The Olana Partnership’s 2015 Frederic E. Church Award Gala will be held on Tuesday, November 17 at The Metropolitan Club in New York City. The Frederic E. Church (FEC) 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 Gala launches Olana’s 50th Anniversary Season, celebrating the preservation and opening to the public of America’s most important artist’s home, studio, and designed landscape in 1966. The 2015 Church Award honorees represent the breadth of this important story – from the 1966 saving of Olana to the exciting plans for its future: Jim Hamilton, Martin Puryear, Professor Jason Rosenfeld, Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020 Plan. Luminist painter Stephen Hannock, a former FEC Award recipient, will serve as Honorary Chair.

As a young attorney at Milbank Tweed, Jim Hamilton established Olana Preservation, Inc., the forerunner of The Olana Partnership, in 1965. His legal work was crucial to the success of the public-private effort that saved Olana from destruction and preserved it as a historic site in 1966.

Martin Puryear and Prof. Jason Rosenfeld are central figures in Olana’s current acclaimed exhibition, “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home.” Puryear’s eight-foot-tall sculpture, Question, made of poplar, pine and ash, is the centerpiece of the exhibition, installed in Olana’s Court Hall. Puryear, who has a home and studio in the Hudson Valley, has been recognized as one of America’s foremost living artists and received the 2011 National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

Prof. Jason Rosenfeld is co-curator of “River Crossings” and editor of the companion book. He has organized major international exhibitions, including “Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde” at Tate Britain. Rosenfeld is one of only five faculty members to be awarded the title Distinguished Chair at Marymount Manhattan College.

Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky is one of the greatest champions of wildlife and the environment today and, specifically, of the New York State Parks system. In her role as Chair of the NYS Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Dr. Waletzky provides crucial support for Olana’s ongoing restoration, conservation and interpretation as a public property. Dr. Waletzky is also Chair of the Taconic Region Parks Commission, which includes Olana.

The Olana Partnership will honor its long-standing partnership with New York State by recognizing Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020: A Vision for Transforming NY Parks. This plan provides a multi-year commitment to leverage $900 million in public and private funding for State Parks from 2012 to 2020. Gov. Cuomo is committed to “making comprehensive investments in the state’s most popular flagship parks to ensure they remain relevant throughout the 21st century.”

About Olana and The Olana Partnership

Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the preeminent American artist of the mid-19th century and the most important artist’s home, studio and designed landscape in the United States.  Church designed Olana as a holistic environment integrating his advanced ideas about art, architecture, landscape design, and environmental conservation. Olana’s 250-acre artist-designed landscape with a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 150,000 visitors annually.

Olana State Historic Site, a historic site administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Taconic Region, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana State Historic Site. 2016 will mark the beginning of the 50th anniversary season of this public/private partnership. To learn more about Olana and The Olana Partnership, please visit www.olana.org.

Event:                      2015 Frederic E. Church Gala

Honorees:               Jim Hamilton, Martin Puryear, Professor Jason Rosenfeld, Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, And Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020 Plan

Date:                       Tuesday, November 17

Location:                 1 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022

Time:                       7 p.m. Cocktails; 8 p.m. Dinner

Beneficiary:             The Olana Partnership

Tickets:                    The JFM Group, Amanda Martignetti, olana@thejfmgroup.com

Attire:                       Black Tie