Tom Lee Performs at Olana

Tom Lee Performs at Olana

Museum Storytelling Tour Series for Families

HUDSON, NY — Join internationally recognized storyteller Tom Lee as he performs for young children, and families, along one of the historic carriage roads and inside the historic rooms of the Main House at Olana. This family-friendly tour lets you learn about Olana by highlighting some of its best stories. The next Museum Storytelling tour will be held on Saturday, September 21 at 10:00 am.

History is ultimately a set of stories passed from one generation to the next. Olana, created by artist Frederic Church as a family home for his wife and children, provides a rich array of these tales and narratives. Every object and painting in the Main House and every tree and vista in the expansive 250-acre landscape helps to unlock and inspire creative thinking and imagination.

Tom Lee writes, “I began telling stories at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where my ability to explore the connections of stories to their broader artistic heritage took on a tremendous new depth.  In my first project, with the education department at the MET, I was invited to tell a version of “Gilgamesh” based on a new translation of three-thousand-year-old cuneiform tablets Amy Hufnagel, Olana’s Vice President of Interpretation & Engagement says, “From F.E. Church’s library we know that many stories were read aloud in this house and what better way to activate the imagination in an artist’s house than through a great story?  This program exemplifies our commitment to the reinvention of the museum tour experience. There are many ways to be in a historic place and Tom Lee’s masterful stories are one superb example of changing and re-inventing the narrative at Olana.”

Tom Lee has worked as a professional arts educator in schools and museums for over 20 years, telling traditional stories, myths, and legends from cultures around the world. Lee is a frequent guest artist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He is also a performing arts partner with the Yale Center for British Art and Metropolitan Opera Education Conference. Lee is currently the artistic director of artsVOYAGE at Spencertown Academy here in the Hudson Valley.

This public program takes place inside Church’s home and landscape at Olana and repeats monthly on, September 21, and October 12 from 10:00 AM -11:00 AM.  The tour begins at the Visitor Center. Space is limited, and advance registration is highly recommended. Tickets for Tom Lee’s Museum Storytelling Tour are $10 for adults, and $5 for members and children, age 12 and under.

To register or learn more about the many other programs and tours at Olana this season, visit www.OLANA.org or call the Ticketing and Information desk at (518-751-0344).

This innovative educational programming is sponsored by the Hurlbert Foundation.

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About Olana and The Olana Partnership: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American artist of the mid-19th century and the most important artist’s home, studio, and designed landscape in the United States. Church designed Olana as a holistic environment integrating his advanced ideas about art, architecture, landscape design, and environmental conservation. Olana’s 250-acre artist-designed landscape with five miles of carriage roads and a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. The house is open for guided touring, and reservations are highly recommended. The landscape is open daily 8:00 AM-sunset.

Olana State Historic Site, administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana. The Olana Partnership operates Olana State Historic Site in a cooperative agreement with New York State Parks.