Inspire Campaign

Inspire: A Campaign for Caramoor’s Future

In 2014, the leadership of Caramoor embarked on the ambitious $40 million capital campaign, Inspire: A Campaign for Caramoor’s Future, to achieve multiple goals. The primary objective was to secure Caramoor’s financial future by growing the permanent endowment. Building a robust endowment to keep pace with the trajectory of our programs was vital, and Caramoor quadrupled its endowment over the course of the campaign. Having a solid financial foundation has enabled Caramoor to sustain artistic excellence, better meet unforeseen challenges and opportunities, and to seed innovation. A second major component of the campaign was the ongoing restoration of the historic Rosen House, to enhance the spaces and experience of music at Caramoor. This multi-year process—from enclosing the Cloisters and Summer Dining Room for energy efficiency and visitor comfort, to updating vital infrastructure and amenities, to a refurbishment of the Music Room—was completed in 2019. The House remains the crown jewel of the Caramoor estate, and the heart of our legacy as an organization. The final phase of the capital campaign—a comprehensive campus revitalization plan—built on a sense of shared discovery and artistic innovation throughout Caramoor’s grounds. It has always been Caramoor’s goal, beginning with the vision of Lucie and Walter Rosen, to make this a place for music and a place to gather, to pause, and to reflect. Through work on the Visitor Experience Project, which reconfigured parking and venue entrances, added additional seating and dining amenities, and elevated our beautiful gardens, that vision was furthered. These capital projects were completed in 2020/2021 with the addition of a significant piece of sound art and a new performance stage on Friends Field.

Financial Transformations

The primary objective of Inspire was to secure Caramoor’s financial future by growing the permanent endowment. Caramoor quadrupled its endowment portfolio over the course of the campaign, building a solid financial to sustain artistic excellence, better meet unforeseen challenges and opportunities, and to seed innovation.

Funds established as part of Inspire include:

• An Education Fund
• The Adela and Lawrence Elow Fund for The Great American Songbook: 1900 to 1960
• The Susan and John Freund Piano Fund
• The Susan and Joseph Handelman Fund for Evnin Rising Stars Mentors
• An Innovation Fund
• The Enid and Lester Morse Fund for Classical Music
• The Nancy S. Offit Fund for the Performance of Classical Music and Opera
• A Rosen House Concert Fund
• A Rosen House Stewardship Fund
• The William Kelly Simpson Fund
• The Lucille Werlinich Fund for Caramoor’s Gardens

Other Endowments were enhanced, including:

• Caramoor General Fund
• Classical Music
• Chamber Music Fund
• Gardens & Estates
• Mentoring, including;
  • The Terrance W. Schwab Fund for Young Vocal Artists and
  • The Ernst C. Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence Fund

Leaving a Legacy

We are also grateful to a number of our Inspired donors who have made plans to name Caramoor in their estates. Their legacies will continue to make a significant impact on Caramoor’s future for years to come.

Campus Transformations

The Rosen House Receives a Face Lift

After the final performance in the Music Room in December 2018, the Rosen House began a winter full of touchups, restorations, cleaning, and new equipment installation. The changes have uplifted this central landmark of Caramoor and created a more welcoming experience for visitors — all beginning with the 16th-century Italian Gates that serves as the main entrance to the Rosen House and Spanish Courtyard. Please see the captions in this slideshow below to learn more about the restoration work in The Rosen House as part of Inspire.

Janine Lambers, an artist who specializes in gilding and restoration, restores the papier-mache bas-relief sculpture on the overmantel in the Formal Dining Room of the Rosen House.

Marshall Fine Arts, who are skilled at handling and installing antique art and furniture, carefully removed the pieces in the Music Room so work could be done to the walls.

The floors had to be covered as the team from Foreground Conservation got to work cleaning the walls and ceiling. While much of this was painstaking work, the work progressed quicker than expected.

Conservators applied a putty-like substance to the walls and covered it with gauze. Slowly and carefully, the gauze was peeled away and years of dirt, dust, and smoke came away with it.

Conservators applied a putty-like substance to the walls and covered it with gauze. Slowly and carefully, the gauze was peeled away and years of dirt, dust, and smoke came away with it.

The stucco at the upper part of the walls is more dimensional and the cleaning technique was a bit more difficult.

 

A Renewed Respite: Pavilion Plaza

Pavilion Plaza is a newly-created gathering place nestled between the Woodland Garden, Cedar Walk, and the Pavilion. Away from the activity of Friends Field and Center Walk, the plaza has added an area for guests to enjoy a quiet picnic or relax in the secluded atmosphere.

Innovating on Friends Field

Friends Field has become a grassy gathering space for concerts and visitors (not cars!) With new trees and access points, and featuring a landmark sound sculpture by renowned artist Trimpin and a new Friends Field Stage, this area has now allowed for more comfort for performers, opportunities for casual listening, and an expansion of creative programming. Additionally, the intersection of Friends Field, the Entry Plaza, and Center Walk has created a hub of activity with easy access to seasonal concessions and expanded parking fields.

Center Walk Reimagined

Caramoor’s central route to the Rosen House has become a pedestrian-only haven that leads to a new open-air plaza adjoining the House, making more space to stroll, sit, and relax with friends and family.

A Fresh Sense of Arrival: The Entry Plaza

A circular Entry Plaza serves as a meeting spot that guides you to the new Box Office, Woodland Garden, Venetian Theater, Rosen House, and anywhere else you want to go. Plus, new parking configurations make it easier to get in and out.

Press & Blogs | Inspire in the News

Caramoor Monthly Blogs

Inspired Construction Concludes (September 2020)
April & May 2020: A Slightly Longer Pause (June 2020)
Construction Now On Halt After A Productive February & March (April 2020)
Building the Box Office & Snow Much Happened (February 2020)
Lights! Patio! Box Office! (January 2020)
Digging In (November 2019)
Closed for Construction (October 2019)
Changes at Caramoor (September 2019)
A House Refreshed (April 2019)
A Very, Very, Very Fine House (January 2019)

Inspire in the News

After 8 Years, Caramoor CEO Is Leaving (July 2020)
Caramoor Grounds Improvement Plan Moves Forward (Dec 2018)

Caramoor Composes Plan For Its Future (June 2018)

Caramoor Enters Final Phase of Ambitious Capital Campaign (June 2018)

Thank You to Our Donors

We thank the following leaders and donors for their part in making  Inspire: A Campaign for Caramoor’s Future a success.

Campaign Co-Chairs

Judy Evnin and Peter Kend