Unison Arts Opens New Space For Accessible Arts

One of the only stone houses from the 1700s to survive in New Paltz sits at the end of Paradies Lane, surrounded by lush chestnut trees and fluttering purple martins — but these aren’t the only draw to the 2-acre property. Early last spring, Unison Arts officially moved from their space on 68 Mountain Rest Rd to the historic Jacob & Charity Holsted House. Over the last six months, Unison has been rehabilitating the existing spaces and planning new ones on the property to support their goal of providing accessible arts experiences to the community.

“It’s a really nice space to not only come and see art, take some workshops, practice on figure drawing or improvisational comedy in our classes, but to just walk around on the grounds and take it easy,” executive director of Unison Marielena Ferrer said.

The house at 9 Paradies Ln was donated to the non-profit in 2021 by owners Daniel Getman and Janice Pickering, but Unison only started using it as their primary location this year. For the past few months, Unison Arts has been working on bringing their Garage Flex Space up to par. With an already beautiful garage painted with bright greens and florals by renowned muralist artist Lady Pink, the organization only had to make a few renovations to turn the garage into a programming space. They called on the help of volunteers to fix up the insulation, sheetrock and paint in the space. 

The garage is called “Flex Space” because the room can be used as one big space or divided into two, depending on the program. Their intention is to use one half of the space as a studio for future artists in residency programs. The newest portion of the house itself has restrooms and galleries on the ground level complying with ADA regulations. 

As of right now, only the modern add-on to the house and the Garage Flex Space are accessible to the public. Though the house isn’t registered as a historic landmark, its age and history still require certain ways of going about renovations to preserve the space. Unison is waiting for a preservation grant to do a structural analysis on the house. Once this is complete, they can plan future exhibits and renovations and still preserve the history of the house.  

While they wait for the proper approvals, they’re renting out three studios on the second floor of the house to artists for quiet “clean” use, keeping in mind the antique hardwood floors and minimal ventilation the space has. With the money they receive from various galleries, workshops, studio rentals and donations, they hope to keep improving and expanding. Right now, they have plans to arrange their sculpture garden on the front lawn and eventually build an outdoor performance space.

“Unison right now is going through a transformation … Now that we have been here for six months, functioning in this new location, [we’re seeing] what things are possible, what things need to be changed and what the community would like us to continue doing,” Ferrer said. “We are really very grateful for the people around us. We have been around for 48 years and we are looking forward to the celebration of our 50th year anniversary in 2026. Hopefully there will be at least another 50 years to come that we will be around here in the community.” 

You can find out more about Unison Arts and their programming at www.unisonarts.org. The space is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. or by appointment.