Water Street Studios

WaTER STrEET StUDIOS is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit art center in Batavia, IL. Our mission is to make the arts accessible to the Fox Valley region and beyond. Our vision is to be a cultural hub in the Midwest. We offer high-quality programs that include art education classes, workshops, subsidized artist studios, monthly gallery exhibitions, events, and community outreach.

Our Education program provides high-quality art classes for ages five to over sixty-five in a
variety of mediums including drawing, printmaking, painting, ceramics, metal-working, jewelry-making, and more. We currently serve over 350 students from 35 surrounding towns through our paid programming including Aurora, DeKalb, Naperville, Joliet, Rockford, and more. Out of the over 350 students served 66% of our students live outside of Batavia. We support our artist community by employing over 30 art instructors from 10 surrounding towns.

Our Outreach program offers free art instruction for low-income families at Batavia Apartments as well as providing free arts programming to our surrounding community through over thirty strategic partnerships including local nonprofits, senior centers, public libraries, park districts, local businesses, and more. We provided 1,852 free art sessions over the last year through our eight free programming opportunities including Ripple Effect, open houses, Open Sketch, Batavia Library Art & Science Fair, Homestead Senior Living Center, and more.

We have 26 artist studios for emerging and professional artists to work in a highly creative and collaborative environment. We currently serve 30 resident artists that live within a 25-mile radius of Batavia. Resident artists are given the opportunity to exhibit, sell artwork, teach classes and workshops, and participate in on-going events and fundraisers to further their own artistic businesses and passions.

We offer four, free monthly community events to make the arts accessible to our community including our Gallery Openings, Live Art Series, Waterline Writers, Open Sketch and unique rental space for private events such as weddings, business meetings, and parties. These events support our programming so we can continue to offer free events for families to create a sense of place in our community.

We partner with the following companies to market upcoming events, classes, fundraiser, and
opportunities to support the arts: Shaw Media, Daily Herald, Neighbors Magazine, and West
Suburban Living. We utilize Facebook, Instagram, and newsletters to communicate on-going
news with our nearly 5,000 followers.

Water Street Studios is the only nonprofit community arts center in the area that provides all of
these services to the Fox Valley area and beyond through high-quality arts programming. We are able to make the arts accessible to our community through high-quality programming because of the dedicated efforts of our staff, board members, donors, and volunteers.

Statement of Inclusivity: Our organization is aims to include and recognize all regardless of race, age, culture, ability, ethnicity or nationality, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, religious affiliation, and socioeconomic status. We are wheelchair accessible. We offer a gender-neutral restroom.