THE BOSTON GLOBE – South Shore Conservatory is bringing its creative arts therapies programs to a new space in Hanover.
The nonprofit unveiled plans for the creative arts therapies center to be housed within a medical office building on Webster Street that it is transforming into its third campus.
The conservatory announced a recent donation from a Plymouth couple, Diane and Gary Glick, to fund creating the new center and subsidizing its future operating costs, according to Laura H. Hay, the SSC’s director of capital campaign and major gifts.
Set to open in September 2020, the 4,000-square-foot center will provide added space for the conservatory’s programs that provide mental, emotional, and physical support to about 500 people with autism, learning disabilities, and other special needs annually.
The service will still be offered at the conservatory’s other two campuses — in Hingham and Duxbury — but the Hanover space, to be called the Glick Family Center for Creative Arts Therapies, will be specially outfitted for the program.
“I’m beyond thrilled,” said Eve Montague, the conservatory’s director of creative arts therapies. “This is going to be the next step in providing people what they really need to be as independent as possible in accessing art in the way that makes sense to them.”
The conservatory, which turns 50 next year, is adding the Hanover campus to increase access to and expand the music, theater, and dance programs it offers annually to 4,700 people at the two campuses, and at other South Shore venues in partnership with local agencies and schools.
The Glicks’ donation allows the organization to proceed with outfitting the space for the center, the kick-off project for the new campus. The conservatory relocated its offices to the building after purchasing it last year, but has made no further use of it yet.
Other features of the estimated $3 million campus, including additional classrooms, will be built as funding becomes available.
Kathy Czerny, the conservatory’s president, said the plan to establish a third campus grew out of the group’s recognition that “we need to move beyond the two lovely communities where our school is based and really find ways to serve the entire region.”
She said central to that quest has been a desire to provide another location for its creative arts therapies services since that program embodies the goal of extending access to the arts.
Photo by Paul Hoffman.
“We know the benefits that music and the arts can have for everyone, but they are not always accessible to everyone,” Czerny said.
She said the Hanover campus, off Route 3, is conveniently located for many who cannot easily travel to the other campuses.
“We believe that everyone has the right to experience the power of music and are proud to help SSC fulfill its mission to provide access to the arts for all people on the South Shore regardless of age or ability,” the Glicks said in comments relayed through the conservatory.
“We have been overwhelmed by how they have really embraced our mission,” Czerny said of the Glicks, whom she noted had no previous personal connection to the conservatory. “It’s really humbling when you have a donor whose own vision for the things they care about melds so beautifully with the work you are trying to do.”
By John Laidler, correspondent
