Performers
Location
About
Art Omi Upstate Benefit 2026
When: Saturday, September 26, 2026 | 5:30–10 PM
Location: Pocketbook Hudson | 549 Washington Street, Hudson, NY 12534
Join us for the annual Art Omi Upstate Benefit on Saturday, September 26 from 5:30–10 PM as we honor philanthropist, art collector, curator, and photographer Jack Shear. Jack lives and works in Spencertown, NY, and is the husband of the late artist Ellsworth Kelly. He serves as President of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation and Executive Director of the Ellsworth Kelly Studio.
Tickets: Donate in lieu of attending.
This year's benefit takes place at Pocketbook Hudson Hotel & Baths, a recently opened hotel, restaurant, and cultural complex in a historic 1885 textile factory and a new partner of Art Omi.
Schedule highlights
- 5:30 PM — Cocktail party with libations, hors d’oeuvres, and live music from FlamenKora.
- 7:00 PM — Argentine feast prepared by Ambos Executive Chef Norberto Piattoni, followed by a live auction and paddle raise hosted by Jacqueline Towers-Perkins.
- The evening concludes with dessert.
About FlamenKora
FlamenKora blends improvised trumpet and flamenco guitar with traditional Mandinka kora and vocals from Senegal to create multicultural music. The group is led by trumpeter and composer Volker Goetze, with kora master Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko and flamenco guitarist Roberto Monteiro. As described in JAZZIZ: "FlamenKora exudes a remarkable sense of cultural diversity... showcasing an uncanny ability to listen and respond to one another, resulting in an exquisite musical beauty."
About Jacqueline Towers-Perkins
Jacqueline Towers-Perkins is an international auctioneer and CEO/Founder of Towers & Co, an auctioneer agency and fundraising consultancy for galas and benefit events. She has worked with clients across finance, entertainment, tech, politics, and international royalty, and has held senior positions at major auction houses, including Sotheby’s New York.
About Art Omi
Art Omi is home to five international residency programs for architects, artists, dancers, musicians, and writers. Its 120-acre Sculpture & Architecture Park features more than 60 artworks on view at any time, alongside rotating exhibitions in the Newmark Gallery — all free and open to the public. Arts education programs, from summer camps to public school partnerships and weekend workshops, bring hands-on art experiences to kids and families across the region.
Your support at any level makes this evening, and Art Omi itself, possible. We can't wait to celebrate with you!
Honoree — Jack Shear
Jack Shear has supported local organizations in Columbia County and the arts globally. In 2022 he donated a collection of 75 Tibetan Thangka paintings and objects to Skidmore College, Vassar College, and Williams College. He serves on the executive committee of MoMA’s International Council and on the board of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies.
Jack has assembled a collection of over 2,000 works on paper spanning Old Masters to contemporary artists. In 2020 he was honored by The Drawing Center and serves on the Drawings and Prints Committee at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
As a photographer, Jack has published several books, including Knot, which pairs his photographs with poems and prose by Forrest Gander. His work is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Albany Institute of History and Art.
Continuing Ellsworth Kelly’s legacy, Jack serves as President of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation and Executive Director of the Ellsworth Kelly Studio. In 2023 he donated 207 artworks by Ellsworth Kelly to 22 American museums and helped coordinate exhibitions and publications celebrating Ellsworth Kelly’s centennial.
Pocketbook Hudson, Ambos, and venue notes
Pocketbook Hudson blends history, design, art, and cuisine and includes a communal bathhouse, Ambos (an open-fire restaurant), a café and bar, a subterranean nightclub, galleries, and a street-level market.
Ambos, led by Chef Norberto Piattoni, is inspired by Argentine heritage and features live-fire cooking, local meat, seafood, fresh pasta, and produce.
In-kind support for this event is provided by Pocketbook Hudson, Preferred Hotel Partner of Art Omi.
Questions
For more information, email Lux Krueger, Associate Director of Development, at [email protected]