PEABODY — They say art is good for the soul; local officials hope it will also be a boost to downtown Peabody.
A new community art center, in the Heritage Industries building on Foster Street, will celebrate its grand opening tomorrow. Northeast Arc, a regional nonprofit that provides support and services to people with disabilities, is spearheading the effort.
"We're envisioning this building will be very lively," said Susan Ring Brown, grants manager for Northeast Arc, which partnered with the city of Peabody and several local organizations to bring the new center to downtown.
In addition to a rotating gallery showing work by local artists, the art center will host a variety of classes, in everything from pottery to painting, jewelry making, drumming and a whole lot more. Eventually, the center will offer morning classes for retirees, after-school programs for children, and evening and weekend classes for working adults.
"We really see this as being a vibrant part of downtown," Ring Brown said. "We're hoping that when people come downtown to visit the gallery, they eat dinner at a local restaurant. We want to help be a part of the downtown's economic development."
The gallery's inaugural exhibit, "Visions of the Past," will feature work from four local artists — everything from intricate models of Civil War-era ships to modern photographs and colorful portrait collages.
The art center will share space with Northeast Arc's Heritage Chair Caning Co. and shredding and recycling businesses.
Northeast Arc began focusing on art about five years ago when it created ArcWorks, a program that helps artists with disabilities display their work and hone their skills. The program is headquartered at the agency's main offices in Danvers, where artwork is displayed and where local artists come once a month to teach art classes to residents.
The program has had a profound effect on clients and staff.
"I'm not an artist — I can't even draw a straight line — but this program has become more than a job for me," said Suzanne Ryan, co-director of ArcWorks. "It's really changed a lot of people's lives. They are more confident, their work is shown in exhibits, there has been coverage in the newspapers. ... They see themselves differently."
From the start, one of their goals has been to have an inclusive community art center, "where everyone could be together, people with disabilities and without," Ryan said.
That vision took a leap forward in 2009 when Northeast Arc teamed with a slew of local institutions to form the Peabody Cultural Collaborative, with a goal of strengthening "the emerging downtown cultural district to benefit local arts and historic organizations, residents, and businesses," according to the group's website.
Around the same time, Northeast Arc moved many of its vocational programs out of its building on Foster Street and into its Danvers location. The move freed up space for a gallery and studio.
Renovations to the Foster Street building — which was built in 1940 and was once Peabody's post office — began last fall and cost about $75,000.
Last summer, the organization got a $6,500 grant from the city's community preservation fund to restore a 1940 mural by Waldo Pierce, "Old Bull Pen." It now adorns the main gallery at the new art center.
"We've really come a long way in the last year," Ryan said. "It's been incredible."
If you go
What: Grand opening and art exhibit for ArcWorks Community Art Center
When: 5 to 8 p.m. tomorrow
Where: 22 Foster St., Peabody
More information: 978-624-2318
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