Mission Statement
COLUMBIA ARTS TEAM (CAT), INC. is dedicated to showcasing new work by local performing artists and writers in the northern Hudson Valley region. CAT also provides educational and performing opportunities for young people and adults. CAT's programs are accessible and affordable to all, regardless of income, bringing people together and enriching their lives and communities through the performing arts.
CAT Founder Bios
SANDY McKNIGHT
Producer/Writer/Musician/Teacher
A 40-year veteran of the music business, Sandy has been a producer, a songwriter, a musician and a solo artist. Starting out in Brooklyn with garage bands, he went on as a bassist to play everything from jazz fusion to disco, metal to pop, and by the late 70s had developed his signature powerpop sound. Beginning in the 80s, he began producing young up-and-coming acts, and lived not only in New York City, but also London, Los Angeles, and finally Hudson, NY, an area he's been in intermittently since 1971. For years, he has been involved in advancing the indie music scene, with his label, '22 records', and by producing such annual events as the Hudson Valley Songfest and the Capital Area Indie Fest. As a writer, he has had his work seen on TV, film and stage. He's the head writer of the long running live variety/sketch comedy show 'Saturday Night Liv'. His memoirs of his experiences at 1969's Woodstock Festival were recently published in a book called 'Woodstock Revisited'.
A retrospective 66-song box set of his best songs, called 'How I Changed the World', was recently released to rave reviews. His songs have been covered by numerous artists, and both his renditions as well as recordings by other artists are featured on the album. His songs can often be heard on television, in films, and on the radio.
Find Sandy's work online: CDBaby.com.
LIV CUMMINS
Theater Artist/Director/Performer/Educator
Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Liv is an alum of Skidmore College, as well as New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theater Writing program. Liv writes, produces, directs, and performs in musicals and variety shows across the country, in addition to working with young people at colleges and in theater programs.
As a lyricist/bookwriter, Liv's new musical, Vanishing Point, written with collaborator Rob Hartmann and Scott Keys (both NYU alums), has been produced at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis and the Grand Central Theatre in Santa Ana, CA. Liv teamed up with Hartmann and Keys again in June of 2003 to write lyrics for Wild Blue, a musical revue exploring the magic and mystery of flight throughout the years. This show was commissioned by Dayton, Ohio's Human Race Theater as a part of Dayton's 100-year celebration of the Wright Brothers. She and partner, Sandy McKnight, commissioned by Russell Sage College in Troy, NY to write a new musical produced in March, 2005, created a piece about a college student who is contemplating plastic surgery, exploring themes of self-image, self-esteem and the relationship between physical and inner beauty. At Columbia-Greene Community College, she and McKnight co-wrote the musical comedy The Big One, which Liv directed in spring 2006, and they enthusiastically followed up this production with another show in '07, Sweet, Sour, & Salty, an original musical trilogy, featuring a mix of college students and well-known local actors.
As an educator, Liv works with young people ages eight through twenty-two: at the college level, she has taught writing, songwriting and acting/writing for television at Marist College, Berkshire Community College and Hudson Valley Community College. Recently, she directed a production of Once Upon a Mattress at Marist, which incorporated a 22-piece orchestra. She works in New York City public schools, through organizations including TADA!, Broadway Theater Institute, and the Elaine Kaufman Center for the Arts at Lincoln Center, guiding young people to create and perform their own musical theater pieces. Liv and McKnight also run a program at the Phoenix Academy in Westchester, where they lead a playwriting/theater program for drug-addicted teens.
Liv also writes and performs her own folk-pop songs, and records albums and tours locally and nationally with her band. Her first album, "Some Days," was played on over 65 stations nationally. She was the subject of a piece on NPR's "All Things Considered," and has performed at top venues across the country, including The Egg in Albany (with Livingston Taylor), Margaritaville in New Orleans and The Bitter End in NYC. Her most recent CD, "...exactly," has received great reviews and international interest. Her music is available on the web at CDBaby.
Liv loves her work with the variety show Saturday Night LIV because she gets to write, direct and perform at the same time. She enjoys collaborating with consumate pros like Prudence Theriault, John Wallace, and Andrew Joffe -- not to mention her joyful partner Christina Dellea, and her most talented hubby, Sandy McKnight.
CHRISTINA DELLEA
Christina MG Dellea is well known in the Roe Jan (NY) / Berkshire (MA) area as a versatile and exceptional vocalist with an intrinsic ability to harmonize. Specializing in pop/folk music, performs with Pop!ternatives and Harmony & Heart. She also sings with her praise trio Faith, Hope & Love as well as various choirs, choruses and as a soloist in churches, at weddings and other events.
Christina recently formed the Columbia Arts Team, Inc. with partners Liv Cummins and Sandy McKnight, to promote the arts in Columbia County and surrounding environs. She produces CAT's Coffeehouse Concert series, which presents a variety of music in the summer months; and co-produces other CAT shows. She's also deeply involved in her community and church.
Christina was born and raised in Tarrytown, a suburb of New York City. Coming from a musical family, and never being shy, it wasn't any surprise to hear her passionately sing at the age of four. She also played the saxophone at an early age, eventually making all county/all state levels. Singing was still the focus so she decided to add hand percussion to her act. After graduation, she began doing studio work, which brought her to Los Angeles for several years.
She has been performing throughout the Berkshires and Hudson Valley at festivals, clubs, church events, and private parties, and lives in Columbia County with her husband, Phillip. Her CDs "Roe Jan Valley" and "The Hills of Berkshire County" (both by Us Too, with Joel Goldstein), and "The Songs I Sing" (an eclectic pop compilation of originals, and favorites from the 70's) are available in local stores.
Her newly released solo CD-"Music In Me" (featuring pop originals with a couple of well known favorites) is also now available.
CDs are available at:
- Copake Pharmacy Copake, NY
- Passiflora Hillsdale, NY
- Earth Foods Cafe Hudson, NY
- Oblong Books Millerton, NY
- Tune Street Great Barrington, MA
- The Music Store Great Barrington, MA
- Yours, Mine & Ours Pittsfield, MA
- Online CDBaby.com, iTunes Store, and more
How Did CAT Come to Be?
IN 2002, collaborators Liv Cummins and Sandy McKnight of Copake began producing Saturday Night LIV (hosted by Liv Cummins), a live variety show featuring a talented, eclectic group of local actors, musicians and variety performers. They performed in Hudson at the Pleshakov Music Center on Warren Street and then added shows at North Pointe Cultural Arts Center in Kinderhook. The show began to gain a following and much publicity; local singer Christina Dellea of Hillsdale heard about the show from the papers and friends who talked about how funny it was. In 2004, Liv and Sandy finally met and began working with Christina, who was producing a coffeehouse concert series in Copake. The three identified the need for more performing arts opportunities for the talented local artists they worked with, in addition to educational programs for young people in Columbia County, and wanted to combine their efforts. Thus, in 2004, Cummins, McKnight, and Dellea joined forces and formed Columbia Arts Team (CAT), a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation.
Since 2004, CAT has produced many comedy/variety shows featuring over 100 local performers; music coffeehouse concerts featuring local music acts; three new musicals written by Cummins & McKnight, two produced in coordination with Columbia-Greene Community College featuring student actors, and the other commissioned by Russell Sage College's Performing Arts Department; an annual Songwriting Workshop & Festival; and performing arts workshops for young people, including the holiday theater workshop for children and CAT Kids Spectacular.