(Brookline, MA) December 2, 2024 – Vinfen’s Gateway Arts announced today that it will create New England’s largest center for artists with disabilities in Brookline, with plans to open to the public next summer.

The new facility will expand and make Gateway Arts’ studios more accessible so the program can serve more artists with a wider range of disabilities, provide larger gallery space for exhibitions and public programs, and create new enterprise opportunities for its roster of nearly 100 artists.

The 51-year-old nonprofit recently signed a 10-year lease with an affiliate of Riverside Properties, RPI Station Street LLC, at 9-21 Station Street for more than 9,000 rentable square feet of space.  Together, Gateway and Riverside plan to invest at least $1 million to create eight new art studios, a community studio, gallery, store, and supporting workspaces. The new Gateway Arts will be located next to the Brookline Village MBTA Green Line Train Station and will help bolster an already vibrant cluster of artist studios, maker spaces, and arts organizations on that block.

“The new Gateway will strengthen our mission to advance inclusive careers in the arts,” said Gregory Liakos, Director.  “The expanded studios, gallery and store provide higher quality, more accessible creative workplaces for artists, while deepening our connections to Brookline and Greater Boston. This major investment affirms the growing recognition of artists with disabilities and their unique contributions to our culture and creative economy.”

Gateway’s artists will expand their work in the studios for sale in its new store, online, and for exhibition in its expanded Gallery and at museums, galleries, and venues across Greater Boston and beyond. This is Gateway Arts’ first move since 1979, when it came to Brookline from its original home in Brighton. The move is made possible in part by support from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, principally through the Department of Developmental Services, by generous patrons who supported Gateway’s Art of the Possible 50th Anniversary Campaign, and through ongoing fundraising efforts.

“Gateway Arts embodies our mission of transforming lives together,” said Jean Yang, Vinfen CEO. “The Station Street building will provide the top-quality facilities that Gateway’s talented artists and staff deserve. And it opens up exciting new opportunities for community partnerships and commercial growth.”

The new Gateway Arts will more than double its ground floor space, allowing the program to serve more artists using wheelchairs or face other barriers to mobility. That space will comprise:

• The Gateway Arts Store, which will offer a wide range of original works of art, hand-crafted jewelry, clothing, artist books, greeting cards, and other products. Artists receive at least half the proceeds from all sales. The Store will be bright and colorful and anchor a strong retail presence on Station Street, with large windows that provide ample natural light. Sales offerings will change frequently with new work produced in the studios.
• An expanded Gateway Arts Gallery will present a diverse array of changing exhibitions of painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, artist books, photography, and video, created by artists from Gateway and beyond. The Gallery will be bright and welcoming, with state-of-the-art lighting, and provide space for public receptions, artist talks, and other community events.
• A new Multimedia Studio, where up to eight artists will work with facilitators daily to create new works on canvas, paper, and other two-dimensional materials.
• A new Community Studio, the multimedia home of Gateway’s Community Program. Here artists and facilitators will work on group projects of varying scale. Visiting artists will lead workshops to share new skills and techniques. The Studio will also be the center for digital photography, graphic design, and other new media.
• An art viewing and preparation room, storage, and offices, and two ADA-accessible bathrooms.

Gateway’s fourth floor will include:

• Six Multimedia Studios accommodating up to 48 artists where each weekday they will create new work in painting, drawing, collage, textiles, fabric, ceramics, and other media.
• Six flexible office spaces and a Community Room.

Gateway Arts’ Station Street neighbors include ArtsBrookline’s Station Street Studios, Puppet Showplace Theater, Feet of Clay Pottery, Andem Art Studios, Liz Linder Photography, and the John Payne Music Center. Many contribute to Arts in the Village, seasonal open studios, and public programming.

 “Riverside is thrilled to have Gateway Arts join other local businesses at our project on Station Street” said Brett Levy, President of Riverside Properties. “We look forward to partnering with Gateway to develop modern and accessible studio and gallery space to better serve its artists and the community.”

Construction is scheduled to begin in January.

In the meantime, we hope you will join us for our annual fundraiser on January 16 for Gateway Moves. Beginning at 6pm, enjoy a sneak peat at our fantastic soon-to-be new digs with food from Chef Ana Sortun and Sofra Café and wines generously donated from Vinyard Roads. The evening also includes a Moving Sale of Gateway Art juried by Beth McLaughlin, Chief Curator, Fuller Craft Museum and Edward Saywell, Chair, Prints and Drawings, MFA. The event concludes with the presentation of this year’s Beverly Bernson Award to recipient State Representative Tommy Vitolo. All proceeds from this celebration will go towards transforming our new space into state-of-the-art studios. We endeavor to raise $250,000 and hope you will join us in celebrating this transformational milestone as a sponsor.

Gateway Arts continues to stand as an internationally acclaimed studio art center in Brookline, where nearly 100 adult artists with developmental and intellectual disabilities, brain injuries, and mental health conditions create remarkable works of art to exhibit, share, and sell to the public. Each day, Gateway artists use creative expression to overcome barriers, demolish stereotypes, and assert their place in the world.

We welcome you to join us as a sponsor of this important evening, to celebrate our new space, and to set us up for success. With your support, we can continue our vital mission across the Greater Boston community in a new space with greater accessibility.

Banner image: Beatrice Farah. Untitled (detail). 2020. acrylic on canvas. 36 x 30 in.
Illustrations by Catherine Zhao.