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

April 1, 2020 – Concord, MA -- The Umbrella Arts Center has joined the effort to help in the public health emergency. Although officially closed since March 24 pursuant to Gov. Baker's emergency order, The Umbrella has dedicated some of its new Makerspace equipment to fabricate personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff at Emerson Hospital.

Dear Friends of The Umbrella:

Since the completion of The Umbrella’s renovations in the fall, The Umbrella community has benefitted from having three new art exhibition spaces: the expanded Main Gallery, the Black Box Gallery, and Gallery 3. The expansions to our Main Gallery have allowed us to hold a number of successful main exhibitions, including our current show, Aperture, an annual group show featuring more than fifty artists based at The Umbrella Arts Center.