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Nominees for the Storytelling Award of Distinction have demonstrated a unique perspective and ability to connect with visitors when sharing the site’s history, heritage and culture. Join Destination Dutchess in celebrating all the honorees at the 12th annual Destination Dutchess Awards of Distinction on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, at The Henry A. Wallace Center at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Home in Hyde Park. Read more about the event and purchase tickets here.
Read on to learn more about each Storytelling Award of Distinction finalist.
• Andrea Rhodes, Producer & Co-Founder, Tangent Theatre Company
• William P. Tatum III, PhD, Dutchess County Historian, Dutchess County Department of History (Poughkeepsie)
• David Toman, Executive Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (Beacon)
• Andrea Rhodes, Tangent Theatre Company: Tangent presents character-driven plays, including main-stage shows, a new plays festival and, most recently, our highly popular play readings. Performed in select intimate settings, actors read the plays with scripts in hand, with stage directions included to pull the story forward — it’s a unique theater experience. We perform in premier venues in the county…and we have the best audiences! Shows are always sold out, almost always free, with donations encouraged. Steady promotion and PR have ensured the local community and visitors alike know about our shows. Promoting local business has always been a passion of Tangent's. Cafes, restaurants and shops all benefit from visiting actors, community members, local audiences and/or out-of-town guests; in addition to our home base in Tivoli’s artsy village, we draw from many surrounding counties and beyond. Run by Andrea and Michael Rhodes, Tangent is a professional theater company in its 25th year; the ensemble was founded in New York City in 2000 and migrated to Tivoli in 2009. Tangent is a member of Arts Mid-Hudson, Tivoli Merchants + Artists, and the Red Hook Chamber of Commerce.
• William P. Tatum III, PhD, Dutchess County Department of History: Established by New York State Law and the Dutchess County Charter, the Department of History is responsible for coordinating the Dutchess County History Community, developing and delivering research-based programs, and conducting archival access projects in collaboration with Dutchess County Clerk Brad Kendall. The Department also partners with Destination Dutchess to connect visitors and residents with compelling stories from our 340 years of history.
• David Toman, Executive Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater: Hudson River Sloop Clearwater works to protect the Hudson River and steward the next generation of environmental leaders through education, advocacy, music, and sailing. We own and operate a historic 106-foot Hudson River sloop recognized as America’s Environmental Flagship, the only native historic tall ship left sailing these waters. In 2004, the sloop Clearwater was named to the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places for its groundbreaking role in the environmental movement.
Clearwater offers a wide range of opportunities to experience and learn about the Hudson River. Public sails invite individuals, families, and groups to raise the sails, take in the river’s beauty, and learn about tall-ship sailing and environmental issues, while private and corporate charters provide customizable experiences for parties, weddings, and team gatherings. Students engage with the river through hands-on, station-based, award-winning education programs exploring Hudson River ecology, history, and navigation, including shipboard Sailing Classroom voyages and our shoreside Tideline Discovery Program. Additionally, our teen Youth Empowerment Programs, Queerwater, Young Men and Young Women at the Helm foster leadership, teamwork, and connection to the river through immersive three-day, two-night experiences, and our Mariner and Shipwright Training Programs prepare young adults for career changing roles in sailing, ship maintenance, and environmental education. Clearwater has a long and enduring legacy of environmental advocacy that continues to this day. In 1970, Clearwater sailed to Washington, DC to deliver thousands of petition signatures in support of the Clean Water Act, and in the decades since advocated alongside Hudson River communities to achieve major victories, including the closure of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, and the statewide ban on hydrofracking. Today, Clearwater continues to champion a swimmable, fishable, and drinkable Hudson River by fighting for stronger environmental protections, infrastructure improvements, river access, and for restoration of the river from legacy contamination, and against emerging threats.
