Moving Along Musically

They have a way to go before the project is complete, but Apple Tree Arts has moved into its new home at 1 Grafton Common.

“It’s  a dream come true for 20 years,’’ said education director Jan Barlow. “We have been all over the place, trying to hold the community in our hand.’’

Apple Tree Arts, which offers music programs for all ages, has held its classes in a variety of locations, including the Municipal Center.

Now that community is under one roof _ and that roof is newly renovated.

Apple Tree Arts is leasing the building for a minimal amount from the town in exchange for securing funding for a major renovation.

The work will include exterior renovation, a new handicap-access ramp and elevator and the restoration of the Great Hall, an upstairs space used many years ago for meetings and other town gatherings.

Apple Tree Arts hopes to use the newly revamped Great Hall space for concerts and other programs and hopes the public will utilize the space as well.

For now, staffers are just happy to have all classes in the same locations.

Theatre arts director Lisa Scarlett will now have a cleaner car, she joked. With all classes in one central location, she will no longer have to lug supplies from one location to another, she said.

More significantly, teachers can now meet and collaborate face-to-face. More than 400 students take classes on site and having teachers interact adds another level of creativity, staff members said.

Class schedules take up six Excel sheets “just to make sure everyone fits,’’ said marketing director Dana Wilson.

And the classes will have yet another musical guest: A piano on loan from The Piano Museum in Hopkinton. This non-profit museum is dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of pianos built over the last two centuries.

The late 1800s piano will add yet another musical note to the blend of sounds at the newly reunified Apple Tree Arts.