CREATE distributes $209,500 to arts in Greene, Columbia and Schoharie counties

CATSKILL―CREATE Council on the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts have announced the arts grants recipients of 2026 SCR (Statewide Community Regrant) program, funding local artists and organizations who are seeking to creatively engage their communities through the arts in Columbia, Greene, and Schoharie Counties.

Grants are awarded in three project areas: community projects, artist commissions for individual artists, and arts education.

The SCR awards are provided through a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CREATE Council on the Arts,

CREATE received over 100 applications requesting funds for a wide variety of arts projects and cultural activations. This year, 50 proposals were selected through a peer review process. Across Greene, Columbia and Schoharie counties, $209,500 will be distributed to a diverse array of regional artists and arts organizations.

The 2026 grant awards represent an exciting cross-section of community arts initiatives including live musical and theater performances, exhibitions, concert series, arts workshops, film screenings, and poetry readings. This community arts grants program is a unique opportunity that is open, accessible and enriching to community members, providing creative public works by local artists and organizations for the local residents to experience.

CREATE is hosting a grant awards ceremony at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill on June 10 at 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend this public event to celebrate the arts and artists in our communities and hear about their upcoming projects.  

Columbia County Awardees in the Community Projects and Arts Education categories:

Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition, Hudson Film Festival, Jazz and Classics for Change, Mayuko Fujino in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties, MovingPotential, North Chatham Free Library, Camphill Hudson, Roeliff Jansen Community Library, Roving Actors' Repertory Ensemble (RARE), The Hudson Sloop Club, Vicky Boulay in partnership with Kinderhook Memorial Library, Claverack Free Library, Friends of Hudson Youth, Processional Arts Workshop with Friends of Hudson Youth, Germantown Library, Columbia County Youth Theatre.

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Columbia County Awardees in the Individual Artists category:

David Sokosh, Midnight Forman.

Greene County Awardees in the Community Projects and Arts Education categories:

Anna Cone in partnership with Cairo Public Library, Mountain Top Library, Room Collaborative with Mountain Top Library, Miriam Atkin with Phoenix Web Inc, The Catskill Glee Club, The Catskills Comedy Festival, Farm to Fable with Catskill Community Center, Catskill Wheelhouse, Community Partners Of Greenville, Horton By The Stream Theatre in partnership with Phoenix Web Inc, Kevin VanHentenryck with Town of Hunter, Davi Cohen, Boundless Arts, Heermance Memorial Library.

Greene County Awardees in the Individual Artists categories:

Lisa Thomas, Laleh Khorramian, Nic Der, Gracelee Lawrence, Taganyahu Swaby.

Schoharie County Awardees in the Community Projects and Arts Education categories:

Amy Silberkleit in partnership with Schoharie County Arts, Panther Creek Arts, Schoharie Free Library, Schoharie Valley Singers, Schoharie Youth Programs at Depot Lane, The Jefferson Historical Society, Sonny Ochs with Middleburgh Library, Breakabeen Grange, Cobleskill Partnership, Conesville Historical Society, Upper Catskill String Quartet with Jefferson Historical Society, SchoCo Pride in partnership with Cobleskill United Methodist Church.

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