The Umbrella's Artcubator program awards studio space to visual artists for short-term projects throughout the year. Established and emerging artists alike benefit from the input of a creative community of more than 50 artists in the iteration and innovation of their ideas. Visiting artists can belong, experiment and establish leveraging Umbrella studio space, shared workshops and exhibition space.

In navigating the tumultuous waters of the COVID-19 crisis, The Umbrella Arts & Environment program has turned to online platforms to carry on the community’s annual Earth Day celebrations. One of  these traditions is the Earth Month Gallery Exhibition, which showcases works from artists near and far on selected themes relating to Earth Day. With The Umbrella currently closed to the public, this year’s exhibition, Freshwater and Our Watersheds, is a virtual gallery.

Since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, Kathy Warren, Volunteer Coordinator for The Umbrella, has been working with a team of volunteers throughout the region to create artfully crafted masks to share with The Umbrella staff and wider community.

Over the course of the first week, the volunteers – including skilled quilters and fiber artists -- crafted approximately 70 masks, many in richly decorated fabrics.

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Musketaquid Earth Day Festival & Parade, we're pleased to share the documentary, Musketaquid - a Tale of Art and Nature. 

Interviewed by MacKenzie Colton

Mary O’Connell first got involved with The Umbrella through taking acrylic painting classes with Joy Buell. She studied art in school and has been seeking to reconnect to her studies now that her kids are older. She continued her involvement by volunteering to usher for the productions at The Umbrella.  

Can you explain your volunteer work?

While we are in the process of developing online arts education programs at The Umbrella, here's a great opportunity for families missing their classes and vacation week programs! 

While staying home practicing social distancing,  Umbrella art teacher Sarah Scoville has been coming up with simple DIY creative activities using materials easily found at home to share with other families. Here, Sarah and her daughter demonstrate methods for weaving different forms using cardboard guides that you  can create and experiment with yourself.
Watch out for more activities like this in the days to come as we stay home, stay healthy, and stay creative.

The Umbrella Arts Education program seeks your input to determine how we can best meet the needs of our community of artists, students and makers during the Covid-19 crisis. Please help us prioritize where to focus our class development efforts by letting us know which potential online offerings would most interest you. The survey takes only one minute and can be taken anonymously.
Thank you and stay well, stay home and stay creative!

With most local galleries and museums closed to the public because of COVID-19, we are always looking for new ways to engage with and benefit from looking at art. Luckily technology makes it possible for us to visit some of our favorite local galleries and museums for inspiration  These are some of our favorite spaces and exhibitions we experienced, including an upcoming virtual “opening”!

Abigail Oglivy Gallery - Spring Break Art Show 2020 & Price | Day

Boston Playwrights’ Theatre produces the Boston Theater Marathon (BTM), an award-winning, all-day marathon of new 10-minute plays. The plays are chosen from more than 400 entries from New