Follow Your Art Celebrates Its Big Yellow House
Written And Photographed By Nancy Clover
The Big Yellow House is officially home!
Follow Your Art Community Studios threw a fantastic party last Friday night — and what a celebration it was! The reason? They were celebrating the purchase of the historic Big Yellow House! And if there’s one thing the FYA team knows how to do, it’s throw a party!
The evening featured the opening of the Art at the Farmers Market gallery exhibit, which visitors to the Farmers' Market made during the summer under the guidance of Follow Your Art staff. There was also delicious cake, and plenty of music and smiles thanks to the always-fun Strummerville Ukulele Club.
It was a beautiful September evening and the perfect setting to celebrate an incredible milestone years in the making.
One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing the large painting of the Big Yellow House featuring the names of more than 300 donors who helped make the purchase possible, created by local illustrator and Follow Your Art staff member Chiara Pieri. What a wonderful reminder that this really was a community effort.
Follow Your Art launched an ambitious capital campaign to purchase and preserve the historic property, with community donations helping the organization secure a $200,000 matching grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and MassDevelopment. And they did it!
The place FYA once rented is now its permanent home — ensuring that the Big Yellow House can continue to be a welcoming center for creativity in Melrose for years to come. Inside its doors, people of all ages and abilities can create, learn, and connect through visual arts, writing workshops, artist studios, music, performances, and so much more.
Congratulations to the entire Follow Your Art team, the hundreds of donors, volunteers, artists, supporters and everyone who helped make this dream a reality.
The Big Yellow House now belongs to Follow Your Art — and its future is looking very bright!
