Poughkeepsie to Welcome Sculpture Event

POUGHKEEPSIE – City officials announced that a Special Event “Upstate Immersive” will be held the weekend of Aug. 28-29 at Dongan Park and on the site of the former Pelton Manor. The immersive sculpture show is part of a biennial arts activation and emulates past presentations in city malls, such as the Bklyn Immersive at City Point in 2017 and the Times Square Immersive at the public plaza in conjunction with Times Square Arts in 2019.

Upstate Immersive features a special curatorial collaboration with River Hill Art Residency, co-founder and curator Zahra Sherzad, and will be part of Upstate Art Weekend 2021 and made possible by the support of the City of Poughkeepsie and the Poughkeepsie Public Arts Commission. The event will run from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

Additionally, Upstate Immersive will host the official Upstate Art Weekend closing event on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 29, with special performances curated by Sherzad, including Miriam Parker, Spencer Zahn and Darius Christian, Busquelo and an “end-of-summer” fireworks display presented by the City of Poughkeepsie, Vassar Brothers Medical Center, and Marshall & Sterling Insurance.

The event is free and open to the public and will feature more than a dozen sculptural works by emerging artists, music and food vendors. The former Pelton Manor site is an ideal location from which to view the annual fireworks display, which returns to the Hudson River, just south of the Walkway Over The Hudson after a year’s hiatus. Other prime locations for viewing are the Walkway itself or Waryas Park.

“We invite residents, as well as visitors from around the region and the State to visit Poughkeepsie and enjoy the Upstate Art Weekend’s closing event the last weekend in August,” City Administrator Marc Nelson said. “The City’s Dongan Park and the grounds of the former Pelton Manor, just steps from the Poughkeepsie Train Station – which is served by both Amtrak and Metro North — will be the site of an extraordinary sculpture garden with music and food vendors throughout the day. Sunday evening’s fireworks promise a big bang of a return to our annual celebration of Independence here in the City.”

For more information about the Upstate Art Week, visit https://www.upstateartweekend.org.

For information about the City of Poughkeepsie Public Arts Commission, visit http://www.pkgoarts.org.