About Arts/Wayland

Wayland's arts community

About Arts/Wayland

On this page:

Introduction to Arts/Wayland
Membership Benefits
Mission Statement
A Brief History of Arts/Wayland

Introduction to Arts/Wayland

Arts/Wayland is made up of artists, art appreciators, students of the arts, and other individuals in the Wayland area interested in promoting the visual, performing, and literary arts at all levels in the community.

Membership Benefits

Arts/Wayland offers to its members several benefits:

Members Handbook. The Arts/Wayland Handbook lists all members, including their areas of interest, current board members, and numerous local resources such as exhibition spaces, galleries, museums, libraries, art instruction, and other local arts organizations.
Newsletters. Email newsletters are sent out periodically, and include calls for entries, reminders about upcoming events, and other announcements of interest to members.

Member shows. All Arts/Wayland members have the opportunity to participate in several group shows throughout the year.

Member news and links. Members can promote their shows and their web sites from this site.

Special events. Members are invited to participate in occasional member-only special events such as the monthly series of Artist Gatherings.

Community support. Members support and contribute to the vitality of the arts community in the Wayland area.

Ready to join? You can sign up online here!

Mission Statement

Arts/Wayland is dedicated to the promotion and encouragement of artistic expression in Wayland and surrounding communities.
By making exhibition space available in the Wayland Public Library and in other venues, we provide artists with the opportunity to show their work and to share their experience with other artists and the community at large.
Special events provide a means for exhibitors to discuss their work and to receive valuable input from others.
By sponsoring activities in conjunction with other organizations, Arts/Wayland hopes to broaden the interest and the exchange of ideas within the MetroWest area.
We welcome artists, photographers, musicians, individuals working in other media and people who are interested in supporting the arts to join Arts/Wayland.

A Brief History of Arts/Wayland

Arts/Wayland formed in 1980 when, due to a declining school population, Wayland's Loker School became available for community use. To qualify for the space, Arts/Wayland formed as a nonprofit educational organization. It rented about 75% of the school, using two classrooms for its teaching program, the school library for a gallery, and the auditorium for poetry readings, plays, lectures, slide shows, and musical performances. The school kitchen was equipped with kilns for use as a pottery studio, and the rest of the building became artists' studio space.

Arts/Wayland ran an annual Christmas Fair, and put on a big fundraiser each year to pay its teachers and to purchase equipment. It also ran a classroom program seven days a week, with subjects including painting, sculpting, drawing, pottery, enameling, and cartooning. It organized gallery shows, lecture series and museum trips. At its peak, the organization had 375 members, held 8 weekly classes, and provided 40 artists studios.

The Town reclaimed the building in 1989 when the school population expanded. Without a central facility, many Arts/Wayland artists left to find studio and exhibit space elsewhere. Since then Arts/Wayland has continued to organize member exhibits, primarily in the Town Library, and to provide a communication link among artists in the community.

Arts/Wayland's current initiatives do not require a large central facility, but rely instead on communication, creativity, and the use of alternative spaces. The newest initiatives include this web site (begun January 2004), a revised newsletter, frequent email updates to all members with email access, a resource handbook, a member directory, and several special-interest activities for Arts/Wayland members.

At its annual meeting in October 2003, Arts/Wayland began a new tradition of recognizing outstanding contributions to the arts in the Wayland area and service to Arts/Wayland with an annual Arts/Wayland Award of Appreciation, to recognize the recipients' "contribution to the beauty of our lives, the enrichment of our spirits and the arts of our community." The awards given so far:

2003 - Carl Winkel
2004 - Allen Barker
2005 - Betsy Moyer
2006 - Maddie Sifantus
2007 - Amruta Mudambi