Bindlestiff Family Cirkus is pleased to announce The Art of the Cirkus, a special exhibition and celebration at the Hudson Area Library that honors the craft, visual, and photographic artists who have collaborated with Bindlestiff’s Cirkus After School program over their 14-year history in Columbia County. The exhibition will showcase unique artworks tucked into corners of the library, suspended from the rafters, gracing the walls of the building’s entrance hall, and emanating from video screens.

The Art of the Cirkus includes photographs by Zach Neven, B. Docktor, David Lee, S. Trianna, and Eric Ferrer; hand-painted costume artifacts from The Memorial Project by Ifetayo Cobbins, Ntchota Badila, NaQuera Roach, Amy Chen, and Stephanie Monseu. It will also feature wearable art by Cirkus After School junior staff Romello Robinson, Cashmere Whitmore, Serenity McGriff- Phillips, and Jasiah Riley, made during a residency with local artist and fashion designer, Loki Anthony. A slide show documenting the creation of a mural for the Hudson Youth Center in 2019/2020 and a series of video interviews with the The Memorial Project artists will also be on show.

Dates/Times:
Exhibition: On view from Thursday, September 28 – Saturday, October 14, during library hours
Celebration event: Thursday, October 12, 6 – 8pm

Location: Hudson Area Library Main Space and Community Room

Registration: Registration required. Click here to register.

Photo credit: Loki Anthony

Bindlestiff’s Cirkus After School uses skills like juggling, stilt walking, tumbling, partner acrobatics, prop manipulation, and physical comedy to help youth to become stronger learners, community members, and leaders. The program encourages them to express themselves creatively, challenge themselves physically, and work inventively with others. The work takes place at the intersection of creative arts and physical discipline, and is grounded in the values of life-long learning, safety, choice, trustworthiness, practice, collaboration, empowerment, compassion, and respect. Activities include weekly after-school classes, a summer Juggling Club, teen workforce development, field trips to professional circus performances, visits from world-class teaching artists in the circus and variety arts field, community performances by youth, and collaboration with numerous cultural and arts organizations.

The Columbia County Libraries Association is launching a countywide read this month, encouraging community members throughout Columbia County to read a common book and come together for discussions and programs centered around the book’s themes. The book is The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, by William Kamkwamba – the true story of a boy who helped a drought-stricken Malawi village by constructing a windmill to generate electricity and pump water, after seeing an example in a book at his local library.

Upcoming events to celebrate this community-wide program will include:

Make a Pinwheel Drop-in Craft
Monday, September 18 – Saturday, November 4, anytime during library hours. No registration required. Ask for a kit at the library’s Main Desk.

Meet the Illustrator with Elizabeth Zunon
Thursday, October 5, 7pm on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link, email columbiacountylibraries@gmail.com

Webinar on Wind Energy with Anne Reynolds, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York
Monday, October 30, 6pm. To receive the Zoom link, email columbiacountylibraries@gmail.com

Hudson Area Library’s Nonfiction Book Group Discussion
Monday, October 23, 6pm on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link, email info@hudsonarealibrary.org

Crandell Theater Film Screening: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Sunday, November 5, 1:00 p.m. Free and open to the public.

In connection with our Community Read of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Columbia County Libraries will host a webinar with illustrator Liz Zunon, to discuss the picture book version of the beloved story.

Date/Time: Thursday, October 5, 7pm

Location: Virtual via Zoom

Registration: To register and receive the Zoom link, email columbiacountylibraries@gmail.com

Program Description: Nationally Certified Career Services Provider, Beth Gordon, will work with you one-on-one to re-fresh your resume or brush up on your interview skills to land that next job.

Date/Time: Beth is available by appointment for one-one-one sessions offered at a safe distance in person at the Hudson Area Library or by telephone, Skype, Zoom, or FaceTime.

Registration: Email programs@hudsonarealibrary.org or call 518-828-1792 x100 to schedule a one-on-one appointment.

