The Vassar campus is within reach of a rich variety of galleries, art centers, and theater festivals.

Visual Art

Dia: Beacon 

Housed in a converted industrial-era Nabisco printing plant, this contemporary art gallery’s collection spans the 1960s to the present. On Saturdays at 1 pm, tours are offered free with admission. On select Community Free Days, admission is free of charge for residents of Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester counties. Click here for information on hours and admission.

Storm King Art Center

Flickr: Melodie Mesiano

This 500-acre outdoor sculpture gallery features over 100 works by artists including Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, and David Smith. Click here for information on hours and admission.

Note: Storm King is closed to the public until April 2012.

Theater

Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

Flickr: Comedy of Errors, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival  provide a “fresh look” at Shakespearean plays in an open-air setting.

Music

Maverick Concerts

This summer chamber music festival, set in a woodsy concert hall outside Woodstock, NY, has been recurring since 1916 and is New York’s oldest continuous summer music festival.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Facebook: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

This performing arts center, the original Woodstock location, presents concerts year-round.

Also look for year-round programs for seasons at Beacon’s Howland Chamber Music Circle, and the Poughkeepsie Bardavon.