Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
| Bethel Woods | |
View of the pavilion from the lawn prior to a concert
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| Address | 200 Hurd Road |
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| Location | Bethel, New York 12720 |
| Type | Outdoor amphitheatre |
| Seating type | reserved, lawn |
| Capacity | 15,000 |
| Opened | July 1, 2006 |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit performing arts center and museum located at the site of the 1969 in Bethel, New York, which took place on a parcel of the original Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm.
Located approximately 90 miles (140 km) from New York City, the 15,000-capacity outdoor performing arts venue, intimate 400-seat Event Gallery, and Museum at Bethel Woods are located on a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) campus. Bethel Woods offers a diverse selection of performances, educational and community programs, including the annual Harvest Festival, which covers topics such as history and the arts, community collaboration and outreach.
In 1996, Alan Gerry, a Liberty, New York cable television pioneer (Cablevision Industries Corporation) and philanthropist purchased the original festival field and 1,700 acres (6.9 km2) surrounding it, with eventual plans for an arts center. The $100 million project was launched by the Gerry Foundation in 2004. The Museum is designed to preserve the historic site on which the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place.
Bethel Woods features a 7,500-square-foot (700 m2) stage, a 4,500 covered seat pavilion and a natural sloping lawn accommodating up to 10,500 people. An outdoor terrace stage has space for up to 1,000, and the Site Festival Field can accommodate events up to 30,000 capacities. Other venues at the center include The Event Gallery (small performance/lecture space), Museum Theatre (132 seat capacity), The Market Sheds (event space) and two classrooms.
The inaugural season of 2006 included 9 show days, while in 2010 the center presented 18 main stage performances including Sting with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Dave Matthews Band, Santana, and Brooks & Dunn, plus nine Event Gallery performances held in the spring and fall.
The museum opened in June 2008. It aims to explore the unique experience of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, its significance as a culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacies of the Sixties and Woodstock today.
The interactive exhibits consist of audio/visual experiences, informative displays, and a collection of artifacts. The permanent exhibits include: The Sixties, The Woodstock Festival, Three Days of Peace and Music, Impact of Woodstock & The Sixties. The Museum, and Bethel Woods Museum Development Group CEO Michael Egan, were the recipients of a Thea Award for excellence in themed entertainment in 2010.
In addition to information about the music festival, which is about two-thirds of the museum's scope, the museum offers exhibits, personal stories and a multi-media experience about various aspects of the 1960s, including music, fashion and political protest. It focuses on issues such as the baby boom, Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, and the assassinations and riots that occurred during the decade, all of which contribute to the context of Woodstock. The 7,000-square-foot (650 m2) museum includes a 132-seat high-definition theater and a 4,300-square-foot (400 m2) gallery, as well as classrooms, a cafe, a museum shop, and a patio.
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