Making a difference

MAC created the ArtsReach program 22 years ago to meet the needs of this community. ArtsReach engages children and families living in Monongalia County and surrounding rural areas, by either taking programming outreach to them or arranging for them to visit Monongalia Arts Center. To make this possible, we collaborate with school principals and administration to transport students to MAC for exhibitions and events. Through these collaborative efforts, students are exposed to a more diverse display of artistic disciplines and arts education, when they otherwise would not.

MAC partners with local rural social service organizations and nonprofits, including Bartlett House, a homeless shelter, and Friendship House, a mental health and rehabilitation recovery center. We host an annual Mental Health showcase where participants in local rehabilitative organizations contribute their  artistic creations for an exhibition. This allows our community to see art through the eyes of an often villainized and misunderstood population of our communities. Through collaboration with organizations like these, MAC supports social wellness and recovery efforts through art focused therapeutic practices.  

Our Community Mission and Goals 

Within our mission to provide a home for visual, performing, and literary arts through educational programming and community outreach, MAC has many exciting goals:

• Outreach
  • Cultivate public interest in arts and increase arts participation
  • Provide affordable access to quality works by visual, performing, and literary artists
  • Enhance existing programming to adapt to COVID-19 public health best practices
• Education
  • Facilitate hands-on arts education that is affordable and accessible 
  • Bring arts education and programming to populations who are underserved, disadvantaged, or have special needs
  • Build an online gallery presence as an extension of our galleries and arts education
• Collaborate to maintain the historic post office building as a gallery, museum, theatre, and center for arts education

Promote local and regional artists through innovative programming, collaboration, and partnerships