Gadsden Arts Center Information

Gadsden Arts, Inc., the non-profit organization which owns and operates the Gadsden Arts Center is the outgrowth of a community, volunteer effort to increase cultural activities, enhance arts education, and stimulate economic growth. That effort began in 1989 when a local artist, Beth Appleton and her husband, David Harbaugh developed Art in Gadsden, an exhibition of fine visual art in Quincy, the county seat. They were successful in that Art in Gadsden was welcomed and supported by the community, gave students their first exposure to fine art, provided a market for artists to sell their works, and attracted visitors to the county. However, after two years, they realized they could no longer devote the time and energy it took to organize and man the show and they turned the event over to Quincy's Main Street program. Community volunteers organized and manned the show until 1993. Galleries were created out of loaned space (former dry goods' stores, bank installment loan departments, drug stores, etc.). In 1993, the nearly burnt-out volunteers realized two things: 1) the exhibition had great value for the school children who toured as well as the community as a whole and 2) that it was exhausting to seek and borrow space each fall to create an art gallery. So in January 1994, the show committee gathered and enthusiastically decided to created a non-profit corporation, Gadsden Arts, Inc. which would sponsor Art in Gadsden and eventually provide ongoing visual arts programming in a permanent location. The appropriate papers were filed. With non-profit incorporation and IRS 501(c)(3) status in hand, the group found and purchased a building in Quincy originally built in 1904 to serve as a Catholic mission. Individual gifts and a state historic preservation grant paid for the building.