Marist Partners with New York Stage and Film

NYSAF 2022 Summer Season at Marist College. Photo by Buck Lewis

New York Stage and Film (NYSAF) and Marist College announced a multi-year collaboration at the beginning of February. The partnership will create new opportunities for Marist students and artists who are working on projects in theater, film and television in the Hudson Valley and New York City. 

“We are eager to build on our track record of curating exceptional stories and serving artists and audiences through our expanded relationship with Marist,” Barbara Manocherian, NYSAF Board President said. “They have been welcoming to collaborators, excited to help envision unique ways to serve New York and provide a vital launch pad for new generations of artists.” 

NYSAF is a non-profit founded in 1985 with a mission to support artists as they develop new plays, musicals, screenplays and TV shows. The organization has assisted with early-stage efforts in Broadway shows such as Hamilton, Doubt and Hadestown. They also contributed to Pulitzer-finalists such as “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music” and “The Wolves.”

“We are grateful for this expanded relationship with New York Stage and Film, which will provide a unique benefit to Marist College and our surrounding community,” said Marist Executive Vice President Geoffrey L. Brackett in a Marist Press Release. “Marist students in both Poughkeepsie and Manhattan will have the opportunity to apprentice and work with top leaders in theater and film, and young aspiring artists will have access to amazing experiences through our summer pre-college programs for high school students.”

From Feb. 27 to March 5, Marist’s midtown Manhattan location will host the NYSAF Winter Season. Then, in the summer of 2023, the Summer Season will be hosted on the Marist main campus in Poughkeepsie. At the events, hundreds of artists will begin working on new stories for the stage and screen with support and workshopping from NYSAF. 

In efforts to support NYSAF and give students new opportunities in the arts, Marist will provide housing, rehearsal and performance space for NYSAF’s year-round programming. In addition, the college will provide resources to support NYSAF’s Filmmakers Workshop and other programming events. The Summer Season program will give students a chance to work on their creativity in a structured and professional environment. 

Students at Marist will benefit from the collaboration with NYSAF because it opens up opportunities for experiential learning and apprentice positions. The School of Communications and the Arts and the School of Liberal Arts plan to work with clubs on campus to give students different chances to get practical work experiences. Students majoring in the arts or communications may have internship opportunities to assist with NYSAF marketing, PR and social media management. 

“On behalf of the hundreds of artists we serve each year, I am so glad to be extending and deepening our relationship with Marist,” NYSAF Interim Artistic Director Liz Carlsonsaid. “We share a focus on community-building, continuous learning and discovering unique and surprising ways to experience the world around us. To be able to invest in this work and serve our respective communities in a long-term sustained way, both in the Hudson Valley and New York City, is an exceptional opportunity for all of us.”