Our New Campus: A Dream Becoming Reality In The Summer of 2026!
In August 2024, the Arts Center broke ground on a new 13,000 sq. ft. facility located at 313-321 James Street, after securing a $2 million angel investment and a $2 million matching grant from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Thanks to dedicated private donors and foundations – including the wonderful Northern New York Community Foundation – we’ve already raised an astounding $6.5 million!
Join us in Weaving Our Future Together! Every gift, no matter the size, fuels this vibrant vision. Your passion makes our campus thrive.
Campus Capital Campaign Support
Step Up For The Arts! Paver Campaign
The Future of Arts in the Thousand Islands
Our new Arts Center and Museum, scheduled to open in 2026, will dramatically expand our campus. This is more than just a new building; it’s a commitment to the cultural vibrancy of the Thousand Islands region.
The Arts Center already offers year-round exhibitions and boasts a world-renowned collection of over 20,000 handwoven textiles and a library of over 2,250 titles that attracts researchers from across the country. We also host over 90 classes annually, engaging children with after-school arts programs and summer camps.
Our new campus will profoundly strengthen our community. It will be a vibrant, welcoming space where locals and visitors of all ages can connect, be inspired by art, and truly feel they belong.
Imagine:
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Expanded access to all your favorite programs, from pottery to painting, fiber arts to photography.
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A permanent handweaving exhibit, complemented by dedicated storage, a library, and a research area to celebrate the only museum in the country devoted to handwoven textiles produced in the United States.
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An exciting new venue with a welcoming entrance on James Street, directly increasing our foot traffic and community engagement!
This expansion directly addresses the surging demand for arts and culture in our area while also enhancing our sustainability and reducing our energy footprint. By investing in this project, we are building a more creative and sustainable future for everyone.
Gallery and retail space design concepts moving closer to reality:
More Than Just a Building – It’s Community Enrichment
The Arts Center offers year-round exhibitions and boasts a world-renowned collection of over 20,000 handwoven textiles and a library of over 2,250 titles that attracts researchers from across the country. We host over 90 classes annually, engaging children with after-school arts programs and summer camps.
Our new campus will profoundly strengthen our community. It will be a vibrant, welcoming space where locals and visitors of all ages can connect, be inspired by art, and truly feel they belong.
Arts Center Expansion: By The Numbers
Since 2020, we have been working with the community to make our vision of a new arts center a reality. After adopting a Strategic Plan in 2022, a dedicated steering committee spent 18 months designing a new facility to meet our community’s needs. We broke ground on our 13,000 sq. ft. new facility in August 2024.
Our initial fundraising goal has grown from $6 million to $10.4 million. This revised number reflects not only a 30% increase in construction costs, but also our exciting opportunity to expand our campus with the donation of the adjacent property at 313 James Street. The revised goal also includes our commitment to establishing an endowment to secure the Arts Center’s future.
This total goal includes:
- $7.7 million for the construction of the new museum and arts center at 321 James Street.
- $1.5 million to create a vest pocket park and make improvements to our historic home and pottery studio at 314 John Street.
- $1.2 million to establish an endowment, ensuring the organization’s stability for the next 60 years and beyond.
Our progress to date shows our community’s commitment. In September 2025, we announced a $227,000 grant from the National Park’s Save America’s Treasures Grant Program, bringing our total commitments to $7 million.
Growing Our Operations
The summer of 2025 was not just about fundraising, but also about preparing for our expanded operations. We have made important staffing and procedural enhancements to prepare for the growth ahead. Our financial projections show a clear path to sustainability, projecting our annual operating revenue to increase from $440,000 in 2025 to over $600,000 by 2028. By expanding our classrooms and relocating our main entrance, we can meet the growing demand for our programming, including new offerings for teens, young families, and retirees.
