A $20,000 grant from the Onion Foundation will fund two innovative arts programs this summer at the Chocolate Church Arts Center.

EAD Matthew Glassman parading with puppet bird and children from a recent Family Art Lab. Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center

“This grant is real wind in our sails,” said Matthew Glassman, executive and artistic director of the performing arts center in Bath. “We are excited and grateful. The CCAC is a small organization — rural and grassroots. But there’s a tremendous history here and we have an audacious vision.”

Both programs will be free and will support Glassman’s “expanded programmatic vision” for the future.

“While a robust slate of music will be a mainstay, there will be an increase in multidisciplinary theatrical performances that integrate theater, dance, puppetry and live music,” Glassman said.

“In addition, the CCAC gallery will be transformed into a multifunctional community art studio that not only exhibits work but also offers expansive studio space for artistic practice, collaboration and a host of ongoing workshops.”

The first program, Open Art Labs, inaugurates the art studio, sharing space and basic art supplies for visual arts and crafts work. Participants of any experience background can come with their own projects in hand to make use of the studio or to respond to the given prompt of the week. Open Art Labs foster relationships, skill exchange and support for anyone looking to meet other artists and deepen or begin a visual arts practice.

Children learning gel printing at CCAC Family Art Lab in 2023 and shadow art in the background.  Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center

The theme for Open Art Labs is monsters and culminates in an outdoor public art display of all the created works. Titled “Monster Garden,” this display will allow artists to share their work with the public, offering a fun, multidisciplinary display for the community to enjoy. Open Arts Labs will be held on Wednesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 3 through Aug. 21.

The second program, Family Art Labs, will offer a fun environment for children to design and create their own monsters with support from professional visual artists. Working with mask, puppet, costume and mural design, children and families can make creations within the monster theme. Families who want to participate in the Monster Garden will join in the sculpture garden display and take part in mini parades throughout the garden.

“The name of our grant was ‘Collective Imagination,’ which reflects our wish to invite the whole community to join us in this creative process,” Glassman said.

Family Art Labs will be led by Jeremy Louise Eaton, a 20-year veteran of leading community-based visual arts programming. She is a theater director and visual artist with a background in working with small groups to create large-scale puppets.

Family Art Labs will be held on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 6 through Aug. 17.

Eaton said she will invite the public to the Monster Garden from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 24 “to celebrate monsters and all the fantastic, brave, surprising and funny shapes they can take in our lives.”

The Onion Foundation has awarded over 460 grants to nonprofits since its founding eight years ago by Fritz and Susan Onion. It was created to encourage conservation and preservation of the environment as well as promoting music and the arts in the state of Maine.

Paula McKenney is a retired newspaper editor and a volunteer at the Chocolate Church Arts Center.