Catskills Highland Arts Trust
A mountaintop sanctuary for art, community, and transformation.
MISSION
Founded in 2026 by world renowned entertainer Alan Cumming, the Catskills Highlands Arts Trust (CHAT) was created to foster creativity and provide opportunities for blossoming artists, particularly the queer and under served communities, and to be stewards of the rich tradition of the performing arts in the majestic Catskills Mountains.
PROGRAMS
summer + fall performance season
July - November
Our premiere season of the arts features top talent from across the globe as well as up and coming artistic geniuses in a variety of performances, arts exhibits and poetry events across the property. Curated by founder and artistic director Alan Cumming, each season explores a breadth of artistic themes, mediums and creators.
youth programs
Year - Round
The Catskills are a rural area with very little public arts programs for young people. The Catskills Highlands Arts Trust will provide year-round youth workshops, courses and performances to nurture young talents and hopefully spark the next generation of artists.
The Garage experimental theater
Year - Round
The historic Galli Gurci garage has been transformed into an intimate black box theater space where unconventional creativity drives the performance. Funded by ACME and in partnership with LaMaMa Theater in New York City, this is the upstate home of avante garde theater.
Catskills Highland Arts Trust is a registered 501c3 organization.
Support is provided by corporate and private donors and by arts lovers like you!
Artist Residency Retreats
Providing an intensive residential experience to nurture and nourish promising artistic talent. We receive a limited number of grants each year to provide an all-inclusive artistic retreat to a handful of talented artists from queer, minority or undeserved communities. Their medium can be writing, theater, visual art, choreography, music or experimental multi-media. Artists applications are peer reviewed and a limited number of applicants are accepted each year. Residencies vary from 2 - 6 weeks based on grant availability.
Residency Includes:
- Room & Board
- Three communal meals per day
- Mentorship by an accomplished artist in the relevant field
- Project inclusion in the following CHAT arts season
About the Estate:
Originally dubbed Sul Monte, “on the mount” - the property was commissioned in 1921 by opera legend Amelita Galli-Curci and designed by Harrie Thomas Lindeberg, one of the most respected country house architects of the 20th century, the home blends European country house traditions with an American sense of scale and ease. The result is a property both gracious and grounded, expressive in form yet timeless in spirit. Set on 61 acres of terraced lawns, wildflower meadows, specimen trees, and woodlands with walking trails, the property offers sweeping views across the Catskills. Its half-timbered facade, leaded glass windows, and sculpted cedar shake roof evoke the romance of the English countryside.
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010
Amelita Galli-Curci
18 November 1882 – 26 November 1963
Amelita Galli-Curci (18 November 1882 – 26 November 1963) was an Italian lyric coloratura soprano. She was one of the most famous operatic singers of the 20th century and a popular recording artist, with her records selling in large numbers.
In the autumn of 1916, Galli-Curci first arrived in the United States virtually unknown. Her stay in the US was intended to be brief, but the acclaim she received for her historic American debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in Chicago on 18 November 1916 (her 34th birthday) was so wildly enthusiastic that she accepted an offer to extend her association with the Chicago Opera Association, where she appeared until the end of the 1924 season. Also in 1916, Galli-Curci signed a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company and made her first records a few weeks before her American debut. She recorded exclusively for Victor until 1930.
On 14 November 1921, while still under contract with the Chicago Opera, Galli-Curci made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Violetta in La traviata, opposite tenor Beniamino Gigli as Alfredo. She was one of the few singers of that era who were contracted to both opera companies simultaneously. Galli-Curci remained at the Met until her retirement from the operatic stage nine years later.