The Story Behind 1969’s Woodstock Music Festival

Now regarded as one the most iconic cultural expressions of American society, the Woodstock festival of 1969 served to encapsulate the spirit of the 1960s counterculture movement. Despite Woodstock’s continued popularity 50 years after it was first held, the complexities that led to its creation and lasting social impacts are often overlooked. On this episode of A New York Minute In History, co-hosts Devin Lander and Lauren Roberts speak with author Mark Berger, Karen Quinn – the Senior Art Curator at the New York State Museum, art collector Arthur Anderson, and Wade Lawrence – the museum director of the Museum at Bethel Woods, about various aspects of Woodstock such as its lesser known origin story, its role as an emblem of counterculture, and it’s often-overlooked connection to the Woodstock Arts Colony.

The episode also includes a compilation of archival WAMC interviews with some of the performers and organizers of the 1969 Woodstock festival.