New Arts Center featured in Thousand Islands Life Magazine
The Arts Center is embarking on a transformative journey for expansion. Retaining our beautiful 19th-century house on John Street, we are expanding to James Street, where a new museum and arts center will welcome visitors onto a campus that features galleries, classrooms, a pottery studio, a weaving studio, archives and library, as well as green space.
For nearly 60 years the Thousand Islands Arts Center has preserved the skills of traditional artists and provided year-round opportunities for visitors of all ages to engage with art and explore their creativity. Anyone who has attended a recent event or taken a class at the Arts Center has witnessed firsthand that we’ve outgrown our special, but small and aging, building at 314 John Street. While we all share a great affection for the 1890s house and “Home of the Handweaving Museum,” it can no longer support our thriving organization.
To support growing demand, a new museum is being built at 321 James Street (replacing the former home of Finders Keepers) and we plan to renovate and repurpose the John Street facility to more effectively support our mission (several possibilities are being considered, including an artist-in-residence program and an expanded Finders Keepers outlet).
The new James Street building and enhanced campus will enable us to celebrate how the thread of the past is woven into the present, forge new partnerships, attract new visitors and enrich lives for the next 50 years. The project features:
- Accessible and inspirational spaces for art experiences and creation that extend from John Street to James Street
- 13,000 sq. ft. facility and main entrance on James Street
- Expanded ADA compliant galleries and classrooms
- Interactive Pottery and Weaving Studios
- Sculpture Garden and Green Spaces
- A permanent home for the Handweaving Museum
The Arts Center Campus Project is made possible by a foundational $2,000,000 capital grant from New York State Council on the Arts, and a matching grant by an anonymous donor. With the design phase completed, demolition of the late 1890s house was done in the fall and construction is now underway and on schedule to be finished in the spring of 2026. We look forward to a Grand Opening Celebration in the summer of 2026.
A volunteer steering committee composed of dedicated trustees and supporters was formed in Spring 2023, and met weekly for 18 months as it carefully planned and reviewed all aspects of the project keeping functionality, sustainability, maintenance, and aesthetics top-of-mind. TIAC, along with its trusted partners Taylored Architecture of Clayton and Black Horse Construction Group of Watertown, have worked cooperatively to make the new Thousand Islands Arts Center ~ Home of the Handweaving Museum a wonderful addition to the art and culture landscape in Clayton.
Thank you for your past and future support of this very exciting and transformational project, not just for TIAC but the entire Thousand Islands region.
Gallery and retail space design concepts:
For questions or information related to the Capital Campaign, including naming opportunities and making a gift, please contact our campaign chair, Robin Gedney Lucas at (315)-430-9729 or Campaign@TIArtsCenter.org