In March, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released new data that revealed a milestone for arts and cultural industries in 2022 as they contributed 4.3% of gross domestic product (GDP), or $1.1 trillion, to the U.S. economy. (Despite this, performing arts organizations, nongovernmental museums and arts-related construction were among the arts industries that have still not reached their pre-pandemic levels of economic value.)
One organization that is on an upward trajectory is the Pelham Art Center, which next year will celebrate 55 years of providing the town and surrounding communities with exhibits, classes and workshops for youth and adults in the visual arts and such wellness subjects as sound healing and meditation. The center also does outreach programs in the Pelham, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle schools. In all, it serves more than 16,000 each year.
“We are stable and on an upward climb,” said Bridget Bettke, the center’s managing director, who joined Hayley Ferber, its artistic and development director, in a recent interview with the Westfair Business Journal.
An example of that stability and growth: The center recently completed the $500,000 phase one of its capital campaign, which included upgrades to the 5,700-square-foot building’s two roofs, three HVAC and electrical systems, the plumbing, windows and outside awning. Plans for phase two have not yet been detailed.
In a sense, Bettke and Ferber said, the building and indeed the idea of the center itself owe their existence to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. To celebrate its centennial in 1970, The Met encouraged Junior League chapters in the area to create local arts events. A group of women and the Junior League of Pelham did just that with a two-day art and music festival, The Pelham Art Happening, which was held at Pelham Memorial High School every spring through 1974. A year later, the happening became a year-round arts center as it moved to a former bike repair shop and an adjacent empty storefront on Fifth Avenue, Pelham’s main thoroughfare.
In 1978, the Citgo (Cities Service Oil Co.) gas station and body shop leased its adjacent, vacated property to the Pelham Art Happening for $1, donating the building and corner lot to the arts organization two years later. The 1980s were a pivotal time for The Pelham Art Happening as a two-year capital campaign (1983-85) enabled it to renovate and expand the site. Thus, the Pelham Art Center was born. (The name was officially changed in 1987.)
Today, the center has an operating budget of $800,000, six full-time employees, a multipurpose gallery, two workshop studios, a media lab, a kiln, a gift shop, offices and a kitchen for events like its Nov. 10 celebration of Diwali, a festival of light that is a tradition among Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. Through Dec. 22, viewers can enjoy the “Art Boutique,” an exhibit featuring works by local artists and artisans. From Jan. 18 through Feb. 23, the center will present the “Faculty Exhibition: Rebirth, Renew, Revitalize.”
“Faculty Exhibition: Rebirth, Renew, Revitalize.” (Jan. 18 through Feb. 23).
“This theme was chosen to inspire fresh perspectives and celebrate the rejuvenation of both art and community,” Ferber said of a show spotlighting the center’s roughly 35-member faculty and January as a time of new beginnings. “We are excited to carefully curate this show to reflect the transformative power of these concepts.”
These exhibits (among the seven or eight the center presents yearly) and other offerings are supported by the its semiannual fundraisers, which bring in roughly $180,000, as well as the NEA, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, The New York Community Trust, ArtsWestchester, Westchester County, the town of Pelham, the Junior League of Pelham, The Castle Foundation in Pelham, the New York Council of Nonprofits Inc., the Youth Community Outreach Program in Mount Vernon and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.
Among the businesses and business organizations supporting the center are the Pelham Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of the Pelhams, Benchmark Education Co. (providing youth programming supplies), Compass real estate in Pelham, Davis & Ferber LLP, Dragno Landscaping, Meridian Risk Management Inc., Pacia Family Dental, Pencil Projects Architecture Studio PLLC and Sergio Ristorante.
The center also receives money from individuals and enrollment in its classes. Such funding enables the center not only to continue current projects but to work on such future goals as growing its membership and teen programs while also investing in artist development. Added Bettke: “We want to make the arts accessible to all.”
