COBBLE HILL — An art and music space for children in the neighborhood is searching for a studio to host their fall classes as they'll soon leave an old home behind.
ArtsCetera will close their doors at 212 Smith St., at the end of the month and while they have a new center for next year, they’re looking for a temporary studio to continue their programs between September and December.
The Smith Street location will close “after 15 years of commercial rent,” said founder and co-owner Nanette DeCillis, adding that they had no dispute with their landlord.
DeCillis, who started the children’s center in 1998, is hoping to find a studio space, no smaller than 500 square-feet, and with enough room to park 10 strollers, in Cobble Hill or Carroll Gardens so they can continue serving their local students.
“These are my peeps,” said DeCillis, referring to about 200 families who take their classes.
DeCillis would be willing to pay $50 an hour for the rental studio, where they will conduct their music and art classes as well as “open play,” a playtime session for children at $10 for two hours.
Music classes cater to kids from five months to three years old while art classes are for children aged 20 months to three-and-a-half year olds.
The process-oriented educational classes focus on the way children create instead of the resulting work, said DeCillis.
“There are milestones in development that I want to make sure we hit,” she said.
Parents and caregivers are also encouraged to participate with children in the classes, building a “social creative environment.”
“My son just lights up whenever we get there,” said Pia Scaglione, whose 15-month-old son, Myles, took music classes at ArtsCetera, this summer. “They’re a real asset.”
Abha Palmer’s daughter, Opal, also took classes at the Cobble Hill studio when she was five months old till turned three.
ArtsCetera created a “community feel to the whole experience,” said Palmer.
Opal, who is now 6, made some of her closest friends at the center and even Palmer met some of her best “mom friends” during her daughter’s classes.
“There’s no other place I would consider in the neighborhood,” she said.
For more information, email info@artscetera.com
