The Olana Partnership

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Oct 19, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$2,118,734

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

House and Interior Collections Restoration: New York State completed the roof project on the main house; restoration was begun on the Court Hall stools; six oil sketches and thirteen pencil drawings were cleaned and conserved and three replica frames were created in preparation for the Maine Sublime exhibition; three of the paintings were newly framed and will become part of the house display after the exhibition; four oil sketches and one historic frame were conserved and one replica frame was created for the exhibition at the National Gallery, London; on the second floor, the Ombra room was completed, decorative arts were brought from storage and conserved and the room opened to the public. Landscape/Viewshed/Farm Complex Restoration: Regarding the landscape, the ESDC project to restore farm fields, hedgerows and farmhouse ruins was completed. The EPF project to restore the views from Crown Hill as well as restoring farm fields, hedgerows and ruins progressed slowly, with the bulk of construction to take place in early 2013. Work began on implementing the new EPF grant for the North Meadow, with RFPs for a landscape architect distributed. Progress on the Main Barn came to an abrupt end, as the Federal Department of Transportation pulled all funding on projects that had not progressed in several years. Regarding viewshed protection, work continued on monitoring the application for a new communications tower(s) on Blue Hill. 148 acres in Olana's viewshed were protected in 2012 by Scenic Hudson.

Activity 3

Promotion of the organization's mission through public programs, including classes for all ages, workshops, lectures, special events, meetings, children's summer programs, performances, and exhibitions. Exhibitions: Maine Sublime opened in Portland with an accompanying book, attracting significant visitation of 41,217 and national press in such publications as American Fine Art, The Wall Street Journal, and the Gallery Guide. Life after LIFE, an exhibit highlighting the work of NYS and TOP over the past 40 years, was met with positive reviews. The Coachman's House held photographs of Olana by Peter Aaron for the season. Education/Programming/Interpretation: The Partnership held 58 programs in the Wagon House and began covering school programs. It served approximately 1,600 people in the Wagon House and approximately 400 school children. The programs produced by TOP continued to emphasize diversity - in audiences, subjects and media. Collaboration was emphasized and led to several successful programs (a wool-making series with Hawthorne Valley, the symposium The Cultured Canvas with Bard College and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, bird walks with Audubon NY and Wildlife Lectures, an apple harvest festival with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, and an interpretation of children's stories in the landscape with the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company). The Cinema Olana movie series returned to Olana as an outreach community event. In addition, TOP Education was represented at New York State's largest children's book fair, The Hudson Children's Book Festival and at Teaching the Hudson Valley, a conference for Hudson Valley educators. Panorama, Olana's week-long children's summer program, focused on ecology, conservation and preservation of the landscape and the Hudson River. The theme for the tour floor reflected the 2012 exhibition, and examples of past and future restoration projects from the house and landscape were highlighted. During heritage weekend, a series of talks on restoration by conservators, curators and project managers took place. A panel discussion on the 1979 nuclear plant proposal was held in February. The goal to develop a separate landscape and exterior architecture tour made some progress when the standard tour was expanded to include a short walk around the final approach road. In terms of the visitor experience, the Historic Site Manager improved the experience by changing the tour system to allow more people to get on tours. A renewed goal for 2013 will be a full landscape tour using golf carts, as well as a self-guided cell-phone tour. Planning: A "Plan-to-Plan" session took place as the first step in Strategic Planning, and plans for a Landscape Master Plan moved forward with a date set for a workshop in spring of 2013. Website/Impressions: Some progress was made on developing a new website, with a prototype design for the home page, and an RFP created for a designer to implement the website with significant assistance from board and staff. They have submitted the RFP to several vendors and are currently awaiting proposals. TOP produced one Crayon in 2012 and sent out numerous e-newsletters to its members.

Filer

EIN

14-1828430