Walk in the front door of the Rumford School and it might be a bit confusing.
At first glance, it feels like you should be freaking out that you forgot to do your math homework and should be trying to come up with an excuse better than my dog ate it. But don’t worry, because while this large building used to house classrooms for learning, it’s now a place for the community to gather and embrace the arts. Welcome to the Concord Community Arts Center.
There’s still the old office area to your right once you walk up the short flight of stairs, and down the hall to the right is the boys and girls bathrooms with a water fountain on the wall. The playground outside still appears to be intact, and the remnants of the former school are still quite apparent, but the only classes you’ll be taking are the ones you’ve signed up for. The building and land were bought from the Concord School District by developer Brian Thibeault in June, given a quick face lift and opened at the beginning of August.
“It’s been exactly what we wanted to see happen,” Thibeault said. “We wanted a place for Concord to enjoy the arts.”
The ground floor features Eastern Ballet Institute and Sew Sisters Studio. Climb up the first flight of stairs and you’ll find the Henniker Music School – which could be confusing since it’s located in Concord – Pilates Studio 603 and The Artist’s View. Go down the stairs instead of up and you’ll come to a large open area with rooms off the side. That’s where you’ll find No Brushes Allowed, Dustin’s Fitness Solutions and the Rumford Learning Center, a day care center.
“We didn’t want to make it just office space or just for artists,” Thibeault said. “This is a great space for the community and the arts.”
And since it’s an old school, there’s plenty of parking and it comes at an affordable rate with all utilities included in the price of rent.
“For someone like me who didn’t want to take out a business loan, it worked out perfect,” said Anita Wolcott, owner of No Brushes Allowed.
It has an eclectic, even hodgepodge feel to it, but that’s kind of the look Thibeault was going for. He wants a nice mixture of artists and art related businesses, along with anything else that helps bring the community closer together.
“We want it to be a place where the community can use it in any way they want,” Thibeault said.
Now we’d have to say there’s quite a variety, but not even close to what it could be. That’s because as you walk around the building you’ll see plenty of open rooms of all shapes and sizes available for rent, just waiting for your business to customize it.
“I have friends with businesses and I tell them they should come check it out,” said Eastern Ballet Institute artistic director Brandi Nylen Reed. “It’s got a little bit of everything.”
For Thibeault, this is the second time he’s turned a large, no longer used building, into a place for the arts. The first one overhauled an armory in Pawtucket, R.I., and there’s early plans to do the same with the recently purchased Higgins Armory in Worcester, Mass.
Reed decided to take up residence in the arts center because it filled a need. She had been looking for a new home for her ballet institute for some time, but every place she looked at missed something on her checklist, until she got a call from Thibeault.
“We were growing and needed more space,” Reed said. “This just has the feel of a dance studio.”
She added a new floor and mirrors, did some painting and was one of the first to open up her business in the former school. She would like to see more tenants join the building – and has high hopes that someone will open a little cafe on the bottom floor where the old school kitchen is.
This is just the beginning of the arts center, a place Thibeault feels many people still don’t know about. Well, now you can consider yourself informed people of Concord.
For more on the arts center’s business or info on how to rent space, visit concordcommunity
artscenterllc.com.
