Those not familiar with the rivertowns area of Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson and Irvington may think they would have to travel to New York City to experience live dance, theater, music ,or witness the visual arts or see hard to find films.

They would be wrong.

RiverArts, a shortened title for the Rivertowns Arts Council, has been providing a wide array of arts programs since the 1960s. With a staff of only two part-time employees, hard working volunteers also help to keep the organization running smootlhly. Recently, co-presidents Tracy Calvan and Carol Hayward, along with marketing chair Robin Zane, discussed the non-profit organization’s history and programs.

Hayward said her organization has been in existence for 47 years. It was “a small community arts organization that started on the front porches in the summer, with a group of people who were, in large measure, artists, including Bonnie Bird, who was a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company,” Hayward said.

“It was a group of parents, really, who wanted to have summer arts activities and poetry readings and drawing classes and dancing for their kids,” she explained.

“We’ve changed. We’ve grown from being a one-village organization, that was Hastings,” Hayward said, noting RiverArts expanded to four villages in 1997. “Our mission really is to produce quality arts programming and education to all sectors of the community.”

Two of the organization’s biggest annual events are its annual dance concert and Open Studio Tour. This year’s dance concert is scheduled for May 15 at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry.

RiverArts is hopeful of a “back by popular demand” performance by former Graham colleague Pascal Rioult, whose eponymous company performed at the RiverArts May 2009 concert.

“The dance performance is one of a number of signature events that we have every year,” Calvan said. “And the other signature event that we have every year is the Arts Studio Tour that also happens in the spring.”

The tour, which is in its 17th year in 2010, involves several local artists from the rivertowns area and has grown significantly since its inception. Calvan said last year 64 artists were represented.

“Those people all open up their studios,” she said, noting RiverArts distributes maps it has created of all the studios taking part in the weekend program. The event provides local artists with an opportunity to “show their work, sell their work.”

Many of those who open their studios for the tours “are world class artists,” Hayward said. This year’s Studio Tour is slated for the weekend of April 24 and 25.

RiverArts has been so active in the local arts because of the many artists who have donated their efforts for the organization. Calvan said the rivertowns is an area with “a lot of artists, media professionals, visual artists, dancers (and) writers have historically gravitated. And to use that resource and to bring other people from inside of our region to come and see and witness what they produce is really our goal.”

Zane said there was a logical reason why so many creative people reside in the Rivertowns.

“Part of it has to with an extension, perhaps, of moving out of New York City,” Zane said. “Hastings started as a cultural center because it was the first town past Riverdale.”

“A lot of people migrated north and wanted a little bit of country life with close proximity to the city,” Zane said.

“It’s really an extension of the Upper West Side for many,” Calvan added.

You do not need to go to the Upper West Side, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Lincoln Center or anywhere else in the city to experience the arts. Just stay home in the rivertowns.

For more information, go to www.riverarts.org or call (914) 476-2321