Schoharie County Arts on a Mission to Support Local Artists

SCHOHARIE – The nonprofit Schoharie County Arts (SCA) is gearing up for what promises to be an exciting 2025.

Building on past sponsorships and its mission to support local artists, SCA works to promote cultural and arts-related activities, advance individual artists and organizations, and contributes to the county’s cultural and economic growth.

With a focus squarely on Schoharie County, the nonprofit arts organization is an offshoot of CREATE (Council for Resources to Enrich the Arts, Technology and Education), which administers arts grants for Columbia, Greene and Schoharie counties.

 “Our tagline is ‘strengthening the arts in Schoharie County,’” said SCA Board President Lisa Ovitt. “The art is already there – it just needs to be promoted and celebrated.”

In keeping with that mission, SCA provides grant funding, sponsors community events throughout the year and collaborates with the nonprofit Schoharie Economic Enterprise Corp. (SEEC) to shine a light on local artists by providing a venue to display their artwork at 287 Main St. in Schoharie. This ongoing collaboration also features local musicians at opening receptions. 

The latest exhibition, titled “Edge + Overlap” by Schoharie County-based artist Kristen DeFontes, opens Friday, March 14, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Featuring abstract works of the last decade, the exhibit spans a range of artistic processes, from printmaking and collage to bronze and found object assemblage. The show will be on view through the summer. 

The SEEC gallery was featured on the second annual Schoharie County Arts Trail Driveabout in October, which expanded from the inaugural one-day event in 2023 to a two-day event last year. The self-guided tour featured nearly 20 stops and work by dozens of local artists during the peak of fall foliage season, and will be held over the first weekend in October again this year.

“There are so many gifted artists in Schoharie County,” Ovitt said. “We’re proud to support them and shine a light on their talent.”

SCA also partners with CREATE each year to showcase several Schoharie County artists at a late summer exhibition in CREATE’s gallery space on Main Street in Catskill.

In addition, SCA supports local arts organizations directly with grant funding. Last year, the nonprofit awarded grants to Panther Creek Arts, the Gilboa Historical Society, Klinkhart Hall, and the Theater Project of Schoharie County.

Another round of grant funding will open in March. Interested arts organizations should go to https://www.schohariecountyarts.org for information.

SCA hosts an ongoing “Author’s Hour” series (funded in part by Poets & Writers, with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, with support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature), and participates in the annual Roots, Rhythm & Ale festival, as well as Richmondville Days and the Sharon Springs Harvest Festival. 

Last year, SCA co-sponsored the Arts in Bloom Fest at the Schoharie Library, and put on the first-ever progressive music festival in Schoharie County, The Out of Bounds Music Fest, at the Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave. The summer festival was held as part of a $10,000 Audience Building Project grant from Lake Placid Center for the Arts, which also funded workshops throughout Schoharie County in July and a performance by West African musician Zorkie Nelson and his group of drummers and dancers, Gballoi.

“2024 was an amazing year for the arts in Schoharie County,” said Ovitt, “and SCA has even more in store for 2025.”