FAQs
CELEBRATION 2019 | photo by Alanna Floreck
Click here to view our Mission & Vision
How do you pronounce your name?
It's pronounced “Celebrate Eightfourfive”. You can also call us "Celebrate" for short.
What is "845"?
It's the area code for the mid to lower-Hudson Valley, where we live and facilitate our events. Click here to read our land acknowledgment.
What exactly do you do and where are you based?
Events we’ve hosted include virtual and in-person arts exhibitions (group and solo), public performances, open mics, vendor markets, networking mixers, dance parties, and more. Projects include zines, mail-in campaigns, and astrology offerings. View our past events and projects here.
We are also part of coalitions across the region that advocate for the well-being of those most impacted by harmful systems, and we prioritize showing up to support local efforts and causes. View our coalitions page here.
We have hosted and/or collaborated on in-person programming in Beacon, Kingston, Newburgh, New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, Rosendale, & Woodstock and look forward to future programming throughout the Hudson Valley region. We've also hosted many virtual events. It is our dream to show up in every crevice of this Valley.
We intentionally do not have a venue of our own and prioritize collaborating with existing spaces across the region - preferably those that are owned by or run by marginalized folx. Transportation within the Hudson Valley is not always affordable or accessible and popping up helps us reach our entire community without being bound to one place. We work with venues that support our community, who recognize their impact and responsibility, and help sustain safe community for all.
What do you mean when you say "marginalized" creatives and why do you center them?
To marginalize someone is to relegate them to a powerless position within a society or group. A society that labels certain people as outside "the norm" based on their ability, gender identity, income, etc. marginalizes those people, edging them out. Such persons are typically systematically excluded from full participation and consequently lack the self-efficacy to improve their life situation, especially within a capitalist, patriarchal society.
We believe that while the populations we attract have many differences between them, we are all similarly disadvantaged in the local creative arena. We believe that creating space for us all to come together and/or work together can have many benefits, including a chance to educate one another about both our unique and shared experiences via our creative work and also provide space for us to organize and mobilize against inequitable and oppressive systems. We aim to work intersectionally so that we all can thrive.
“Nobody's free until everybody's free.” - Fannie Lou Hamer
Didn't you used to be called something else?
We did! From January 2018 - January 2021, we went by CelebrateWomxn845. When we were first founded, we chose to use the term "womxn" and sought to hold space for women and women-identifying artists based on a voiced local need. In 2019, we revised our mission to include femme, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming creatives based on feedback and experience. Over time, our reach and network became more and more intersectional and it made sense to continue to bend and expand. We changed our name to Celebrate845 by the end of January 2021, as the term "womxn" had been co-opted by TERFs and was not worth hanging onto.
We recognize that conversations around race, gender, gender identity, class, ability, etc. and the language surrounding them all are super personal to each individual and are also changing every day. We do not claim to be experts. We do, however, choose to create a platform that is rooted in intersectionality, continued education, flexibility, trust, mutual respect, and celebration of and for marginalized creatives in this region.
Are you an artist collective / non-profit / gallery?
Nope. We're just a group of locals using our resources, networks, skills, and privileges to create opportunities and moments of joy. We aim to hold space for connection via the arts and celebration in a sustainable, conscious, and community-centered way. We are a vessel, a container, a resource, an amplifier.
Who's "we"?
Celebrate845 was founded by Jamie (they/she), an artist, educator, and organizer from the Hudson Valley. In 2020, Team Celebrate assembled- a diverse group of delegates from different parts of the 845 who practice different forms of art and hold varied identities and experiences. We listen to our neighbors, have the conversations, and carry out where Celebrate goes based on our collective community's needs. Get to know our amazing Team here.
We also give tremendous love to all collaborators, supporters, and creatives who work with us, inform us, and show up for one another. Thank you.
How can I work with Celebrate845?
Contact us here, or fill out our collaboration form here.
organize - recognize - celebrate!
