Those signs of construction at Route 57 and Hammertown Road are the beginning of major improvements at the Sandisfield Arts Center.

When we open for our 30th anniversary season next spring, we will add to our already accessible space (we added a handicap lift in 2014) an energy-efficient, climate-friendly HVAC system as well as major Gallery improvements and the infrastructure for a kitchen that will be completed by 2026. Also planned for 2026 is a storage shed addition to house sets from plays and other equipment that until now have been scattered around town in the homes and barns of our volunteers.

All this work is thanks to some significant donations from community members, foundations, and additional fundraising that we're working on now.

With increasingly warm summers, air conditioning will make our audiences more comfortable, set us apart from many other area cultural institutions, and support our town's Green Committee goal of reducing our carbon footprint by replacing our ancient oil heating system.

The kitchen will mean we can host many more community events, cooking lessons, weddings, etc. And the refurbished Gallery will match the first-rate quality of recent shows drawing artists from throughout the Berkshires.

Making these improvements to a historic building (the Arts Center is on the National Register of Historic Places) is complicated, so we are grateful to two town residents, master architects Nick Elton and Jerry Herman, who know the building inside out and are generously donating their time (lots of their time) to lead the project. Board members Jean Atwater-Williams, Susie Crofut, Suzanne Oconnell, and Hilde Weisert round out the project team, with the help of other Board members and volunteers.

Chuck Nelson (CW Nelson Landscaping here in town) did the drainage work and excavation for the shed. Steve Crump who did carpentry for previous renovations is doing the carpentry.

You'll be able to see all this in late May or early June 2025 when we're inviting everyone to a celebration weekend featuring an Open House, Gallery ribboncutting and spring show, music, and family activities.

In the words of Susie Crofut, who has been part of the Arts Center from the very beginning, "We are proud of the vision and the commitment to make our unique and very special venue the best it can be - for today's young and old in Sandisfield and surrounding towns, and for the future."

Coming soon on the Connect Sandisfield-Facebook group: A survey to find out what you'd like to see in coming seasons at the Sandisfield Arts Center.

A comprehensive history is being written of the building and its fascinating but completely distinct eras under different owners, the Baptists, the Jews, and the Arts Center. Titled From Church to Synagogue to Arts Center: Celebrating 185 Years of Community and Culture ....., the book is expected to be available early next Spring. Sales proceeds will benefit the Sandisfield Arts Center which will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2025.

The building dates to 1839, originally as a Baptist Church. Following the Civil War in the 1860s and a failed railroad scheme in the 1870s, Sandisfield's population including church membership declined precipitously. The Baptist Society dissolved in the 1910s. In 1921, the Sons of Abraham congregation bought the building to serve the growing Jewish community in the Montville section, converting the building to an orthodox synagogue. The Jewish congregation dwindled and by the 1980s the building was again dormant and in sore need of rehabilitation.

In 1995, a group called the Sandisfield Arts and Restoration Committee, Inc., formed to restore the building as a home for a community arts center which it has been for almost thirty years. Major repairs to the foundation, the roof and the interior were completed by 2004. The building is listed (2006) on the National Register of Historic Places as "The Montville Baptist Church."