David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center

Opened in fall 2022, the David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center is a sustainable and inclusive home for the creative process at The Pocantico Center, where artists and the community come together to develop, present, and experience new works of performing, literary, and visual arts. The DR Center includes a gallery, performance space, and flexible artists' studio, housed in John D. Rockefeller’s historic Orangerie.

Visitor Information

a solo dancer performs on a starkly lit stage before an audience

Public Programs

Since 2012, the Culpeper Summer Performance Series has offered mainstage music, dance, and theater performances at Pocantico. The new arts center will double the annual performance series from four to eight events, offered year-round. The DR Center will also host open rehearsals, forums, lectures, workshops, and other public programs for the community. Tickets must be purchased in advance online. Explore upcoming events »

Two visitors examine colorful abstract paintings hanging in a gallery.

Exhibitions

The gallery at the DR Center will present rotating exhibitions of visual art drawn from the permanent collection at Pocantico, as well as new commissions, loans, and museum partnerships. The gallery is open to the public several days a week, and all visitors must reserve a free timed-entry ticket prior to visiting. Reserve gallery tickets »

A group of dancers

Artist Residencies

Through its Culpeper Arts and Culture program, the RBF has offered performing artist residencies at Pocantico since 2008. The DR Center artists' studio will, for the first time, allow for visual artist residencies. The Pocantico Prize for Visual Artists pairs a $25,000 cash prize with a two-month residency, and an annual community arts residency will allow a local nonprofit organization to use the studio as a satellite location to conduct workshops, exhibitions, performances, and more for up to six months. Meet our current artist-in-residence »


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Transformation: From Greenhouse to Arts Hub

Rockefeller engaged William Welles Bosworth, the architect of Kykuit and its gardens, to design a winter storage building for his collection of ornamental orange trees in 1908. Bosworth modeled his design after the 17th-century “orangery” at the Palace of Versailles. In the 1930s, Rockefeller donated his orange trees to botanical gardens in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Boston, leaving the building to be used for storage. Upon his passing in 1979, Nelson Rockefeller bequeathed the Orangerie, as well as Kykuit and other properties on the family estate, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Under an agreement with the Trust, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund operates these properties as The Pocantico Center. The RBF announced plans to transform the Orangerie into the DR Center, a public venue for the arts at Pocantico, in 2019.

Sustainability

In accordance with the Fund’s commitment to sustainability, the new arts center is a “net-zero” facility with platinum LEED certification. A nearby solar panel array produces more energy than the building consumes, and a rain garden helps conserve water and reduce runoff pollutants.

Building Credits

Architect

FXCollaborative Architects, LLP

Construction Manager

Yorke Construction Corporation

Owners Representative

Envoie Projects LLC

Structural Engineer

Silman Structural Engineers, DRP

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, And Fire/Life Safety Engineer

Altieri Sebor Wieber, LLC

Building Enclosure Engineer

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger

Historic Preservation Consultant

Li Saltzman Architects, PC

Landscape Architect

Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, PC

Civil Engineer

Langan Engineering

Lighting Design Consultant

Fisher Marantz Stone

Theatre Design Consultant

Fisher Dachs Associates

Acoustic and Audio-Visual Consultant

Jaffe Holden

Code Consultant

Code Consultants

Building Commissioning

Horizon Engineering Associates, LLP

Controlled Inspections

AK Engineering

Furniture

Miller Blaker

Paint Provided Free of Charge by

Benjamin Moore and Co.

Security

NYCON Security Systems, Inc.

Signage

H Plus

Survey and Geotechnical

Langan Engineering

Telescopic Seating

Jezet

Theatrical Lighting

4Wall Entertainment, Inc.

Special Thanks

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Greenrock Corporation