The Fitchburg Cultural Alliance has been able bring its Main Street Studios offerings and programs to fruition thanks in part to $10,000 in Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts grant funding.

Main Street Studios was created through a collaboration with the Fitchburg Cultural Alliance and the Fitchburg Arts Collective, a group of artists who trained with NewVue Communities' Art Steward program in 2019. It is open to resident artists and community programs who are welcome to use the downtown Fitchburg space for classes and workshops, events and gatherings, shared work, conference, and meeting room space, and more.

The mission of the Fitchburg Cultural Alliance is to promote excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences in order to improve the quality of life and economic vitality for Fitchburg residents and surrounding communities. It has several goals they are working to achieve through the grant funding including bringing opportunities and access to the arts for youth, emerging professional artists, and the community at large.

“Main Street Studios is an active creative space, with a diversity of artists in the individual studios making art,” Fitchburg Cultural Alliance Executive Director Jessie Olson conveyed in a grant impact report. “The two larger spaces are being used by local theater groups, musicians, and other community members who are looking for a place to gather and make art.”

Artists began licensing the six private studios available for a monthly fee below market rate in November of 2022. Four of the six studios are filled, and the two other studios are in transition and expect to be licensed in June.

The gallery space, which includes a communal kitchen space for all the artists and groups who use Main Street Studios to use, hosted its first exhibition in May and a plan to set up retail with local artists is on track to be ready by the end of June, where artists can sell at the Sunday markets or on consignment.