Inside Spring Hill Arts Gathering 2023
In Litchfield County, an exciting musical lineup, inspiring art and delectable wines define a world-class cultural celebration
In the picturesque town of Washington, Connecticut, set amidst the pastoral hills of Litchfield County, the 2023 Spring Hill Arts Gathering (SHAG) welcomed guests—locals and travelers, alike—to four celebratory days of art, music and culinary immersion this June. Hosted within Spring Hill Vineyards, the spectacular occasion paired permanent work by artists like CH favorites Hank Willis Thomas and JR with programming from musicians including Tank and the Bangas, Shamir, CeeLo Green, Ida Mae, Jake Wesley Rogers and more. In addition to the vineyard’s permanent collection, SHAG presented the temporary group exhibit Slow and Sweaty with The Here and There Collective, an arts non-profit dedicated to uplifting artists from the Asian diaspora. Altogether, SHAG affirmed the cultural capabilities of the region, and acted as a commitment to the local community.
“My family and I have been part of Washington for over 30 years. As we spend more and more time in this community, we thought it would be great to bring some of what we do in New York to Washington,” cofounder Stephanie Ingrassia tells COOL HUNTING. Enmeshed in the NYC art world, Ingrassia serves on the boards of Red Hook-based cultural center Pioneer Works, as well as the beloved public art organization Creative Time. “Spring Hill Arts Gathering is just an extension of my love of the arts and my love of my home,” she adds.
Long before Ingrassia and her husband, Tim, began to envision SHAG, they started to develop Spring Hill Vineyards. They “naïvely thought that it would be cool to grow grapes and make wine when we bought this working farm in 2006,” says Ingrassia. “At the time we didn’t appreciate how much work and, frankly, luck is involved. It took years of trial and error but once we figured out how we could make a decent wine, it became important to build a facility where the community could come for tastings and to experience the land that we know to be incredibly special and unique. That was around 2018 when we started building the venue that would eventually become SHAG in 2021.”
This cross-cultural site aligns nature and art. “Mark Mennin is an incredible artist and dear friend, working in the area, who translated Tim’s desire for an amphitheater into one of the most beautiful, natural performance spaces you’ll ever experience,” Ingrassia says. “Our 60-foot-tall grain silo lived on the farm for decades but wasn’t utilized.” The Ingrassias hired a team to take it down and reassemble it, while convening with installation artist Randy Polumbo on how to activate it. “Randy created the most spectacular grotto, which I really can’t describe— it must be experienced in person,” Ingrassia continues. Finally, a 150-year-old barn was discovered in Canada, and reconstructed as a performance space at Spring Hill Vineyards.
From the start, Ingrassia had a clear mission and vision for the event series. “Accessibility is a huge part of why we do SHAG,” she says. “We don’t want ticket prices to create a barrier to entry. Full-price tickets for weekend programs start at $25 and, importantly, we reengaged the idea of the Town Party which took place on the final day of the festival, where entry is free for everyone.”
On site, Slow and Sweaty was curated by THAT Co’s Director of Curatorial Affairs, Claire Kim. The permanent portfolio additions by Willis Thomas and JR were acquired by the Ingrassias. The former’s “Ernest and Ruth” (2015) talk-bubble sculptures are “about framing a space for people’s stories, about hands-on interaction with the art itself, sitting in and on it, and taking pictures with it. It’s about total engagement and a perfect metaphor for what we’re trying to achieve at SHAG,” Ingrassia says. “JR’s work is about identity and landscape intervention, and the piece, ‘Hand,’ brings a fun activation to the walls of our barn, which I hope inspires in everyone who sees it a little bit of freedom, and permission to play.”
As for the illustrious musical roster, Ingrassia says, “We pride ourselves on giving artists a very special experience rooted in hospitality which is definitely part of the appeal. We also hear from artists that they are excited to participate as part of such a diverse lineup in a unique setting. Back in our first year of production, we asked everyone we knew in the music industry for guidance. Through this process and now a few years in, Dana Gluck, our executive director, has been able to nurture a network of authentic relationships across the music industry which has given us incredible opportunities to work with artists on the brink of stardom.”
Gluck adds that the music programming is the result of of research to conceive of a lineup “that feels like a universal fit for our community—where we are bringing something really cool and really wholesome at the same time. It’s this marriage of the avant-garde and this universal sensibility of Americana. It’s summer in Litchfield County.”
Another surprising feature of this year’s SHAG extravaganza was the Zachys VIP lounge. Hosted by the acclaimed, family-owned store and auction house Zachys, the luxuriant, tented space took guests on a global tour by way of more than 30 wines and two one-of-a-kind whiskies. “Zachys has transformed our capacity to deliver a destination experience at SHAG and we really owe this to Zachys’ president, Andrew McMurray, who is a neighbor here in Litchfield County,” Ingrassia says. “Andrew’s endless generosity, energy and creativity toward our offerings have inspired a lot of growth and goodwill. Andrew’s confidence in our programming has given us a lot of freedom to dream. Between a Zachys beverage program and our chef in residence, Norberto Piattoni, and his pop-up The Modestos, we know that our audiences are getting the best of the best.”
“You always want to bring unique things to SHAG so that guests want to come back next year,” McMurray says of the wine selections. For the VIP suite, which was themed a Grand Walkaround, he says, “what we wanted to do was have a great representation from around the world, and have it hit on all different levels. We tried to go up and down wine categories and regions, with a ladder to one or two pinnacle products in each.” In many ways, McMurray was offering some of his own favorite wines right now, “whether you’re talking about rosés—where we started pouring Deutz Classic Brut out of magnums—to champagne and Italian sparklings like Brut Villa Sparina. With white wines, we went from Italy to Burgundy. Italy is my strongest point. It is the category of wine that I buy for the store. I was given that category when I started at Zachys 30 years ago. Then I had to have wines from the rest of the world: a good Bordeaux, some Spanish wines, a few from Napa Valley.” From six liter bottles, McMurray’s team poured Greppicaia Bolgheri Superiore I Greppi, and from three liter bottles he offered Vin de Pays du Var Rose Domaine de Triennes—both were a deliciously memorable experience.
“SHAG is evolving, and still so new to us only three festivals in,” Ingrassia says. “We’re learning everything about production from A to Z, about the guest experience and about curating programs that feel both right and also experimental for this community, not to mention oversight of a non-profit organization, because SHAG is a public charity. I am always working with Dana to question everything we think works and doesn’t. SHAG will definitely continue to evolve.” Ingrassia hopes to move further toward sustainability while continuing to foster “a safe space for artists to express themselves for an attentive crowd.”
SHAG is a beacon in a community that’s been recognized time and again for its innate charm and ever-expanding art scene. “To anyone not familiar with the beauty of Litchfield County, I would say come experience it for yourself. The biggest challenges to culture and tourism in this area are also our biggest strengths,” Ingrassia explains. “Not having a dedicated Metro-North line and limited lodging options support a quietness that we cherish, but create a barrier to entry that we’re also very conscious of.” For anyone interested in the breadth and depth of the art scene outside of NYC, SHAG is certainly worth adding to the calendar.
Images courtesy of SHAG
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