Community Events at Hilltown Commons
Hilltown Commons offers free and local community events including film screenings, live music, book launches, and pub nights open to all.
See upcoming EVENTS below ↓
Laura’s Living Room Reopened
In 1924, Laura Talmage Huyck opened her living room to intergenerational guests with a simple idea: those gathered on shared ground can find common ground. Over a century later, Hilltown is returning to that first invitation, and to the woman who sent it.
On Thursday, October 29 at 6pm, the Archive Club hosts the first event in an ongoing series honoring our campus history and the unlikely voices who have carried it forward. Join us at Stonecrop to spend time with the stories and artifacts of The Country Forum on Human Relations (1924). The evening will include a video interview with Laura's daughter, Katharine, letters and photographs from the archive, readings of the original invitations, and an exhibit of Laura's pastel paintings. We'll set the scene with 1920s food, drinks, and music. Come dressed in your best 1920s attire if you like, since Halloween is just around the corner.
On Friday, October 30 from 4pm, the gallery room in the Guggenheim Pavilion will be open for anyone who wants to pick up the pastels and paint in the spirit of the woman who started it all. All ages welcome. We'll have drinks on hand, and The Pub will be open for dinner as usual.
RSVP to info@hilltowncommons.org.
Clay Sorrough at the Gugg Gallery
Clay Sorrough is an American Postwar & Contemporary painter, born in 1950.
Exhibition
Opening reception: November 6, 4–6pm
On view through December 18
Closing reception: December 18, 4–6pm
Hilltown Commons Fundraiser with Palaver Strings
Palaver Strings: I Believed in Magic
A Hilltown Commons Campus Benefit
Join us for an evening with Palaver Strings, the thirteen-member, Grammy-nominated chamber group, followed by a festive dinner at the Pub. Thanks to a generous donor, the evening is fully underwritten, so all proceeds support Hilltown Commons.
I Believed in Magic explores gender, power, fear, and desire, reimagining classic favorites as an evening of bedtime stories. Works by composers including Florence Price and Mary Kouyoumdjian serve as scores to retold fables. The program features two world premieres: Fíjate, Teagan Faran's response to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, retold from the perspective of the pursued woman, and Canary Resuscitator by Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth, a response to and respite from the political turmoil surrounding trans rights. It also includes Nina Shekhar's Above the Fray, a reshaping of Bach's famous Cello Suite No. 1 prelude.
Details
Date: Friday, November 6
Time: 6:00 PM Performance, 7:00 PM Dinner
Includes: 60-minute performance and dinner at the Pub
Tickets (dinner included)
Early Bird: $95 (increases to $125 on October 23)
Early Bird Table for 4: $350 (increases to $400 on October 23)
The Long Path
Join us for a screening of The Long Path from filmmaker Shai Ben-Dor. This film follows New Jersey runner and race director Kim Levinsky as she tries to set the Fastest Known Time on the 358-mile New York State Long Path. The trail starts at the George Washington Bridge and winds north through the Catskills. Near its end, it passes through Partridge Run, just a few miles up the road from us.
While Kim set out to test her body, along the way, the film turns toward her mind. She talks openly about the years she spent insisting she was fine, about walking into therapy for the first time when she didn't want to, and about what shifted once she started telling the truth. Today she's an advocate for mental health in her running community and beyond.
After the screening, stay for a panel and Q&A with Shai, Kim, and local voices supporting mental health advocacy.
All ticket sales will be donated to the fundraising campaign for their upcoming film which will be previewed after the program.
Date: Saturday, November 14
Time: 5pm
Film Duration: 40 minutes followed by a panel and Q&A
An Evening with Author Helen Benedict (Copy)
Gugg AuditoriumJoin us on Friday, July 10 for an evening with author Helen Benedict as she shares from her novel The Soldier’s House.
Set in the aftermath of war, The Soldier’s House is a moving story about an Iraq War veteran who saves the life of his assassinated interpreter’s widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but for the widow it is both humiliating and compromising. In light of increasing worldwide displacement, this novel addresses timely and relevant topics.
Following the reading, Helen will join us for a conversation and audience Q&A.
Welcome Reception: 5:30PM
Reading & Talk: 6:00PM
Signing & Dinner at the Pub: 7:00PM
An Evening with Author Helen Benedict
Gugg AuditoriumJoin us on Friday, July 10 for an evening with author Helen Benedict as she shares from her novel The Soldier’s House.
Set in the aftermath of war, The Soldier’s House is a moving story about an Iraq War veteran who saves the life of his assassinated interpreter’s widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but for the widow it is both humiliating and compromising. In light of increasing worldwide displacement, this novel addresses timely and relevant topics.
Following the reading, Helen will join us for a conversation and audience Q&A.
Welcome Reception: 5:30PM
Reading & Talk: 6:00PM
Signing & Dinner at the Pub: 7:00PM
Coralai Concert
Velvet Earth & The PubNew Orleans-based string band Coralai makes their Hilltown Commons debut Saturday evening, with an opening set from Laura Colwell. Rooted in classical, Black American, Arabic, Jewish, Balkan, and South American traditions, they weave original music from the full range of their members' backgrounds and ancestries to create the kind of sound that feels both ancient and completely alive. Their debut album, Secret Earth, came out this spring.
Catch them the night before at Velvet Earth, then join us Saturday for an intimate evening at The Pub.
Drinks available for purchase but register your attendance & reserve your bottle of wine to beat the line!