Our service area:
The Hudson River Estuary bioregion
After 18 years based in NYC, in 2026 we expanded our service area: we continue to work at the mouth of the estuary in NYC, while also serving upriver municipalities in the Lower- and Mid-Hudson Valley and the Capital Region.
The bioregion we serve is the ancestral land of the Lenape, Mohican, and Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) peoples, who have stewarded this region for millenia. The Lenape refer to the estuary as Muhheakantuck, and the Mohican refer to it as Mahicannittuk – both words loosely translate to “river that flows two ways” or “waters that are never still.” The Mohawk refer to the estuary as Ka’nón:no, or “splints in the water”. Future River acknowledges that our bioregion carries a history of settler-colonial violence against the Lenape, Mohican, and Haudenosaunee people, and that legacies of displacement and dispossession continue to this day. We are committed to honoring and learning from our Indigenous neighbors through relationship-building, collaboration, and paid consultation.
About
Future River utilizes the tools of theater to envision and enact environmental justice in the Hudson River Estuary bioregion of New York.
We offer intergenerational programs, workshops, performances, and creative resources for collective decision-making and community empowerment. Through these offerings, Future River creates spaces for everyone to participate in defining a just, thriving future and navigate how we get there together.
We do this with a wide range of partners: community groups, environmental organizations, educators, students, artists, municipal leaders, scientists, policy-makers, and more. We amplify existing local initiatives while contributing new strategies to the abundance of good work in the region.
Our Core Values
Diversity (ecological and social)
Knowledge (Western and Indigenous science, ancestral and experiential knowledge)
Equity
Collaboration
Hope
Interspecies Kinship (as a worldview we strive for)
What is an “estuary bioregion”?
The Hudson River is a tidal estuary: the freshwater of the river mixes with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The tides start at New York City and reach as far north as Troy.
A bioregion is defined by natural boundaries like watersheds instead of human boundaries like county lines. So the Hudson River estuary bioregion includes the communities, land, and waters between New York City in the south, to Troy in the north, bounded by the Catskill Mountains to the west, and the Taconic range to the east.
What is an “estuary bioregion”?
What are “tools of theater”?
What is an “estuary bioregion”?
The Hudson River is a tidal estuary: the freshwater of the river mixes with the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean. The tides start at New York City and reach as far north as Troy.
A bioregion is defined by natural boundaries like watersheds instead of human boundaries like county lines. So the Hudson River estuary bioregion includes the communities, land, and waters between New York City in the south, to Troy in the north, bounded by the Catskill Mountains to the west, and the Taconic range to the east.
What is an “estuary bioregion”?
What are “tools of theater”?
Board of Directors
Lanxing Fu
Dr. Jamē McCray
Rad Pereira
Staff
Jem Pickard
Producing Director & founder
Jen Kwok
Managing Director
Megan Paradis Hanley
Grants Writer & School Program Director
Nalie Desrosiers
Associate Producer
Deepti Aravapalli
Communications Coordinator
Core Members
Nana Dakin
Alejandro Fajardo
Daniella
de Jesus
Juni Li
Clay Moodey
Jackie Rivera
How We Work
We currently operate under the shared leadership of four part-time staff members who work together as administrators and creative producers, with guidance and oversight from our “council of grandmothers” AKA board of directors. We work closely with consultants who manage our communications and further our development goals, and we collaborate regularly with a group of Core Members who co-lead our projects and programs and form the heart of our larger community.
