Invigorating Programming is Underway at PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance

In the lush environs of New York State’s Hudson Valley, PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance acts as a beacon for inspiring performance art on a sprawling 100-acre campus. Though performance art may seem like a word that represents only the obtuse or avant-garde, at PS21 this term encompasses dance, theater, music, and more with ebullience and accessibility taken into consideration. Further, much of the programming is free—and the picturesque site is always open to the public.

In late March 2025, PS21 appointed Vallejo Gantner as artistic and executive director—a move that will influence its direction in the coming years. Gantner’s artistic tenure began in 1999 with Australia’s Melbourne Festival. Three years later, he joined Ireland’s Dublin Fringe Festival as director. In 2005, Gantner joined Performance Space New York as artistic director—and shepherded its programming for 12 years before curating work for BAM’s Next Wave Festival, and leading the Onassis Foundation USA, and its ONX XR studio. It’s this deep, diverse experience and an educated, informed relationship with performance art that guides his stewardship.

“The Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and all that surrounds is obviously a rich destination for performing arts already,” he tells Surface, noting Jacob’s Pillow, Bard, Tanglewood, Upstate Art Weekend, the Egg, Hudson Hall, and more in commune with PS21. “It’s a feast of evolving and developing organizations. Indoors and outdoors, it feels busier here than in the city in summer.”

That said, “as we think about what it means to sustain a community—an ecosystem—of artists and audiences here, it is to year-round that we have to look,” he notes. “As someone who has been trying to sustain a dynamic performing arts ecosystem in New York City for 20 years, I think it is also time to work toward creating other centers of gravity—regions or cities where life is more sustainable, where there is infrastructure for not just development, but also presentation of work, and—most importantly—audiences hungry for those experiences.”

Gantner is certain that the upper Hudson, distant but close to both NYC and Boston, can be that spot. “There’s an incredible and growing community of composers, performers, directors, choreographers, writers, and performance artists here,” he says. In addition to observations of these creative individuals viewing work, he believes the key is to open the door to participation and co-authorship—with PS21. This means committing to site-specific pieces that explore engagement with the very ecology of the Hudson Valley.

“For me the opportunity to work here was about all of this,” he says, “to think about how we can thread the needle of contemporary practice—in performing arts, in installation, music, and ideas—with a rural place, in a community that has at times felt alienated.” He believes that this requires “evolving an organization into one that uncompromisingly invites its community in to make work with it. I am fascinated by working in a far greater way with the landscape and ecosystems that comprise our 100-acre property: its invasive species, the creek flats, apple orchards, meadows, ponds, and woods.”

For PS21, this also translates to on-ramps for an audience to find and love the programming. “Our institutional practice now is to embed this kind of program into the core of what we do, not to relegate free or participatory practice to the margins and call it something special,” he explains. “I do not see why we should create a binary between work that is socially engaged and work that is artistically extraordinary, innovative, or challenging.”

These concepts will be bridged and bolstered by PS21’s growing residency program, which is predicated on commissioning and co-producing. It’s also about “making sure the artists who are staying with us—we have on-site accommodation for 20 and studios—are visible and participating on Main Street as much as in the Black Box,” Gantner says.

On July 11 and 12, PS21 welcomed Kyle Marshall Choreography and the BlackBox Ensemble for a moving piece entitled Femenine. Marshall’s exquisite choreography was set to composer Julius Eastman’s minimalist work of the same name. “Kyle’s practice fluidly moves through identity, gender, and sexuality,” Gantner explains. “With Kyle, we decided we really needed the music to be played live—and the BlackBox Ensemble were game.” PS21 coupled this with a late-night concert from BlackBox Ensemble, as well.

This week, PS21 will host a contemporary music festival named GroundTone, “that embodies so much of what we’re trying to do,” Gantner says. “Golden Lion-winner Lina Lapelytė, who composed the opera-performance Sun and Sea, has the U.S. debut of a work named Study of Slope, performed by a local community chorus specifically sought out as people who can’t/don’t/won’t sing. This happens in the landscape and around a centuries-old barn. Miranda Cuckson and Julia Kent have solo concerts in an installation by James Casebere. Then each night there is an evening concert by artists from near and far—with unexpected collaborations and surprises.”

While PS21’s programming will continue to embrace the local community, it also makes for a dream destination for New York City-based art adventures. “Jump on the train, get in a car, and pile on up,” Gantner invites. “This is living artwork that is both accessible and uncompromising—in a stunning environment. We’re building something pretty special.”