Essex Art Center Classes and Youth Programs
Essex Art Center, 56 Island St #1, Lawrence, MA 1840
About
Essex Art Center Classes and Youth Programs offers classes, workshops, exhibitions, and public art installations, along with field trips and a library where visitors can grab a book. The program also includes specific options for young people such as the Design Collective, Curatorial Incubator Program, Gallery Attendant Program, Summer Internships, and Portfolio Review.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Open Monday–Thursday with additional Saturday hours; Friday by appointment
Founded in 1993 by Helen Tory, Linda Maddox, and Leslie Costello as a nonprofit art studio, Essex Art Center has continued making art accessible to everyone in Greater Lawrence since 1993. Its mission states that Essex Art Center inspires and sustains lifelong growth and learning for a diverse community of artists in Greater Lawrence, and that its classes, events, and exhibitions harness the power of art to transform lives. The organization describes itself as a community-based nonprofit that uses art as a catalyst for bringing people together, sparking conversations that matter, and building community, and it notes that its galleries, studios, and community outreach programs are built on the belief that everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Essex Art Center also states that it believes everyone is an artist and that it fosters creativity at every age and level, with dynamic opportunities for teens preparing the next generation for careers in creative fields and exhibition programs that serve as incubators for artists at critical creative junctures. The organization highlights equity and inclusion practices aimed at increasing diversity and equity within the organization, and it has established outreach and relationship-building efforts with Lawrence residents to ensure that the community is represented within its programming and has the power to influence its work. It also notes a land acknowledgment recognizing the traditional, ancestral territory of the Pennacook people.
Last updated January 26, 2026.
• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Open Monday–Thursday with additional Saturday hours; Friday by appointment
Founded in 1993 by Helen Tory, Linda Maddox, and Leslie Costello as a nonprofit art studio, Essex Art Center has continued making art accessible to everyone in Greater Lawrence since 1993. Its mission states that Essex Art Center inspires and sustains lifelong growth and learning for a diverse community of artists in Greater Lawrence, and that its classes, events, and exhibitions harness the power of art to transform lives. The organization describes itself as a community-based nonprofit that uses art as a catalyst for bringing people together, sparking conversations that matter, and building community, and it notes that its galleries, studios, and community outreach programs are built on the belief that everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Essex Art Center also states that it believes everyone is an artist and that it fosters creativity at every age and level, with dynamic opportunities for teens preparing the next generation for careers in creative fields and exhibition programs that serve as incubators for artists at critical creative junctures. The organization highlights equity and inclusion practices aimed at increasing diversity and equity within the organization, and it has established outreach and relationship-building efforts with Lawrence residents to ensure that the community is represented within its programming and has the power to influence its work. It also notes a land acknowledgment recognizing the traditional, ancestral territory of the Pennacook people.
Last updated January 26, 2026.
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