Cakewood Creative Arts is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 that seeks to initiate a renaissance in the Catskill Mountains. Playwright, composer, poet, performer, and certified natural foods chef, Porter Smith, heads the Cakewood Creative Arts circle of artists in hopes of purchasing an 1896 castle in Walton, NY and setting up a spring/summer/fall program of new and inspirational music, theater, dance, visual art, lectures, workshops, dazzling tastings, and unforgettable feasts.
The business model is on parallel with New York sites like Chautauqua and Bethel Woods, although it is a more intimate, inclusive vision, with fewer attendees at each event. The ideal is to create a magical destination for those who seek extraordinary art and joyous fellowship in the countryside. The Walton castle is listed on the National Register for Historic Places and will be annually eligible for grant money upon its purchase. And the western Catskills are at present experiencing an economic upswing, with the influx of many artisans, restauranteurs, and New York City transplants.
The main floor of the castle is already set up as a working restaurant and performance venue. The upstairs rooms need to be restored and to have electricity and plumbing installed, in order that they might become suitable artist residences. My professional skill set aligns with interior design and I plan to do most of the interior renovations myself. I will, however, need to hire an electrician and plumber at the start of any upstairs construction.
On a personal note:
After ten years of performing concerts worldwide and original theater productions in New York City, it is my sense that a creative home base in the Catskill Mountains might be the best way for my artist friends and me to live and breathe the arts for others, to share the spirit of the Renaissance with everyone, not just the city dwellers. The Walton castle is equidistant from western Massachusetts and New York City and not far at all from the vital communities along the upper Hudson River, so it looms as a possible way of bridging distances between people and places for the sake of the arts. I see the Cakewood Castle as a meeting place for all the world's dreamers.
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