The Olana Partnership’s 2016 Frederic Church Award Gala will be held on Thursday, October 13 at The Metropolitan Club in New York City. The Frederic Church Award, named after Olana’s creator and the preeminent American artist of the mid-19th century, recognizes outstanding accomplishment in American art, culture, and landscape design and environmental conservation. This year’s honorees are Washburn and Susan Oberwager and the cultural legacy of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller particularly his crucial role in saving Olana.

Olana is celebrating its 50th anniversary season of the preservation and opening to the public of America’s most intact and important artist’s home, studio and designed landscape in 1966.

 Washburn and Susan Oberwager will be honored at the 2016 Frederic Church Award Gala as visionaries for Olana’s future. Washburn joined The Olana Partnership Board in 2000. He served for a decade, the last three years as Chairman, and he and Susan became advocates for an expansive vision for Olana as a national center for American art and landscape. As a businessman and American art collector, Burn understands that investment and long-term planning are fundamental to success, and he and Susan’s creation of the endowment for the President’s position which began in 2008 ensures that The Olana Partnership will continue to have strong leadership to realize the future they envision for Olana.

The 2016 Frederic Church Award Gala will recognize Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s cultural legacy as champion of the arts and education and, particularly, his crucial role in saving Olana. As governor for 15 years he changed the face of New York State through substantial expansion of the SUNY system and the creation of the New York State Council on the Arts.  Under his leadership, Olana became a New York State Historic Site. The Governor signed the Lane-Newcombe bill on the steps of the main house at Olana on June 27, 1966. Accepting the award will be Governor Rockefeller’s grandsons and their spouses, Anne and Joseph Pierson, Kimberly and Steven Rockefeller, Jr., and Julia and Stuart Rockefeller.

On the brink of destruction 50 years ago, Olana thrives today as a remarkable artistic composition of art, architecture and landscape. Proceeds from the 2016 Gala will enable The Olana Partnership to further realize its vision for Olana as the most renowned artist’s home and studio in the world vibrant with the activity of visitors, artists, and scholars. In 2015, more than 170,000 visited Olana.

For more information, please visit Olana.org.

For 2016 Frederic Church Award Gala tickets, please contact: The JFM Group, Haley Karl, olana@thejfmgroup.com

Olana is located at 5720 Route 9G, Hudson, NY