Governor Hochul: “That's what I'm talking about the champions we have here who so believe in what you do. And again, that spark I had as a child – I want to make sure that every child can grow up with that same experience. The sense of something other than the hectic day to day lives we live in. It's a mental respite that we all need, especially when the world seems so turned upside down, and you need a place to just come and breathe the air and take in the trees. And watch the turning foliage – and just embrace what we have here. And I hope so many more people take advantage of this once this magnificent theater is built.”

Hochul: “I just want your example here to inspire others all over the State of New York to see what can happen when you have the capacity and the will of a community that believes in itself, that sees opportunities where others would have gone past land like this for decades as they have, and then see what could possibly happen here with the ideas that come forward, the brilliant team that designed this.”

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced up to $80 million in capital funding is now available to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations through the New York State Council on the Arts Capital Projects Fund. Governor Hochul announced the new funding at the groundbreaking of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare expansion project, which includes a LEED certified theater and ecological land restoration. The expansion is supported by a $13.25 million investment from NYSCA, Empire State Development as recommended by the Mid Hudson Regional Economic Development Council and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you. Wow. They say all the world is a stage. Even this most wonderful vista here on the Hudson River. It is such a joy to be here, breaking ground on this brand new theater. And I just want to thank everyone who is involved in this. And Kendra, your energy is contagious. You're so excited about this. And what you and Davis have done is extraordinary here.

And all the patrons, those who are from this community and beyond, who truly believe in the connection of art and nature as Shakespeare did centuries ago. And when he said, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” We're all connected with that – so this could have been in a beautiful downtown area.

We have the most gorgeous buildings in Cold Spring and Garrison. I've been to many of your charming downtowns, but this is what sets us apart. And I come over this way often, sometimes in a helicopter, sometimes in a car, and I'm just – I don't, if I see it every day, it's jaw droppingly beautiful. And to the visionaries who said this can be the place that we connect arts and culture with nature, I applaud you.

Because you are the people who make this state so exceptional. And those who came before who treasure this land. And that's why it's not built with condos and buildings and high rises and factories. Because people understood that there's nothing like this in the world. And you're also the stewards of this great place as well.

So, we are going to continue working to invest in projects like these, and tell you this, I've been attracted to the arts since I was a little girl. We didn't grow up with much. My parents used to live in a trailer park a long time ago. But they knew that if we piled eight of us into a clunky old station wagon on Sundays, we could drive down the road in Buffalo about an hour to a place called Chautauqua Institution.

You know Chautauqua Institution? That is a magical place that I still visit to reconnect with the arts and a sense of place. And so when I see an opportunity like this, when I was a fairly brand new governor, I think it was maybe summer of 2021. And I came out here and had a chance to ride around in a golf cart with Davis and others and see the vision that was unfolding.

I thought, I've gotta help make this happen. I really believe in what you're doing. And again, money is everything. I'm a former local official, and I appreciate our electeds who are here today, starting with Dana Levenberg, our New York State Assemblymember. Let's give her a round of applause.

Dana, Dana, thank you. You have a great partner, a great partner and an advocate, a champion in our State Legislature, and of course the Village of Cold Spring Mayor, Kathleen Foley. Kathleen, thank you. I like the name, I'm a Kathleen. And also as I mentioned, Davis McCollum, our artistic director is here.

And I don't know if there's any other – our supervisor, Philipstown supervisor, is on a town board too. Let's acknowledge John Van Tassel as well. And Ned Sullivan, who's always the one with Scenic Hudson, who's pushing me, pushing me, pushing me to do more. As is my friend Chris on the Fjord Trail and others.

So of course, as soon as I walk away from here, they're going to say, “How about this?” I know how you operate. Thank you, but your hands are always out. I've never pushed your hands away, right? Okay. So, I'd rather shake than push your hands away.

That's what I'm talking about the champions we have here who so believe in what you do. And again, that spark I had as a child – I want to make sure that every child can grow up with that same experience. The sense of something other than the hectic day to day lives we live in. It's a mental respite that we all need, especially when the world seems so turned upside down, and you need a place to just come and breathe the air and take in the trees. And watch the turning foliage – and just embrace what we have here. And I hope so many more people take advantage of this once this magnificent theater is built.

There's going to be nothing like it. I'm going to tell the whole world that, because it comes from a Governor they'll have to believe it. This is the most exceptional place for performance of theater on Earth. Even the Globe Theater, you know, they're going to want to come here instead – I'm convinced of that.

