Rye Arts Center Turns 50

The Rye Arts Center turns 50 this year and is celebrating the milestone with an elegant bash.

The center will celebrate its Golden Jubilee by holding a fundraising event entitled, Going Gold: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration. The event will take place at the center's location on Milton Road today from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

The center, which was founded in 1960 by five Rye families, has sought to encourage interests and participation in the arts in Westchester for the last half century.

The center has had a humble and interesting history. Its first headquarters was a neighborhood barn, but since then the center has relocated a handful of times–once even residing over the Woolworth store in Rye.

In 1987, thanks to a $1.2 million dollar renovation campaign, the center merged with the Rye Performing Arts Council and presently occupies a 13,250 square foot facility at 51 Milton Road. 

What began as studio art classes for local adults is now a multidisciplinary arts education program serving over 30 towns in Westchester and Fairfield counties.

 "We've gone from five families to 17,000 people" said Beth Cafferkey, the Center's Development Coordinator.  

The center offers a myriad of classes and workshops in the visual, performing, media and literary arts.  The Center also specializes in unique programs such as Suzuki violin, fashion illustration, memoir writing, and digital filmmaking. 

"Not only are we focused in providing quality art programs, but we are also very interested in outreach.  We have a vigorous arts and education program.  What started as a singular vision has expanded," Cafferkey said.

One such program is the nationally affiliated Port Chester Head Start. Rotating groups of Port Chester schoolchildren arrive at the center four times per week and participate in art-enrichment and art-appreciation classes. 

The Rye Arts Center operates on an annual budget of $850,000 that is supported by public and private funds and the individual efforts of its membership. 

The recession has proved to be difficult for many non-profit arts organizations, including the center. Although the level of giving declined in 2009, the Center was able to keep all programming and scheduled events in place by focusing on alternative sources of revenue and by delaying facility improvements.

Executive Director Peggy Hill is optimistic about the Art Center's future. "The biggest vision that we have is to continue what we do and to do it better. We seek to meet the needs of the community.  And that is what has shaped us from the very beginning."

Hill stresses that feedback from Arts Center members plays an integral role in planning events and programs. "We give the community what they want. Right now there's a buzz going on about community theatre."  As a result, Hill said the center is discussing the possibility of a black box theatre.

One of the Art Center's most successful endeavors has been the annual Painters on Location exhibition, where professional artists capture scenic sights of the Sound Shore area. Hill embraces education as a critical element of these shows.

"It's all a learning process in the gallery. When we show an artist there has to be at least three artists as a comparative," she said. "It acts as an educational experience so you can see how different artists view something in a completely unique way."

Next up at the Arts Center Gallery is the exhibition Student Studio, which will showcase emerging high school talent. 

"We have 18 high schools each nominate three students who are not formally trained, so they're thinking out of the box," Hill said. "It's our most contemporary show that we have and it's so inspiring.  This is the future of art.  It's a feel good moment and a feel good show."

Hill predicts that the Center will "keep evolving, finding the best possible quality, and allowing all of our constituents to go as far as they want in the genre that they've chosen."

The Rye Art Center's annual fundraiser, Going Gold: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2010, at 6:30 p.m.

The Art Center's upcoming gallery exhibition is Student Studio: Emerging High School Talent.  The opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 11, 6:00-7:30 pm, and the show will run from Thursday, March 11 – Wednesday, March 24, 2010.

For more information, contact: (914) 967-0700.