Arsenal Center for the Arts
Encyclopedia
The Arsenal Center for the Arts is a community
arts center
located in Watertown, Massachusetts
, USA, on the former property of the Watertown Arsenal
.
The centerpiece of the facility is the Charles Mosesian Theater, a 380 seat proscenium
theater
. The center also contains a black box theater
, classrooms, artist
's studio
s, and gallery
space. The center is home to the New Repertory Theatre as well as the Watertown Children's Theatre.
efforts which began in 1998 with the formation of Watertown Arts on the Charles, or WATCH.
In 1999, a market feasibility study commissioned by WATCH concluded that Watertown would be an ideal location for a multipurpose art center to service Watertown and the surrounding area. The site ultimately chosen for construction of the facility was building 321 of the former Army Materials Technology Laboratory in Watertown, a Superfund
site. O'Neill properties, who bought the Watertown Arsenal property from the town for $24 million in 1998, pledged 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) of space as well as $1 million towards construction costs.
Initially, the group estimated total construction costs to be in the range of $2.5 million to $4 million, however the final cost for the project ended up being in the area of $7.5 million. The funds for the center were raised mostly through community donations including $1 million from the town and a $1 million donation from local entrepreneur Charles Mosesian, for whom the center's main theater is named.
After years of fundraising and construction, the center finally opened in the Summer of 2005.
Community centre
Community centres or community centers or jumping recreation centers are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole community or for a specialised group within...
arts center
Arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for musical performance, workshop areas, educational...
located in Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
, USA, on the former property of the Watertown Arsenal
Watertown Arsenal
The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. Its site is now registered on the ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks and on the U.S.'s National Register of Historic Places, and it is home to the...
.
The centerpiece of the facility is the Charles Mosesian Theater, a 380 seat proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
theater
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. The center also contains a black box theater
Black box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
, classrooms, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
's studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
s, and gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
space. The center is home to the New Repertory Theatre as well as the Watertown Children's Theatre.
History
Plans for an art center in Watertown had begun as early as the 1970s, but not enough money was raised and the project was shelved for the time being. The center in its current form is the culmination of years of fund raisingFundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
efforts which began in 1998 with the formation of Watertown Arts on the Charles, or WATCH.
In 1999, a market feasibility study commissioned by WATCH concluded that Watertown would be an ideal location for a multipurpose art center to service Watertown and the surrounding area. The site ultimately chosen for construction of the facility was building 321 of the former Army Materials Technology Laboratory in Watertown, a Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site. O'Neill properties, who bought the Watertown Arsenal property from the town for $24 million in 1998, pledged 15000 square feet (1,393.5 m²) of space as well as $1 million towards construction costs.
Initially, the group estimated total construction costs to be in the range of $2.5 million to $4 million, however the final cost for the project ended up being in the area of $7.5 million. The funds for the center were raised mostly through community donations including $1 million from the town and a $1 million donation from local entrepreneur Charles Mosesian, for whom the center's main theater is named.
After years of fundraising and construction, the center finally opened in the Summer of 2005.