This year, Upstate Art Weekend (UAW) returns for its seventh edition — five days, over 160 participating venues, and hundreds of artists, exhibitions, performances, and installations spread across a landscape that is, itself, a work of art. Mark your calendars: June 25–29, 2026.
If you’ve been thinking about what makes life up here so different from anywhere else, this weekend is a pretty good answer.
What Is Upstate Art Weekend?
Founded in 2020 with just 23 participants, Upstate Art Weekend has grown into a full-scale cultural festival unlike any traditional art fair. There are no booths, no admission lines, no single venue. Instead, UAW is a self-directed, region-wide event — a living map of galleries, museums, residencies, studios, historic sites, farms, and performance spaces that open their doors simultaneously across the Hudson Valley and Catskills.
The whole idea is to explore. You might start the morning at a major museum overlooking the Hudson, spend the afternoon at a working artist’s studio in a converted barn, and end the evening at an outdoor installation in the Catskills foothills. Each day is yours to design.
Highlights Not to Miss
With over 160 participants spanning from Westchester to the Catskill Mountains, the sheer breadth of UAW can feel a little overwhelming — in the best possible way. Here are some standouts worth building your itinerary around:
- Earthen Plot at UAW Headquarters (Kingston): Curated by founder Helen Toomer, this group exhibition highlights 37 artists whose practices are physically and spiritually rooted in the “conditions of place.” The artwork explores themes of terrain, land cultivation, and the tension between nature and the built environment—concepts that deeply resonate with our own architectural philosophy of harmonizing homes with the land.
- KinoSaito (Verplanck): This repurposed architectural gem is offering expanded summer hours during the weekend. Don’t miss their Garden Party opening reception on Saturday, June 27, which debuts an outdoor installation by Jongil Ma alongside comprehensive landscape explorations.
- The Great Outdoors: UAW is synonymous with the region’s premier open-air art destinations. Be sure to carve out time to stroll through the monumental, landscape-defining sculptures at staples like Storm King Art Center, Art Omi, or the incredible bluestone earthworks at Opus 40.
- Jack Shainman Gallery / The School (Kinderhook) — One of the most respected contemporary art galleries in the country has a stunning outpost in a converted upstate schoolhouse. Always essential viewing.
- Foreland (Catskill) — A dynamic arts complex that has quickly become a hub for contemporary work in the northern valley.
- ChaNorth (Chashama North) is one of the most exciting stops on the UAW circuit this year. The artist residency opens its studios and surrounding fields and forest trails for Nature Goes With Everything, an outdoor exhibition curated by Kourosh Mahboubian featuring sculpture, painting, film, and performance by an international roster of artists.
How to Plan Your Weekend
UAW is a choose-your-own-adventure event, and a little planning goes a long way. A few tips:
Download the Bloomberg Connects app. UAW’s official guide lives on Bloomberg Connects — it’s free, and it’s the best way to browse all 160+ participants, filter by location or medium, and build a personalized itinerary before you go.
Think in geographic clusters. The participating venues stretch from Westchester County up through Columbia County and across into the Catskills. Grouping stops by area will save you from unnecessary backtracking. The UAW website’s Program + Planning page has drive-time estimates to help.
Go on a weekday if you can. The “weekend” runs Thursday through Monday, and Thursday and Friday tend to be noticeably quieter at popular venues. Some sites also host special evening programming — check venue pages for details.
Check hours in advance. Each participant sets their own hours and some require reservations. Confirm before you go, especially for smaller studios and residencies.
Art and the Life You’ve Imagined
We hope you’ll get out and explore this year — and if UAW leaves you dreaming about your own creative retreat in the valley, we’d love to talk.
Interested in building or buying a modern home in the Hudson Valley? Explore our available properties or get in touch — we’d love to show you around.
Upstate Art Weekend 2026 June 25–29, 2026 | Hudson Valley & Catskills, New York Free and self-directed | upstateartweekend.org Guide available on Bloomberg Connects
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