Panel discussion will include a brief film screening, music, and talk with the Festival’s official photographer and some attendees, and more

 

May 22, 2019—Marist College’s Hudson River Valley Institute (HRVI) has announced new details about the upcoming conference, “1969: When Woodstock Changed theWorld.”

“We Are Golden: A Woodstock Anniversary Panel Discussion,” the concluding conference event on Friday, June 14, 7:00pm, will be led by Wade Lawrence, Museum Director of the Museum at Bethel Woods. The panel will feature renowned photographer Elliott Landy (official photographer of the Woodstock Festival), Nick and Bobbi Ercoline (festival attendees who appeared on the iconic Woodstock album cover), Rachel Marco-Havens (writer, activist, and daughter of original Woodstock performer Richie Havens), and guitarist and singer/songwriter Chogyi Lama (who is also the grandson of Richie Havens).

With firsthand accounts from people who were actually part of the Festival, “this event brings together the culture and art of Woodstock in an exciting, comprehensive way,” said Dr. James M. Johnson, Executive Director of HRVI. “It promises to be an entertaining evening both for those who know the history and those who are just being introduced to it.”

“We Are Golden” will include a short film produced by the Museum at Bethel Woods, discussion, question-and-answer session, and a musical performance by Lama.

The conference will run June 13-14 on the Marist campus in Poughkeepsie. It is the definitive—and perhaps only—academic conference on this key anniversary. All events are open to the public (registration required; see below for details).

HRVI, which focuses on studying and interpreting the history and culture of the Hudson River Valley, is the lead organizer of the conference within the College. Working in collaboration with The Museum at Bethel Woods, site of the original event, and the New York State Museum, Office of State History, HRVI has organized a multi-day event that explores the social history of the transformative decade leading up to the Woodstock festival.

Key events include:

 

– A by-registration only field trip to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival, including a visit to The Museum, on June 13.

– Panel discussions on: music in the ‘60s; social movements, including civil rights and black power, communal living, feminism, and the Vietnam War and peace movements.  

– Keynote lectures by CNN Presidential Historian Dr. Douglas Brinkley of Rice University, author of American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, and ‘60s historian Dr. David Farber, University of Kansas.
   

All events are open to the public, but pre-registration is required. A full schedule of events and registration information can be found here.

 

Registration

To register for events at Marist’s conference, please click here. Capacity for the Bethel Woods field trip on June 13 is very limited; early registration is encouraged. The field trip cost is $30.

 

About the Hudson River Valley Institute (HRVI)

The Hudson River Valley Institute is a Center of Excellence at Marist College that studies and promotes the history of the Hudson River Valley. The Institute provides information about the region’s culture, economy, environment, and educational resources through www.hudsonrivervalley.org, public programming, and The Hudson River Valley Review, a biannual peer-reviewed journal covers all aspects of regional history. HRVI is supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photos courtesy of The Museum at Bethel Woods