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 Theatre Writing program. Liv writes, produces, directs, and performs in musicals and variety shows across the country, in addition to working with young people of all ages.
As a lyricist/bookwriter, Liv's musical, Vanishing Point, written with collaborator Rob Hartmann and Scott Keys (both NYU alums), is produced at venues across the country, including the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis, Grand Central Theatre in Santa Ana, CA, and American Stage Theatre in St. Petersburg, FLA (2012). Liv's second collaboration with Hartmann and Keys, Wild Blue - a musical revue exploring the magic and mystery of flight throughout the years - was commissioned by Dayton, Ohio's Human Race Theater as a part of Dayton's 100-year celebration of the Wright Brothers. With Sandy McKnight, Liv co-wrote the musical comedy The Big One, exploring a group of struggling songwriters in L.A., which Liv directed in 2011 at Columbia Greene Community College, with future productions on the horizon.
Liv directs performing arts workshops for young people ages 8-16, including a popular summer program she and McKnight run at Hudson Valley Community College in collaboration with Columbia Arts Team. At the college level, Liv has taught playwriting, screenwriting, English Composition, literature, and theater courses at Marist College, Berkshire Community College and Hudson Valley Community College. She is currently on the faculty at Lesley College in Cambridge, MA.
Liv is also a singer/songwriter. 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," 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 flex her writing, directing and performing muscles all at the same time. She enjoys collaborating with consummate pros like John Wallace and Andrew Joffe -- not to mention her joyful partner Christina Dellea, and her most talented hubby, Sandy McKnight. Her favorite role is Marilyn Monroe, whom she plays with great reverence and love, and a twinkle in her eye.
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 various choirs, choruses and as a soloist in churches, at weddings and other events.
Christina is a co-founder of Columbia Arts Team, Inc. (a 501 (c) 3 not for profit performing arts organization), that promotes original work, and the arts in Columbia County and surrounding environs. She produces CAT shows, and sings often in them. She's also deeply involved in her community and church activities.
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 soon joined the school chorus, and the liturgical choir at church. 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 traveled to begin doing studio work, which eventually brought her to Los Angeles for several years, and then back to New York.
She has been performing throughout the Berkshires and Hudson Valley at festivals, clubs, church events, and private parties. Her solo CDs called "The Songs I Sing", and "Music In Me" are available in stores, and on cdbaby.com. They have been described in style as easy listening-adult contemporary pop.
Her CDs "Roe Jan Valley" and "The Hills of Berkshire County" (both by Us Too, with Joel Goldstein) are also available in stores and at cdbaby.com. Christina is currently working on a spiritual compilation of songs to be released in 2013.
Christina lives in Columbia County with her husband Phillip. You can also check out what Christina is up to on columbiaartsteam.org
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.