The Melrose Messenger

Follow Your Art Celebrates 5th Anniversary This Year

Follow Your Art Community Studios (FYACS) will be kicking off their 5th anniversary celebrations next month with a fundraiser on June 7th.

Although FYACS is relatively new to Melrose as a nonprofit in its current location, it has been growing and developing for much longer. Kris Rodolico, the organization’s founder and director, initially worked as an art therapist at the Lighthouse School in Chelmsford. After her children were born, she shifted to teaching private art lessons - first from her home, then from office space on Main Street. Slowly her operation grew, until Rodolico was eventually managing multiple teachers.

In 2018, Rodolico began to consider whether her organization could work - and might better meet the needs of the community - as a nonprofit. At the same time, she began looking for a new space that would be affordable and provide room for her organization to grow.

It was serendipity, Rodolico describes, that led her to the Big Yellow House: the First United Methodist Church was selling their former parsonage, and a conversation on the sidelines of a kids’ soccer game encouraged her to consider whether she could actually buy a space for her new nonprofit. With help from friends and neighbors, Rodolico formed an LLC to raise money for a down payment, and Follow Your Art at the Big Yellow House was born. Necessary renovations were done - adding a ramp to the entrance, installing reliable electric heat and cooling, putting in an accessible bathroom - and artists began to contact FYACS about renting studio space on the second and third floors.

Then COVID struck, and many of Rodolico’s plans for the organization were altered or delayed. It’s only now, 5 years later, that FYACS is finally looking at being able to buy the Big Yellow House outright and pay back the initial investors - and that is one of the organization’s major fundraising goals this year, as part of its fifth anniversary celebration.

In the five years that FYACS has been in the Big Yellow House, the organization has come to host a huge range of events and activities, from art classes and enrichment for kids to workshops and classes for adults; from public art projects to music nights and coffeehouses. It also offers space rental and programming to a variety of local organizations.

The Big Yellow House itself has also gone through significant changes over the last five years; currently FYACS is working on creating a patio with a performance area at the back of the house, and completing basement renovations that will make that space usable for programming, including a larger pottery studio.

Rodolico emphasized that her organization’s primary goal is making art accessible to all members of the community. Her background as an art therapist has encouraged her belief in the importance of art for everyone, regardless of background or ability. FYACS is dedicated to providing students with the support they need to be successful in classes and workshops, no matter what their physical or emotional needs might be.

Additionally, FYACS strives to make their offerings accessible to people of all income levels who might want to participate. The organization is part of a program that provides steep discounts for class fees for families who receive WIC or EBT benefits. However, this doesn’t capture those who don’t qualify for those benefits but still may struggle to afford tuition, and Rodolico expressed her hope that, as the organization grows, they can do even more to make classes accessible to all individuals and families, either by lowering fees across the board or by creating a sliding-scale for tuition.

According to Rodolico, FYACS’s greatest strength is its flexibility and its ability to meet the needs of the community, whatever those may be. “We don’t say ‘no’ when people come to us,” she explained, “we say ‘yes, and.’” As the only arts nonprofit in Melrose with its own space, FYACS tries to fill in gaps for the community, without stepping into spaces that are already filled by existing businesses - which is why, Rodolico explains, FYACS doesn’t offer music or dance lessons, which are already provided by several long-running Melrose businesses.

Although Rodolico has been the guiding force behind Follow Your Art up to this point, she hopes that she is creating an organization that eventually, whenever she decides she is ready to step down from the director position, will continue in its work and develop in new and exciting ways without her.

Follow Your Art’s 5th Birthday Party will be held on Friday, June 7th at 7pm. There will be live entertainment on the new patio, local food, and a silent auction of local artists’ work. Get your tickets in advance here.

Posted May 20th, 2024