g program for drug addicts; in the 1960s, it led in helping to found a nationwide network of Protestant and Jewish clergy who aided women who needed abortions before abortion became legal. In the 1970s, the church operated a residence for runaway teens and established a Professional Women's Clinic for women engaged in prostitution; in the 1980s, it helped provide medical resources for people with AIDS.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the church's clergy operated a relief fund for the families of restaurant workers who were killed during the September 11, 2001, attacks of New York City's World Trade Center. Now, the church is active in the New Sanctuary Movement for immigrant rights.
- Early community outreach
Verne E. Henderson joined the Judson staff in 1952 as its first Director of Community Service. A program for youth of the village – started originally by the Police Athletic League of New York City – blossomed under Henderson's leadership with more than two hundred youth attending one or more weekly events. Many youth were hard-core delinquents and drug users. Henderson appeared in courts on behalf of those facing legal action and began summer youth programs in upstate New York and Vermont. Henderson also inaugurated programs for local artists, remodeling the sanctuary for art shows and refurbishing abandoned offices as living quarters for resident artists. Henderson once invited Martha Graham to use the sanctuary for dress rehearsals, which eventually led to formation of the Judson Dance Theatre.
Sponsorship of the arts
Beginning in the 1950s, the church supports a radical arts ministry, first led by associate pastor Bernard Scott and subsequently by associate pastor Al Carmines. The church made space available to artists for art exhibitions, rehearsals, and performances. The church also assured that this space was to be a place where these artists could have the freedom to experiment in their work without fear of censorship. In 1957, the church offered gallery space to Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine and Robert Rauschenberg, who were then unknown artists. In 1959, the Judson Gallery showed work by pop artists, Tom Wesselmann, Daniel Spoerri, and Red Grooms. Yoko Ono also had her work exhibited at the gallery.
The Judson Dance Theater, which began in 1962, provided a venue for dancers and choreographers including Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Steve Paxton, David Gordon and Yvonne Rainer to create and show their work. Among others, these dancers and choreographers shaped dance history by creating postmodern dance, the first avant-garde movement in dance theater since the modern dance of the 1930s and 1940s. For the past several decades, Movement Research has presented concerts of experimental dance at the church on Monday evenings during the academic year.
In the 1970s, the church hosted various art shows and multimedia events. Most notable among these multimedia events was the People's Flag Show in November 1970, a six-day exhibition of painting and sculpture on the theme of the American flag. The exhibit and the accompanying symposium, featuring speeches by Abbie Hoffman and Kate Millet, attracted widespread attention from the public, the press and the police. During the final days of the exhibit, three of the contributing artists were arrested, both pastors (Moody and Carmines) were issued summons (not followed up), and the District Attorney closed the exhibit on charges of desecration of the American flag.
The Judson Poets' Theatre started in November 1961 – with a play by poet Joel Oppenheimer – as one of three off-off-Broadway venues (the others were Caffe Cino and La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club). Experimental plays and musicals by later-famous authors and directors, including Sam Shepherd, Lanford Wilson and Tom O'Horgan, were presented in the church's main Meeting Room. Starting in the late 1960s, Carmines began writing and producing his own musicals, and later, "oratorios" that used large volunteer choruses. Especially notable were several shows using texts by Gertrude Stein, music by Carmines, with d