• Andrea Rhodes, Tangent Theatre Company: Art matters. And one of the oldest art-forms — performing plays — is what brings us together, lets us share one-of-a-kind experiences and stretches our imaginations. Engaging and compelling stories are the foundation of our work. With quality talent, we are able to share known or lesser-known plays with our audience, which allows them (or almost requires them) to lean in a bit more. Combined with the location of our shows, it becomes a complete cultural experience. We currently pop up at iconic locations in Dutchess County! Tivoli’s Village Hall, Rhinebeck’s Upstate Films, Pine Plains' The Stissing Center and Millerton’s The Moviehouse have been favorites.
• William P. Tatum III, PhD, Dutchess County Department of History: Through our primary source research, digging into maps, deeds, court records, newspapers, and other historical material, we identify compelling stories that have been lost to time. Through programming, including our flagship Tavern Trail series, we present these stories in a manner calculated to appeal to diverse audiences and to increase general interest in Dutchess County's past. We are now seeking to connect our attendees with the many untold stories of Dutchess County’s experience of the American Revolution during this 250th anniversary cycle of our nation’s founding.
• David Toman, Executive Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater: We share the story of Clearwater’s history and mission in a variety of ways. Our Generations Stories chronicle the experiences of our volunteers, crew, and program participants across the years, capturing the immense impact of Clearwater made possible through the efforts of our community. We also share our stories on social media, our website, and our emails by highlighting the unique beauty of and threats to the Hudson River, while also celebrating our community, sharing the life and times of the crew, and inviting people to get involved. We use these platforms to educate about environmental issues, amplify community voices, promote events, and show the impact of Clearwater’s work connecting people to the river and to one another. Clearwater also incorporates storytelling into our programming, telling the story of our history and founders through music. Each sail includes music-centered storytelling about our history, and our annual Folk Picnic is a return to our roots of the community folk picnic fundraisers organized by Pete and Toshi Seeger and their co-founders to fund the construction of Clearwater. Nearly 60 years later, Clearwater is carrying our musical heritage forward with a free, community-centered day of music, celebration, family activities, and Hudson River advocacy. We also host various other music and concerts celebrating the history and legacy of Clearwater.
• Andrea Rhodes, Tangent Theatre Company: We are at a turning point for Tangent. We once had a small theater space in Tivoli, but had to give it up during the pandemic. We love the venues we now perform in; it would be great to have our own space again. This, of course, points to funding and increased support. Audiences, businesses and select foundations have been loyal — and generous. We'd like to see all this grow so we can either keep the current model going or expand to a more permanent or semi-permanent home. We've learned audiences are hungry. Our brand of storytelling has resonated deeply with followers (and new faces coming into the fold). The arts are so important right now — and we’ll do our part to bring great stories to life.
• William P. Tatum III, PhD, Dutchess County Department of History: Our biggest challenge has been breaking through the colonial revival box to reach our public audiences where they are: outside the doors of lecture halls and usually not thinking about the past at all. Through trial-and-error combined with careful reflection, we have developed a model that answers the “so what” questions of the story’s overall significance and keeps attendees coming back for more. Through this process, the Tavern Trail has played a vital role in shaping our understanding of what elements of Dutchess County’s deep past most appeal to current audiences.
• David Toman, Executive Director, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater: The biggest challenge we face in telling our stories is limited capacity. Like any other resource, time and space on communications calendars are finite. We focus on sharing authentic moments of connection, from a class of children raising the 3,500 mainsail, to a student touching a fish for the first time, and the experience of our onboard volunteers. Sharing the experiences of the Clearwater community from our crew, to Paddle for Hudson participants, to students, and volunteers makes our efforts tangible in a way statistics cannot. These glimpses into the power of the sloop make our work personal, fostering deep and meaningful connections to Clearwater and the Hudson River.
Clearwater intends long-term to increase our Communications capacity to help us reach new audiences and reconnect with more of the thousands of people across the region who sailed with us as students over the decades. We recently adopted a new Business Model Plan charting a course to grow our community of members, donors, sponsors and partnerships to allow us to continue to grow Clearwater’s impact and better serve our mission and the communities of the Hudson Valley.