Studies have shown that having a qualified person work through the process of seeking a job gives an individual a much greater chance of success. Beth Gordon is a Certified Career Services Provider, trained as a career coach through NCDA, the National Career Development Association. Beth provides professional development and advocacy to a diverse group of people who are out of work, looking to re-enter or join the workforce. She inspires and empowers individuals to achieve their career and life goals by consulting on resume writing, job search guidance, interview preparation and work ready assistance. Beth has training to help with, not only resumes and interview skills, but online job applications, and finding the right market for your particular job skills. She has access to job search resources online and in our area and has successfully taken many people through the process of searching for a job.

Our youth radio crew records their weekly Bound By Books radio show remotely on Tuesday afternoons. Tune in Friday evenings and Sunday mornings to hear tweens and teens, along with our library director Emily Chameides discuss books they love, books they’re currently reading, and other tween and teen media and literary topics. Bound By Books has been broadcasting on WGXC since 2011. In addition to the weekly show, past Bound by Books radio shows can be accessed online via the WGXC Audio Archive.

Recording: Tuesdays, 4-5pm

Broadcast: Fridays, 7pm and Sundays, 6:30am on WGXC 90.7FM

Register: Contact Emily at info@hudsonarealibrary.org to learn more.

Lucille Burr Gringon will share her knowledge of plants and traditional gardening practices of the Menominee and Mohican nations, with a focus on the willow tree. The event will include storytelling and a hands-on activity to create rootstock with the willow. Part of the magic — and the ecological utility — of willow is the ease with which it roots. Willow can be used as a fast-growing plant when seeking to combat destructive non-native plants such as knotweed. Willow also has a rich history of medicinal and artisan uses, which Gringon will speak about and demonstrate.

Date/Time: Saturday, October 21, 4 pm

Location: In person, Hudson Area Library Community Room

Registration: No registration required.

Lucille Burr Gringon is an enrolled member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nation and a direct descendant of the Menominee Nation. Muh-he-con-ne-ok being of the People of the Waters that are never still and Menominee being of the Ancient movers. She is a passionate Indigenous homesteader, educator, and advocate for my community and the world around me. Her family owns an Indigenous Homestead called Ancient Roots in Bowler, Wisconsin. She and her family research traditional gardening practices from our ancestors dating back to ages ago to the present day. They use a combination of their methods to learn, preserve, grow, seed save, reconnect, and share. They are working to reconnect to our cultural inheritance through the land, plants, medicines, and wildlife. “I recognize my connections to my Indigenous roots come in many forms, from our language journey to the stories of our elders, our people, and our healing.” – Lucille Burr Gringon

Toolshed is a platform to gather and share tools for ecological living. It consists of a collection of books and other resources at the Hudson Area Library, which is called the Ecotopian Collection, as well as a tool-lending library in Hudson called Toolshed Exchange and an on-line journal at tool-shed.org. Toolshed hosts workshops and events and is also working on a book. It was created by artists Sayler/Morris in collaboration with Timothy Furstnau, Mary Mattingly and many others.

This event is sponsored and co-hosted by Toolshed with funds generously provided by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and is connected to Toolshed’s ecological restoration project on the Schoharie Creek. With a grant from the Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley, Toolshed is removing Japanese Knotweed and replacing it with willow to help sustain the riparian ecosystem.

The BBFH Exhibition documents the historic presence of Black and Brown families residing in Hudson, and includes extended family members that return to their families centered in Hudson.

This is the second leg of a documentation project by Operation Unite NY. The first leg focused on collecting photographs from families with senior members living in Hudson and may have relocated from other areas. A third opportunity this summer will invite families who represent longtime residents and first-generation residents in Hudson.

Photographer David McIntyre has worked extensively to bring this exhibition to fruition and will continue to assist in the curation of the exhibition moving forward.

Date/Time:
Opening: Thursday, July 6, 6pm
Exhibition: Thursday, July 6 – mid-October

Location: In person, Hudson Area Library Community Room

Registration: No registration required. All are welcome!

This exhibition is presented in partnership with Operation Unite NY and David McIntyre.