Conversation about the Waterfront

On Thursday, April 21, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Basilica Hudson and Toolshed, in collaboration with Hudson Valley Collaborative and the Hudson Sloop Club, will host a conversation about Hudson's waterfront and its future. The event takes place at Basilica Hudson, 110 South Front Street. A focus of the conversation will be how to increase community access and ecological awareness of the waterfront, particularly the area from the Hudson Power Boat Association to East Jesus. The evening will center on feedback and ideas for two waterfront projects: Hudson Valley Collaborative's design for the expansion of Henry Hudson Riverfront Park and accommodations for sea level rise due to climate change, and the Hudson Sloop Club's new plan for a mobile Everett Nack Estuary Education Center.

The evening will begin with a land acknowledgment by Heather Bruegl, an independent indigenous consultant, citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and descendent of the Mohican Nation Stockbridge Munsee Band. This will be followed by a short reading by Toolshed cofounder Timothy Furstnau and a talk and Q&A on indigenous concepts of land ownership led by Dr. Scott Stevens, a citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and professor of English and Indigenous and Native American Studies at Syracuse University. These presentations will provide grounding and context for a presentation and discussion of current ownership of land along the river, with a view to strategizing about places for intervention and community access.

The final part of the evening will be presentations, feedback, and brainstorming about two projects on the waterfront: Hudson Valley Collaborative's redesign for Riverfront Park and the Hudson Sloop Club's mobile Nack Center. Short slide presentations will be followed by a walking tour of the park and planned programs and interventions. Feedback will be encouraged during the walking tour.

A related workshop on making pigments from plants found near the waterfront will take place on Sunday, April 24, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., as part of Basilica Hudson's Earth Day celebrations. The workshop will be led by Elie Irons, Basilica Hudson's Hudson-as-Muse artist in residence. The workshop is co-presented by Toolshed.

For more information, contact Edward Morris at edward@canary-project.org.