Insiders Westchester Group

This group gets out to local points of interest, preferably the kinds of behind-the-scenes places where we need an insider contact to help set up the visit, though we also get organized tours at museums etc. Email group head Bob Clyatt to get on the announcements list for future trips.

Members are encouraged to make suggestions of future trips and volunteer as co-leads to help organize/coordinate events.

Past trips: Storm King Sculpture Park, Bruce Museum, New York Blood Center, Rye Port Chester Rye Brook EMS, Isamu Noguchi Museum, Stamford Planetarium, Frick Museum, William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation, Save the Sound Laboratory.

If you are not already getting emails for this group, please email bob@clyattsculpture.com and ask to be put on the list.

Plans in the works for the 2026-27 season:

Purchase Street Pub Crawl- Thurs December 10,
4pm The Pub
5pm Ruby’s
6pm+ BareBurger and people can stay on for dinner if they want

Frank Lloyd Wright homes visit- either Usonia or Lake Mahopac

Factory Tour- local stone carving business

United Nations- behind the scenes tour

Lion King backstage tour with one of the puppet engineers

INTRODUCTION LETTER SENT 5-16-25 TO INITIAL SIGNUP LIST

Thank you for signing up for events in the Insiders Westchester group. We are starting planning on a few events. This note is to thank you for signing up, and to get the ball rolling.

Any of us can suggest and/or lead a visit, so this is a definitely a group undertaking. I will try to keep all your ideas and suggestions, including this note, posted on the Insiders Westchester page on the Tuesdays at 10 website.

We have the first few outings being planned and will get detailed signup information out to you as soon as things are confirmed.

Our first planned event will actually be beyond Westchester, about an hour north of us up the thruway. A few of you asked if I could run a “sculptor-led tour” of Storm King, which is one of the biggest and best sculpture parks in the country. Tentatively scheduled for Friday June 27th, leaving Rye at 9:30am and returning around 3:00.

Our Save the Sound presenter Bill Lucey suggested a tour of their laboratory in Larchmont where water and shoreline samples are tested.

A few of you have suggested other ideas which now need fleshing out. One is to see if we can get on a cargo ship or other large commercial vessel while it is docked in NY Harbor. Another is to get inside Indian Point (could be difficult but we will try!), inside the aqueduct that brings water down from the Catskills (I know a guy who might be able to help) or inside factories, and municipal infrastructure such as waterworks, treatment plants etc. (Where do they monitor all the stoplights in New York City?)

Our general model will be: if you think something is interesting others likely will too, so probe your contacts for possible access and then speak with me for organizing/coordinating assistance. Ideally you can function as or recruit an Event Lead, managing attendance lists, entry access or tickets, legal releases if the location requires, carpooling, so the actual event and logistics go smoothly. Set a max attendance if needed and we will cut off and start a waitlist.

No set timetable but I would be happy if we had maybe ten events a year.

We are currently 20 people in this group but I’m confident we will grow. Forward this to guys you think will be interested. New people should email me to ensure they get added to the email list, at bob@clyattsculpture.com