ANCRAM — The name may be misleading; the Ancram Opera House (AOH) is not just about opera, nor even mostly about opera. It is a place of diversity, music, art and storytelling. Co-directors Jeff Mousseau and Paul Ricciardi are intent on bringing culture, high-caliber artists and programs of interest to this quiet corner of rural Columbia County.
This is not an easy endeavor, and as a nonprofit, the organization relies on program fees, of course, but also on donations and grants. As with most businesses in the past few years, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental, so the co-directors are extremely excited and grateful that AOH has recently been awarded grants that will help them to not only carry on, but to build on the successful venture they already have.
A grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) awarded AOH $70,000, $40,000 of which was for general organizational support; there is an added $20,000 in recovery assistance, and another $10,000 to develop a new musical piece by David Cale, Dael Orlandersmith and Matthew Dean Marsh, which will hopefully be presented in the upcoming season.
“We are thrilled with this funding from the state and thank NYSCA, the state legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul’s office for making it possible,” said Ricciardi.
“NYSCA’s support makes all the difference and allows us to bring high caliber performances and community programs to a rural, sparsely populated corner of NY State,” Mousseau added.
AOH also received an grant of $255,675 from the New York Main Street program of the Office of Homes and Community Renewal. This grant will be instrumental in aiding with the capital project, the Ancram Center for the Arts restoration project, including renovation of a neighboring building to allow housing for interns and performers as well as space for community programs and workshops. The project is also supported in part by Ancram Preservation Group, New York State Council on the Arts, and private donations.
Ricciardi and Mousseau said they were grateful that Assemblymember Didi Barrett helped them to secure an additional $125,000 in state funding. The support from the state will allow the theater to enlist top-notch performers, artists and programs that, the directors said, will further revitalize Ancram and the hamlet, which is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
The NYSCA provides organizational and professional development, while also promoting the advancement of culture and the arts for all New Yorkers. Said Gov. Hochul, “As a cultural capital of the world, New York state is strengthened by our expansive coverage of the arts across all 62 counties. This year’s historic commitment to the arts sector will spur our continuing recovery from the pandemic and set the course for a stronger future.”
AOH is located at 1330 County Route 7 and was originally built in 1927 as Grange No. 955, a chapter of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, which was founded to support and advance the methods and means of farmers just after the Civil War. The Grange in Ancram served its purpose until 1972, when it was converted into a theater for the performing arts, presenting mostly operatic programs. Today, AOH offers audiences, “A unique opportunity to directly engage, up close, with visionary theatre artists at the top of their field who are rarely seen in our region.”
Presenting a mix of contemporary theater, alternative cabaret and community programs, some of the programs presented in the recent past include “The Snow Queen,” “We’re Gonna Die,” “The Holler Sessions,” and “POOF.”
The directors are careful to acknowledge the historic significance of the area, noting that the Ancram Center is located on unceded ancestral lands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok, the Peoples of the Waters That Are Never Still, and overlooks the Roeliff Jansen Kill, which was once called the Sonkippog (cooling water). They pay tribute to and honor the history of those who preceded them.
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Growing up in the Bronx, Hearn was captivated whenever she saw horses. Her grandfather, a Korean War veteran, had cared for military horses during the war. After returning home, he struggled with addiction, and the invisible wounds of military service. Through every difficult chapter of his life, however, one thing consistently brought him peace.
“Horses bring peace,” he told his granddaughter.
When Hearn was 11, after years apart, Hearn and her grandfather began spending weekends riding together. Less than a year later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he died, he asked family members to help buy Hearn’s first horse — a stubborn paint horse that bit, kicked and frequently threw her off. She wanted to sell him. Her father refused.
“Every life has value,” he told her.
Looking back, Hearn says that lesson became the foundation of everything she would later build.
What began as a boarding stable in 2003 took a different direction after the Dutchess County SPCA asked Hearn to care for horses seized in cruelty cases. She soon realized that although Dutchess County had one of New York’s largest horse populations, there was no dedicated nonprofit equipped to care for neglected and abused horses. Lucky Orphans officially became a nonprofit in 2008.
Some of the more than 40 horses at Lucky OrphansProvided
Today, Hearn is quick to point out that Lucky Orphans is not simply a rescue.
“We’re a sanctuary,” she said.
Many of the more than 40 horses living there arrive with broken bones, chronic illnesses, heart conditions, missing eyes or other injuries that make them unsuitable for riding or adoption. Rather than rehabilitating and rehoming them, Lucky Orphans makes a lifetime commitment to every horse.
In 2013, Hearn became certified in equine-assisted psychotherapy, combining her lifelong relationship with horses and the lessons she learned from her grandfather to create programs for veterans, trauma survivors, children and families facing emotional challenges. The transformations she witnesses continue to surprise her. She recalls one woman who arrived convinced she would not fit in with a group of strangers. During the session, a horse quietly chose to follow her without a rope or commands. For the first time in years, the woman said she felt truly seen.
Another memory has stayed with Hearn ever since. A teenager in a juvenile probation program, wearing an ankle monitor and struggling with anger, entered a round pen with a horse. As his frustration grew, the horse moved farther away. When he finally calmed himself, the horse walked directly toward him and rested its head against his chest.
“I told him, ‘If you can control your energy, you can control the world around you,’” Hearn said.
Stories like these sustain her through the difficult realities of running a nonprofit. Operating the sanctuary costs roughly $52,000 each month, and Hearn lives on the property, where the work never truly ends. Veterinary bills, staffing, fundraising and the daily care of dozens of horses are constant concerns. Then someone returns years later and tells her that the horses changed their child’s life.
“That’s why I keep going,” she said.
Looking ahead, Hearn hopes more people discover what makes Lucky Orphans unique. The organization is expanding its community programming with educational visits, yoga sessions, horse encounters, volunteer opportunities and family events designed to reconnect people with horses and with one another.
Her vision is simple: to create a place where people slow down, reconnect and remember something modern life often makes us forget. If horses could speak, Hearn believes they would offer just one piece of advice.
“They’d tell us to slow down,” she said.
After spending an afternoon at Lucky Orphans, it’s hard to disagree.
For more information or to plan a visit, go to luckyorphans.org
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