Book Release: Silver Dollar Girls by Margaret DiBenedetto

24-year-old Mae McCain flees from New York City at the beginning of the COVID lockdown to her great-grandparents’ abandoned farmhouse in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York. In the attic of the old house, Mae finds a family secret and gradually discovers why it was hidden for so long.  Ruth is an aviator of another time, blazing new history as she breaks through old boundaries. Silver Dollar Girls, … Continue reading Book Release: Silver Dollar Girls by Margaret DiBenedetto

TEN REASONS TO LOVE THE CATSKILLS

By Simona David 1. AIR AND WATER QUALITY The Catskill Park, situated a hundred miles north-northwest of New York City, is known as America’s First Wilderness, because of its role in the environmental conservation movement. The New York State Legislature established the park in April 1904 to recognize and protect this magnificent mountainous area, which is part of the Appalachian plateau, and is dated back … Continue reading TEN REASONS TO LOVE THE CATSKILLS

Featured Destination: Andes Academy of Art

A group of Catskills creatives led by William Duke, Peter Mayer, and Erwin Karl launched the Andes Academy of Art during the summer of 2022 to bring together artists working in all disciplines and nurture creativity in a way that forges camaraderie and recognition. Artists need both solitude – to distill new ideas and create new works of art, and companionship – to receive feedback, … Continue reading Featured Destination: Andes Academy of Art

Book Release: Ebony Bear, A Nurturing Ursine Learns a Lesson by Margaret DiBenedetto

FULL COURT PRESS announces the release of EBONY BEAR, A NURTURING URSINE LEARNS A LESSON by Margaret DiDenedetto with illustrations by Fabia Wargin. Meet Ebony, a black bear and new mother of three cubs, and take a peek at their adventures as they learn to share the world with humans. Ebony Bear is the first in a series of wildlife books that are based on research … Continue reading Book Release: Ebony Bear, A Nurturing Ursine Learns a Lesson by Margaret DiBenedetto

Newly Opened Arts Inn Participates in the AMR Open Art Studios Tour This Weekend

Arts Inn opened earlier this year as a bed and breakfast and events venue, and defines itself “as a place to restore, renew and connect.” The owners, Randy Leer and Heidi Stonier, have had family connections to the area since the 1940s when Kitty Leer, the matriarch, arrived in Fleischmanns with her parents as refugees from WWII; the family opened an eatery, and bed and … Continue reading Newly Opened Arts Inn Participates in the AMR Open Art Studios Tour This Weekend

Upstate Art Weekend, July 22 – 24

Over 145 participants will take part this weekend in Upstate Art, an initiative launched in 2020 by Helen Toomer to showcase art projects in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills region of New York State. Some of our favorite organizations, galleries and museums such as Dia:Beacon, The Dorsky Museum, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Olana, Opus 40, Storm King Art Center, Thomas Cole National Historic … Continue reading Upstate Art Weekend, July 22 – 24

Humans of the Catskills: Heidi Stonier

Journey to the Catskills: What brought me to the Catskills? Fate, love, destiny? Our dream of opening an art and cultural center waited thirty years as my husband and I raised our family in suburban New Jersey. We’ve known and loved the Catskills and have family roots dating back to the 1940s when Fleischmanns, New York provided refuge to émigrés fleeing World War II. When our lives reached … Continue reading Humans of the Catskills: Heidi Stonier

New Release: Night Music in Central Park by Composer Robert Cucinotta

Composer Robert E. Cucinotta has released a new single Night Music in Central Park, a free arrangement for piano of You and the Night and the Music (1934) and Dancing in the Dark (1931), as a tribute to the music of Arthur Schwartz. Born in Brooklyn in 1900, Schwartz was a major American composer, and a friend of George and Ira Gershwin. The mention of … Continue reading New Release: Night Music in Central Park by Composer Robert Cucinotta

Humans of the Catskills: Stephen H. Foreman

Journey to the Catskills: I grew up a Jewish boy in the suburbs of Baltimore. However, from a very early age, I daydreamed about carrying a Winchester into the Rocky Mountains and living as a mountain man. Don’t ask me where that notion came from, but there it was (and is). The Jewish ‘burbs of B’more were a far piece from the Rockies, so I … Continue reading Humans of the Catskills: Stephen H. Foreman