Past Projects Archive
Proctors creative civic endeavors run the gamut from art installations to ‘dangerous’ music
Art Nights. Art Night Schenectady served as a nexus for the art underground of the Capital Region and an urban audience hungry for excitement, entertainment, and new sights, sounds, and tastes. For information on the revitalized Art Night Schenectady, follow the event on Facebook, click here.
Breathing Lights. “Breathing Lights,” a temporary public art installation supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, brought a multitude of Capital Region organizations together in the fall of 2016 for “an arts-based approach to stimulating local and regional revitalization.”
Capital Region Creatives for Ukraine. The leaders of the Capital Region’s major non-profit performing arts venues, in response to the catastrophic situation in Ukraine, have come together to assess how the region’s arts community can help and have created a plan to raise awareness and funds for humanitarian aid.
Celebration of Rhythm. The three-part 2013-14 Celebration of Rhythm series at Proctors investigated the role of meter, measure, and accent in our cultural lives; the wide variety of global beats; and the common threads that bind music together. For RPI coverage, click here.
Collaborative Magazine. The magazine was dedicated to providing unique perspectives from local artists in dance, theatre, literature, style, music, food, and film, as well as providing an inside look at local arts institutions and arts community resources, upcoming events and informative podcasts, and more.
Dangerous Music. Entertainment doesn’t need to be light, and art certainly doesn’t need to be safe. The Dangerous Music program at Proctors made that abundantly clear during the 2008–09 season. Made possible by a $225,000 grant from the New York State Music Fund, Dangerous Music lived up to its title with a series of challenging performances worthy of its predecessor, Proctors Too. For Daily Gazette coverage, click here.
Electric City Couture. Electric City Couture brought together fashion designers, entrepreneurs, event producers, deejays, video artists, photographers, and many others for an annual event that highlights new looks, new ideas, and the spirit of collaboration.
Empty Bowls Project. Organized and run by student volunteers through Union College’s Kenney Community Center, the event aims to benefit hunger relief programs in Schenectady and raise awareness of the issue of food instability in the region.
Fandom Fest. Fandom Fest was upstate New York’s largest gathering for fantasy enthusiasts. Transforming four floors of Proctors into all of your favorite fandoms. Fandom Fest-featuring the Geek Garage, the Dragon Dungeon, and the Arcade Arcade from 2022-24.
Neighbors for Neighbors. Neighbors For Neighbors is a community bridge-building program created and led by Capital Repertory Theatre that directly aligns with the theatre’s mission. Members of the program, who are leaders within the Capital Region and from a variety of organizations and walks of life, come together for the sole and direct benefit of the community at large.
Party Horns NYC. The brainchild of Schenectady-bred musician Matt Steckler, Party Horns NYC turned the GE Theatre at Proctors into a funky downtown Manhattan club over several nights in 2014, filled with an odd mix of devout musos, jazz curious , and eager dancers. For Daily Gazette coverage, click here.
Proctors Too. Blue Man Group started its relationship with Proctors in 1990, at the tiny Nott Memorial (on the Union College Campus) as part of an adventurous, decade-long performance art series aimed at cultivating younger audiences’ interest in performance art called Proctors Too. While Blue Man Group was the only entry to go on to great commercial success, many artists presented by Proctors Too have gone on to sustain careers rich in genre-bending intellectual provocation and social commentary.
Pathways to Dance. Pathways to Dance was an eight-county Capital Region initiative in 2016 designed to support new dance creation and presentation.
Pearl Side Presents. The Pearl Side Community Arts Festival, Sept. 8-12, 2022, at theREP, was a multi-disciplinary cultural arts festival created in partnership with Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region, Troy Foundry Theatre, and Albany Center Gallery, to showcase the Capital Region’s community-based arts and artists.
Schenectady Loves Italy. A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Aug. 24, 2016, in central Italy, with damage centered in the mountain town of Amatrice. Proctors, recognizing the strong Italian American population in the city and the region, responded by reaching out to other businesses in the community and staging a Schenectady Loves Italy fundraiser the following week. For Spectrum coverage, click here.
Schenectady Serves. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma devastated communities in Eastern Texas, the Florida Keys, and Puerto Rico. Proctors organized Schenectady Serves, a night of food, music, and community building to help raise money for these victims of the hurricanes. Schenectady Serves is a project of participating restaurants and The Alt, the Schenectady Office of the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce, the City of Schenectady, Schenectady County, The Daily Gazette, DeCrescente Distributing Company, Discover Schenectady, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, Mallozzi’s, Mazzone Hospitality, Proctors, Rivers Casino and Resort, Schenectady Armory Center, and WGNA. For Daily Gazette coverage, click here.
The Retrievers. The education wing at Proctors, along with a bevy of regional partners, supported The Retrievers, a group of Schenectady High School science students in their goal of developing usable technology for the planned 2020 Mars Rover Mission.