow Room in NYC.

Congratulations to this year’s winners! The 2024 Pillars of New York are Peggy King Jorde, Principal of KING JORDE Culturals, Richard J. Moylan, President of The Green-Wood Cemetery, and Melissa Auf der Maur & Tony Stone, Co-Founders of Basilica Hudson and River House Project. This event is the League’s largest annual fundraiser — supporting the Pillar Awards supports the League’s statewide work all year long.

“Pillar of New York honorees are true believers in the power of preservation,” said Preservation League President Jay DiLorenzo. “We look forward to paying tribute to this year’s four marvelous honorees during our golden anniversary celebration on March 14.”

Melissa Auf der Maur is a musician, photographer, curator, and producer who was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. She is most prominently known for being the bass player in two seminal 90s bands, Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins. The photographs she took during her time in both bands have been published and exhibited in National Geographic, SPIN Magazine, Sotheby’s NYC, and The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Tony Stone is a filmmaker and builder who was born and raised in Lower Manhattan. His feature films SEVERED WAYS and PETER AND THE FARM were released by Magnolia Pictures to high acclaim. TED K, his most recent film released by NEON, continues his exploration of the dark and rugged soul of America.

Melissa and Tony co-founded Basilica Hudson in 2010, a reclaimed, solar-powered, 1880s industrial factory turned multidisciplinary art center in Hudson, NY. In 2019, they completed the rehabilitation of another historic Hudson building – River House Project is a fossil fuel-free film, media, and design hub within a 1903 schoolhouse. That restoration earned the couple an Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League in 2020.

“For more than a decade, we’ve committed blood, sweat, and tears to preserving and celebrating the rich history and heritage of the City of Hudson’s waterfront through our work at Basilica Hudson and the River House Project. It is an honor to be recognized for our part in this effort. We take this opportunity to shine a light on these Hudson River Town architectural gems as beacons and creative havens for arts, culture, and people.

This Pillar Award amplifies and echoes our dreams we set out to make come true when our love affair with Hudson began in 2010. Our greatest hope is that our special attention to historic restoration, matched with ‘green’ renewable energy systems, will inspire the next wave of preservationists.”

“Thank you to New York State Preservation League for recognizing this work.”

– Melissa Auf der Maur

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More About Basilica Hudson

The organization welcomes over 20,000 visitors each season to genre-pushing music festivals, large-scale marketplace events, regular film screenings, an artist-in-residency program, public installations and other community gatherings. The majority of its programs are free or sliding scale. Through its programs, Basilica Hudson supports the creation, production and presentation of independent arts and culture and strives to forge experiences that aspire to the scale, grit and beauty of its surroundings. It draws inspiration for its mission and programming from the City of Hudson’s epic history, as well as the region’s artistic legacy and environmental advocacy. Visit basilicahudson.org for more information.