Umbrella Arts Center

The Umbrella Arts Center is a regional arts center in Concord, MA dedicated to enriching lives and building a vibrant arts community within the greater Boston/Metrowest area. This Concord art center inspires creativity, learning, and personal growth through accessible art education programs, performing arts and visual arts presentations, and community collaborations.

The History of the Umbrella Arts Center

In 1929, this building was first established as Emerson High School and became the town’s first-beamed structure. It served as a public school for five decades until it became insufficient for the growing student population. In the 1980s, Concord volunteers decided to make the space a community arts center. Today, the organization operates as a studio, exhibition, and performance space for the Concord community and beyond.

Performance & Studio Art at the Umbrella Arts Center

At the Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA you’ll find studios for 50+ artists, 3 general art classrooms, ceramic facilities, a dance studio, gallery spaces, a multitheater performing arts facility, and an outdoor space for sculpture.

At this Concord performance center, you can pick between theater, music, and film productions. The Umbrella Stage Company features musicals and plays every season. The Umbrella Concert Series provides the public with intimate shows featuring bigger artists like John Mayer and Brandi Carlile. In the Umbrella Film Series, audiences can watch classic, independent, and foreign films curated by The Concord Film Project.

There are over 60 working artists who are skilled in ceramics, glass, fiber arts, jewelry making, illustration, mixed media, painting, and so much more. The space offers an Artist-in-Residence program where new artists can create bodies of work to exhibit. During Open Studios, the public can see what has been created over the past year.