Leaf-Peeping, Pretty Pictures, Pinot, and Pigs: Catskill Animal Sanctuary Hosts Arts and Music Festival

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It has been a challenging journey, and the most meaningful work I've ever done

(Vocus) September 22, 2009

On Saturday, October 10, from 10 to 6, Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Ulster County, New York's beloved haven for horses and farm animals, will host an Arts and Music Festival. The event will feature an auction of 100 works by award-winning photographers and other visual artists, a "fierce and fiery" chili cook-off by the region's top vegetarian restaurants, local organic wines poured by Stone Ridge Wine & Spirits, hayrides, and farm tours. The event is also scheduled for the peak leaf-peeping weekend, when autumn colors on the 100-acre farm will be blazing.

"Although the animals and the beauty of the setting are always the biggest hits, there will be good food, good wine, and great art, too," says board member Chris Seeholzer. "We're delighted to host musicians like Joy Askew and Erin Hobson, and to offer the works of some of the best photographers in the business." Among them are Zana Briski, whose Academy Award-winning film Born into Brothels documented her eight year odyssey photographing the women of Calcutta's brothels and teaching their children photography. Other artists include Dennis Stock, Roma Harlin, and China Jorrin.

About Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Briski says, "There's no work more important than the work CAS does in cultivating our compassion. It's a place of incredible love and healing--you feel that immediately, and so do the animals."

For those in New York's five boroughs, a round-trip charter bus is available from Port Authority. Round-trip bus fare and admission to the Festival is just $35. Seats can be reserved at http://www.casanctuary.org.

In just six years, Catskill Animal Sanctuary has not only transformed an abandoned property into a flourishing farm comprised of six barns and fourteen spacious pastures; it has also become one of the nation's leading rescues of hard-to-place animals: old and blind horses, pigs, sheep, and the like--animals that most Americans consider expendable. "It has been a challenging journey, and the most meaningful work I've ever done," says founder Kathy Stevens, whose story is told in her book, Where the Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary, scheduled for release at the end of the month.

Contact: Julie A. Barone, 845 336-8447

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