The Sustain-Release festival, the members only techno weekender that has turned a Catskills summer camp into one of the most respected small festivals in the United States, is facing its first real question mark in more than a decade. Camp Kennybrook, the Monticello, New York property that has hosted the event since 2016, announced on Friday, September 18 that its owners have sold the site and are closing the camp after 61 summers. The news landed just five days after Sustain-Release wrapped its twelfth edition on the same grounds.
The announcement came from the Landman family, which has run Kennybrook as a family owned overnight camp for children since the mid 1960s, in a post on the camp’s Instagram account. Sustain-Release has not yet commented publicly, and Resident Advisor reports that it has reached out to the organisers.
What Camp Kennybrook said
The camp’s statement reads like a farewell letter rather than a business notice. The family wrote that there are some posts you never imagine having to make, and that after 61 summers it had taken the extraordinarily difficult decision to bring Kennybrook to a close. According to the post, an unexpected opportunity to sell the property arose at the end of August, after the 2026 camp season had finished. The family said it had not been pursuing or planning a sale, but after a great deal of thought decided to accept the offer.
“We believe it is the right decision for our family, but that does not make it easy,” the statement said, before thanking campers, parents, staff and alumni and describing the site as a place that came to matter to thousands of people for a very long time.
Two details matter for anyone who dances at Sustain-Release. First, the camp did not name the buyer or say what the land will become. Second, as of Sunday, September 20, Kennybrook’s own website still displayed 2027 session information and a registration button, which suggests the closure is recent enough that not every channel has caught up. House Music US has not been able to confirm who purchased the property or whether the new owner has any plans to keep renting it out for events.
Why the Sustain-Release festival depends on this site
Sustain-Release was founded in 2014 by producer and Mutual Dreaming promoter Aurora Halal together with Zara Wladawsky. The first two editions took place at Camp Lakota, another camp in upstate New York, before the festival moved to Camp Kennybrook for Year Three in 2016. It has stayed there for every edition since, with the exception of the pandemic year.
The format has barely changed in that time, and that is precisely the point. The festival has historically capped attendance at around 700 people, sells tickets through a membership system rather than the open market, houses guests in shared bunks and on site camping, and runs its main rooms inside the camp’s gyms and outdoor spaces. The FADER’s review of the second edition described a festival that shunned sponsorship, booked heavily from New York’s underground and left the site virtually spotless. That reputation has held. Sustain-Release is regularly cited as the model for how a small, artist led festival can survive in a US market dominated by large promoters.
All of that is tied to the geography of Kennybrook itself: more than 100 private acres about 90 minutes north of New York City, a freshwater lake, a heated pool, basketball courts that become afterparty floors, and cabins that can sleep hundreds. The camp’s own rentals page advertises capacity for up to 450 overnight guests and availability from mid August to mid October, which is exactly the window Sustain-Release has used every September. A festival built around a specific summer camp cannot simply move to a field. It needs another camp, with beds, with a kitchen, with a lake, within reach of the city, and with an owner willing to hand the keys to a techno crowd for four nights.
Year Twelve: the edition that may have been the last at Kennybrook
The twelfth edition ran from September 10 to 13, 2026, roughly a week before the sale was made public. The lineup was one of the strongest in the festival’s history. Aurora Halal played alongside DJ Nobu b2b DJ MARIA., livwutang, Verraco, james K, Joy Guidry, Byrell The Great, CCL b2b Yushh, DJ Healthy b2b JP, Roza Terenzi b2b D. Tiffany, Powder, Rhadoo, Sandwell District, Mala, deep creep and mad miran. Kangding Ray presented his live score of the film Sirāt, and Berlin party La Noche brought a takeover with Byron Yeates b2b S-candalo, PAURRO and Saia.
Nobody on site knew it at the time, but according to the Landman family the offer for the property had already arrived at the end of August. The festival went ahead with the sale still private, which means Year Twelve may go down as the final Sustain-Release at the camp that defined it, unless the new owner chooses to keep the arrangement.
Industry impact: the fragility of camp festivals
The story is bigger than one event. Camp based festivals have become one of the healthiest corners of the US underground precisely because they avoid the costs and permits of urban venues and the scale of commercial festival grounds. The trade off is total dependence on a single private landlord. When that landlord sells, the festival has no lease to fall back on and no venue of its own.
That vulnerability is not unique to the United States. Berlin’s scene spent the past year watching a new operator move into the former Watergate after the club closed, and the history of New York nightlife is full of rooms that vanished when the property changed owners, from the Palladium on East 14th Street to countless smaller spaces. Sustain-Release now joins that list of events whose future depends on a real estate transaction it did not control.
Fan reaction has been immediate. The Kennybrook announcement drew more than 1,900 likes and close to 400 comments within a day, and the Resident Advisor report published on Sunday morning pushed the story from camp alumni into the wider dance music community.
What happens next
Several things remain unconfirmed. Sustain-Release has not said whether it has a contract with the new owner, whether it has been contacted about 2027, or whether it is looking at alternative sites. Kennybrook has not disclosed the buyer. Until either party speaks, any suggestion that the festival is finished is speculation, and any suggestion that it will simply carry on at Kennybrook is equally unproven.
What can be said is this: the organisers have moved once before, from Camp Lakota to Kennybrook, and the festival’s identity has always been carried by its community and its booking rather than by a single building. The membership model also gives the team a direct line to its audience, which is a significant advantage if a relocation becomes necessary.
House Music US will update this story when Sustain-Release or Camp Kennybrook comment. For now, the festival that spent twelve years proving a summer camp could be the best club in America is waiting to find out whether it still has one.
Sustain-Release festival: frequently asked questions
Is Sustain-Release cancelled?
No. Nothing has been cancelled. The 2026 edition took place from September 10 to 13. What has changed is that Camp Kennybrook, the festival’s home since 2016, has been sold and is closing as a summer camp. The festival has not yet announced its plans for 2027.
Where is Camp Kennybrook?
Camp Kennybrook is in Monticello, New York, in Sullivan County in the Catskills, about 90 minutes north of New York City. It has operated as a family run overnight camp for 61 summers according to its owners, the Landman family.
Who bought Camp Kennybrook?
The buyer has not been named. The Landman family said an unexpected opportunity to sell arose at the end of August 2026 and that it accepted the offer after the camp season ended. No information about the property’s future use has been released.
Who runs the Sustain-Release festival?
Sustain-Release was founded in 2014 by Aurora Halal and Zara Wladawsky. It is an independent, members only festival of around 700 people that books techno, house and experimental electronic music, and it has historically refused outside sponsorship, according to a 2015 report by The FADER.
Has Sustain-Release ever changed venue before?
Yes. The first two editions in 2014 and 2015 were held at Camp Lakota in upstate New York. The festival moved to Camp Kennybrook in 2016 and has stayed there since.