Donation from Stewart’s to aid museum
GLENS FALLS, N.Y. » A $30,000 donation from Stewart’s Shops and the Dake family will be used to help renovate The Hyde Collection’s 132-seat Helen Froehlich Auditorium, which is used for lectures, film screenings, concerts and special events.
The Glens Falls museum has a long history with Stewart’s, as the company provides annual grants to help fund The Hyde’s free weekly children’s programs.
“Stewart’s recognizes the importance of The Hyde’s arts and education combined mission to the well-being of all our shops’ communities,” said Susan Law Dake, Stewart’s Foundation president. “Stewart’s is pleased to help The Hyde update the Helen Froehlich auditorium, enabling the museum to further its reach.”
The auditorium was built in 1989, as part of the modern museum complex addition to Hyde House. Named after Helen Froehlich, an arts patron who created a trust that provides annual support to the museum’s operating costs, the theater-style space is in need of updating.
The museum was one of several locations used for the 2017 Adirondack Film Festival.
“But to participate, we had to rent the necessary equipment,” said Anne Saile, interim museum director. “We really are at a point where the changes are necessary.”
The $30,000 donation is the first major gift for the project.
“The museum’s mission is to make the arts accessible to everyone, so we would love to offer better options for our visitors who have hearing or sight issues,” said Saile. “With all the advances in video and sound since our last renovation, this
project is long overdue.”
Plans call for installation of a full-range speaker system, mixer, wireless microphones, a mobile media lectern for presentations, recording capability, sound mixing and control booth modifications. Improvements also will include an interface with Charles R. Wood Gallery to allow simultaneous broadcast from the lower-level auditorium to the first-floor main gallery for large events.
Video upgrades will include projection equipment to allow both computerbased presentations and film screenings. The project includes the addition of an audio-visual system in the adjacent art studio for use in education programming and to allow audiovisual from the auditorium to be shared in the art studio and rotunda when event overflow seating is needed.
Existing lighting controls and dimmer, which are failing, will be replaced, and lighting fixtures throughout the auditorium will be retrofitted or replaced to incorporate LED technology.
The non-profit museum is in the early stages of planning the renovation.