Where Will the Performing Arts Center Go?

By Dan Hust
BETHEL — September 8, 2000 – There’s been talk of late that Alan Gerry and his organization, the Gerry Foundation, are planning to build the newly announced $40 million performing arts center on the actual bowl-shaped natural amphitheater where the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair was originally held.
Not exactly true, says spokesperson Glenn Pontier.
“There are other likely sites for the performing arts center than the concert site itself,” he said yesterday. “I think it would be correct to say that we share the feelings of those who think the [Woodstock] site is a special place.”
With 1,400 surrounding acres owned by Gerry and his foundation, Pontier said the NYC architectural firm of HOK has ample places to choose from in situating the center – and in a way that “complements and honors what happened” at Woodstock.
HOK planners have just begun a 90-day period where they will determine where exactly to build the center and the center’s design and specifications.
In the meantime, activists with the muthatheresa.com website (aka the Weird Woodstock World Forum) are planning to meet at the Woodstock monument off Hurd Road in Bethel tomorrow to discuss the center and the site itself.