A $100,000 matching challenge ending June 30 could help secure the future of some of the New Art Center’s most impactful programs.
The Newton-based nonprofit arts organization has launched an emergency fundraising campaign to raise $200,000 to replace expiring pandemic-era relief funding that has left the nearly 50-year-old institution facing a significant operating deficit.
An anonymous longtime supporter has pledged to match every donation dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000, creating what New Art leaders describe as a critical opportunity to stabilize finances and protect programs serving youth, families, and survivors of domestic violence.
“Only one month into my role as Executive Director, I can see both the tremendous impact New Art has on our community and the very real financial challenges we face,” said Executive Director Christina An. “We are working hard to stabilize the organization and ensure that New Art reaches its 50th anniversary next year stronger than ever. We need our community’s help.”
Located at 61 Washington Park in Newtonville, the New Art Center serves thousands of residents each year through art classes, workshops, exhibitions, camps, artist residencies, and community programs. The center offers approximately 500 classes and 60 workshops annually for children, teens, and adults from Newton and neighboring communities.
An said the organization is working to close an operating gap after the loss of temporary pandemic-relief funding amid increasing demand for scholarships, community programming, and accessible arts education.
Among the programs potentially affected are the center’s Art as Therapy initiatives, which provide creative and therapeutic experiences for youth and women navigating mental health challenges, trauma, social isolation, and domestic violence.
“Our Youth Art as Therapy program at New Art Center provides crucial and valued socialized therapeutic art groups for students in grades 4-12 with mental health and social skill challenges and support for their caregivers and parents,” said Erin Palazzolo Loparo, co-founder of Art as Therapy and a registered art therapist.
Loparo said one Newton parent described the program as “one of the most effective therapies” their child had experienced.
Since 2014, the New Art Center’s Expressive Arts for Women Impacted by Domestic Violence program has offered free, trauma-informed art therapy in partnership with the Domestic Violence Service Network. The program provides survivors with a supportive environment for healing through guided creative expression.
The center also launched Art as Therapy programs for tweens and teens in 2022, in response to growing mental health needs among youth following the pandemic. The programs serve students facing anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, social isolation, and other challenges.
Participation has increased significantly, from five students in 2022 to 72 in 2025. According to the organization, partnerships with Newton Public Schools help connect students and families with the program.
New Art leaders said maintaining affordability remains a priority. Fees for Art as Therapy programs operate on a sliding scale ranging from $0 to $40 per session. The organization reported providing scholarships to every applicant who demonstrated financial need this year.
New Art also hopes to revive its Youth Empowerment Program, a paid internship initiative launched in 2022 that gives high school students hands-on experience in art instruction, marketing, studio management, and community engagement while developing leadership and job-readiness skills.
Beyond its programming, the New Art Center occupies one of Newtonville’s most historically significant buildings. Constructed between 1872 and 1873 as Newton’s first Universalist church, the Victorian Gothic Revival structure is the only non-residential building within the Washington Park National Register Historic District.
Over the past 150 years, the building has served as a church, the Newtonville Woman’s Club, Newton Junior College, and, since 1976, a community arts center. In 1994, the organization adopted the name New Art Center to reflect its broader regional reach and to avoid confusion with a municipal department.
Founded nearly five decades ago, the New Art Center now serves residents from Newton and neighboring communities including Boston, Brookline, Wellesley, Watertown, Waltham, Needham, and Belmont.
“We are asking the community to invest not only in art, but also in the people whose lives are changed through these programs every day,” said An. “This is about preserving an institution that has helped generations of Newton families create, learn, heal, and belong.”
All donations made through Tuesday, June 30 will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $100,000.
Annalise Vito is a 2026 graduate of Newton North High School, former co-Editor-in-Chief of The Newtonite, and a Fig City News student intern.