Gateways Woodstock: Overview and History of the Commune

Nemes Z. Márió

2026/06/23

The Gateways Foundation, also known as Woodstock ’99 or simply Gateways, was a short-lived intentional community founded in 1999 by Aaron Pinsky and his wife in New York state’s Catskill Mountains. The commune’s experiment aimed to create an alternative society based on shared resources, communal living, and collective decision-making.

Early History and Formation

Aaron Pinsky, an artist and musician himself, had previously been involved with various communes throughout the United States before deciding to start his own woodstock.casino community in 1998. With a focus on artistic expression and counterculture values, he drew inspiration from earlier communal experiments like Woodstock ’69. Pinsky envisioned Gateways as a thriving arts community where artists could live together, create, and share their skills without external influences or competition.

After scouting various locations in the northeastern United States, Pinsky purchased an abandoned 90-acre farmhouse near Rosendale, New York. The site featured existing structures such as barns, silos, and outbuildings that would serve as primary housing for Gateways’ initial residents.

The Concept of Communal Living

At its core, Woodstock was designed around principles of communal living and shared ownership. Upon arrival, members contributed to the foundation’s operating funds based on their individual skills or talents in exchange for a basic standard of living, including housing, food, clothing, education, healthcare, and more.

Key aspects of this model included:

• Sharing Economy: Members participated in farm-based activities (such as organic farming) and provided goods for communal use. This reduced costs while emphasizing self-sufficiency.
• Participatory Decision Making: Residents engaged in group discussions to make collective decisions about property management, resource allocation, and policy implementation, minimizing external authority structures.
• Interconnectedness: Gateways encouraged personal relationships among residents through shared workspaces, arts initiatives (such as music performances), communal celebrations, etc.

Daily Life at Woodstock

New arrivals typically went through a process called ‘Introduction to Gateways.’ This comprehensive overview outlined the commune’s principles and expectations. Daily routines included chores such as gardening, cleaning, kitchen tasks, or helping maintain the property. Each resident could choose their primary activities according to their personal interests and skills.

Artistic collaborations played an essential role in communal life; residents would participate in workshops, learn new crafts, perform music concerts, create paintings, sculpturing art pieces etc. These events not just helped strengthen social bonds but allowed each individual to flourish creatively within a collaborative environment.

Financial Support

The community members contributed financial resources through:

• Skill-based trades: Providing their specialized skills as part of the overall labor pool.
• Sharing Economy Income: Receiving payment in goods or services rather than cash for work done, allowing Gateways’ internal trading mechanism to grow and develop over time.
• Donations from Friends and Supporters : Those interested in contributing could give gifts towards operational costs.