2ND ANNUAL ART IN MOTION EVENT AT MONTICELLO MOTOR CLUB DONATES $27,660 TO BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts received a $27,660 donation in January from the Art In Motion Concours d‘Elegance of Speed and Power held at Monticello Motor Club in October last year.
The event, in its second year, drew an exclusive crowd of notable collectors, restorers, racing legends, and enthusiasts to the Sullivan County Catskills. Some of the most significant and prestigious sports and racing cars ever produced joined the concours field, including cars from Bruce Canepa, a legend in the worlds of both racing and collector cars, and Sergio de la Vega.
Bethel Woods, a world class cultural center attracting local, national, and international visitors, is highly regarded as a concert venue, museum, and as a National Register Historic Site where the original Woodstock Music & Art Fair was held in August 1969. Art In Motion’s donation to Bethel Woods, the second five-figure contribution to Bethel Woods in the past two years, will help support activity-based education programs that are shared experiences for teens, adults, families, and seniors.
“Our intent is to increase accessibility to the Arts and Humanities so that their influence becomes more deeply interwoven into the cultural and economic fabric of the region and beyond,” said Bethel Woods Chief Executive Officer Darlene Fedun. “We deeply appreciate the help of AIM and the Monticello Motor Club in making this possible; without this aid by organizations like the Monticello Motor Club, many regional families simply cannot afford to participate.”
In 2017, more than 8,180 children participated in Bethel Woods programs designed to encourage creativity and thoughtfulness. Roughly 37 percent of those children received financial assistance to cover tuition costs.
“The arts have the ability to empower and inspire us, fostering creativity, bringing us joy, helping us express our values, and building bridges between cultures and communities,” Fedun continued. “Donations enable us to grow, expand, and invite more attendees into our programs; in turn, those attendees are given the tools and chances to make their lives, communities, and maybe even the world a little better.”
The donation to Bethel Woods was made up of a portion of proceeds from Art In Motion’s exclusive auction, conducted by Gooding & Company, and all of the proceeds from a 2-hour road rally of classic and sports cars through the beautiful Catskill Mountains to Bethel Woods.
Auction items sold for the benefit of Bethel Woods included:
- Racing helmets painted on site by the artists of ABXY Gallery with the guidance of Frank Stella, an iconic figure of post-war American Art and a new member of MMC, and
- A Craig & Pam Booth sculpture of the 1947 #10 Schoof’s Racing IndyCar (1935 Wetteroth Schoof Special), which was displayed at Art In Motion next to the real #10 IndyCar inside MMC’s Collector Car Gallery.
Monticello Motor Club has been a long-time supporter of Bethel Woods, with MMC’s CEO and managing partner, Ari Straus, and several MMC members serving on the Board of Trustees for Bethel Woods.
“I was raised to understand the value of the arts in all of its myriad forms, and it’s an understanding and respect that is shared among all of us at Monticello Motor Club, “said Straus, whose parents, Drs. Marc and Livia Straus, founded the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (“HVCCA”), a non-profit arts and education organization in Peekskill, NY. “Community partnerships like the one Monticello Motor Club enjoys with Bethel Woods help us continuously improve the quality of life regionally while also stimulating economic growth in the area.”