Gateway Arts Celebrates Forty Years of Community Arts and Studio Service

Gateway Arts is about to celebrate their 40th anniversary this year.

The studio arts center for people with disabilities has over 100 artists producing paintings, sculptures, poetry, prose, embroidery, clothing design, and jewelry.

Gateway Arts started out as Gateway Crafts in a basement in Allston and became a component of Vinfen in 1978. They moved to an empty glass studio in Brookline Village in 1980 and have been an outlet for creativity and retail ever since.

People who come to Gateway Arts have various physical and mental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, retardation, autism, cognitive impairment, hearing and visual disabilities and more. But Director Rae Edelson made one thing very clear: They are artists. Edelson, a former playwright, said that creating a business is just like writing a play. “Recognizing the person’s dream is the most important part of our organization,” Edelson said. “When you sell the artwork, you tell the artist’ story.”

Gateway’s current sales amount is over $100,00 per year, and the artists receive 60 percent of the earning and retain the copyright to their work. They are taken care of for six hours a day, five days a week.

Edelson said that much of Gateway’s success has come through word of mouth distribution. “A woman in Bloomingdales talked to a sales clerk who told her about this studio and the next thing we know, a family member of hers enrolled,” Edelson said.

Gateway is one of 19 art centers for people with disabilities worldwide. The arts center has 20 full and part time employees and offers internships for any students in the area.

The program is funded in part through state programs and through private donors as well.

The gallery and store is a non-profit retail space, which sells items, which have all been made in the studios. They sell clothes, toys, quilts, and other vibrant handcrafted items.

The 40th anniversary gala will be held at the Waterworks Museum on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at the Waterworks Museum at 2450 Beacon Street, Chestnut Hill.

“Disabilities lower people in the public esteem,” Edelson said. “Art is the bridge to society.”