So, our Council on the Arts understands this as well. And that's why today I'm proud to announce that on top of this, we're going to be announcing another $80 million that we're distributing through our Capital Projects Fund. So that's going to be seen all over the state of New York.

We're just getting warmed up. We're just getting warmed up. This paves the way for the $32 million of awards we already granted this year. And again, I see the connection with tourism. We broke tourism records last year. Nobody thought we'd be able to do that as we're still emerging from the pandemic, and a lot of people are actually traveling abroad because they didn't travel during the pandemic.

And every time I tried to call somebody - “I'm over in Europe, why aren't you here?” - So, I'm having all these conversations. But you know what? A lot of people did come here, and I'm going to tell you the numbers. It's a record 306 million tourists who thankfully spent $88 billion statewide, including $5 billion right here in the Hudson Valley.

So, we keep giving attractions that draw people here, they will keep coming - and best of all - they'll keep spending. This place is amazing. So, we’re going to keep doubling down on arts and culture. No matter how things get and how tough the economic winds are, I know where the investments need to be made because there's a ripple effect.

A dollar spent here means multiples, multiples, multiples that help the local economy, the charming downtowns - and they're the cutest downtowns we have in all of New York - are right along this river. I just came over from a staff retreat at Bear Mountain. It's a spectacular place. They had to pull me away, and if they told me I was going anywhere else but here, I would have stayed, but that's why I'm here. But my team is hunkered down talking about our next State of the State, and that's so important to me that they have their creative juices flowing in an environment like this. So, when you hear the best State of the State ever, you're going to know a lot of the ideas came from right across the river here. So, as I’m doubling down we gave our Council of the Arts an extra $100 million to expand their program.

I said, “Let's go big or go home.” It's my philosophy in life. And I wanted to make sure that you have the resources to do what you have to do. And when I became Governor, the maximum grant was $2 million, so, look at that multiple five times higher. The maximum grant is now $10 million. And exactly what I'm doing right here - again, as I saw this place and heard the vision - I want you to know you had me at “hello.” You really did. You didn't have to work so hard. I was like, “Sure. That sounds great.” No, there's a whole process, I have to assure you. It's not just what I want to do.

But this is one of the first organizations, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, one of the very first ever to receive a grant of this size - the $10 million. And I know it's going to be well spent and it's going to pay dividends that we can't even imagine. But that's in addition to the $3.2 million of Empire State Development and our EPA funding.

And again, Mid Hudson REDC – Ned's been a member a long time and some of our members are here today. They're the ones who evaluate the great ideas. They're so brilliant, it's hard to say no to anybody. We're going to keep that program going as well. As well as our Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which is driving grants of $10 million into localities to help them have welcoming streetscapes and the signage and investing in downtown, making the communities more walkable, connecting downtowns to waterways. And so, I love that program.

We have probably 70 communities that have been beneficiaries of this as well. When I was a local official, supervisor, if someone had said you have $10 million to reimagine your downtown, I would have fallen over. It didn't happen when I was an elected official. 30 years ago this year, I've been an elected official for a long time, so I've seen it all and I know where investments from the state can really transform communities in ways that they're not able to do on their own.

It's just, they're not big enough, they don't have the resources, so we fill that gap and make extraordinary, extraordinary communities that'll support investments like this, so the whole system is complete. As I mentioned, I toured this site a couple years ago, and I saw the possibilities.I want to make sure that there are more.

I just want your example here to inspire others all over the State of New York to see what can happen when you have the capacity and the will of a community that believes in itself, that sees opportunities where others would have gone past land like this for decades as they have, and then see what could possibly happen here with the ideas that come forward, the brilliant team that designed this. I love the design. The people, the fact that the audience will be able to sit here and look out and embrace this, that is going to soothe the soul in ways that we cannot even imagine right now. And I'm telling you it's going to be real and profound. So I'm excited about this, and I can't wait to see all the excitement and the performances here and the talent that's going to congregate here.

The people are going to say, I want to live here as well. We're going to keep growing and growing and just building on the excitement that all of you know as people who love this community as much as I do. So thank you for the opportunity to be here today and best wishes with this. I'm hearing 2026. Okay, keep it to 2026 and you can shave off a couple months too. I'm a task driver. Maybe the end of 2025. You never know. Thank you, everybody. Congratulations.