If you have more books than your shelves can hold, there’s an easy way to lighten the load: Donate! The 24/7 donation bin will be in the parking lot behind the Academy from July 8-August 20.  Please bring books in boxes or bags.

Enjoy a glass of wine and chat with fellow book lovers, then head over to the book rooms to get first choice of more than 10,000 gently used books.

Book rooms open at 6:30 p.m. MEMBERS and their guests ONLY. (Memberships may be purchased at the door)

Purchase tickets here.

Festival of Books 2017, the annual extravaganza of all things literary, will take place over Labor Day weekend, September 2 through 4. The event features a giant used book sale, two days of readings and book signings by nationally known and local authors, a children’s program, this year featuring Dr. Seuss’s beloved Cat in the Hat, and the Cookbook Café, serving fruit snacks, home-baked goodies, and our famous no-alarm vegetarian chili. As always, admission to the events is free, save for the early book-buying opportunities. See the full schedule of events.

Opening reception: Saturday, October 7, 4:00-6:00pm

Working independently and drawing inspiration from disparate sources, Picasso and Braque pioneered a similar style. In time their influence on each other would ignite the Cubist movement. Meanwhile, American artist Henry Hensche (1899-1992) was influenced by the color palette of his mentor Charles Webster Hawthorne and used it to inspire his own students.

Inspiration and influence: Whatever their source, they fire our imagination and lend shape to our own creations.

Violinist Mitsuko Suzuki partners with BKO’s pianist/artistic director Uel Wade. The evening taps Suzuki’s virtuosity in pieces like Tchaikovsky’s Scherzo-Valse, Wieniawski’s Capriccio-Valse, and Miletic’s Danse for Solo Violin. There will also be the humor of Shostakovich’s Polka, the perfume of Ravel’s Habanera, the grit of Piazzolla’s Tanguano, and the quirkiness and melancholy of a Chopin Mazurka, not to mention Ragtime, polka, barn dance, Spanish dance, and African Dance. Because this music dances, much of it is fast. Among the fastest is Fiddle-de-Bop, composed by pianist/arranger/composer, Lincoln Mayorga.

Ticket sales to be announced soon.

Opening Reception: Saturday October 29, 4:00-6:00pm
Gallery Hours: Saturday & Sundays, 1-5pm

This show will feature works by Amelia Toelke, the winner of our 2016 Regional Juried Show and Linda Horn, the winner of our recent Juried Photography Show. We look forward to seeing more work from these talented artists.

Holiday gift shoppers and art lovers “go local” at this high-end curated sale that features jewelry, quilts, band boxes, cards, children’s toys, bread boards, baskets, scarves, hand-knit socks, ceramics, handmade books and papers, tin sconces, scherenschnitte (cut paper art), holiday ornaments, including over-the-top decorated wreaths, and delectable edibles made by dozens of Columbia, Ulster, and Berkshire area artisans