Gateway Arts was originally established in 1973 to provide day services for eight adults.
- Director Rae Edelson shares the early history of Gateway Arts.
And expand we did.
The Gateway Timeline
“Gateway Crafts” is established by the Developmental Disabilities Unit of the Massachusetts Mental Health Center to provide day services for eight adults, as a response to the de-institutionalization of state schools.
Gateway Crafts becomes a component of the newly incorporated Vinfen, a leading non-profit provider of human services for New England.
The program begins expanding services and moves from Brighton to its current location at 62 Harvard Street in Brookline Village, Massachusetts.
An additional 5,000 square feet of space are added to the program, accommodating an increased demand for services for people with psychiatric disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, head injuries, and visual, hearing, and cognitive impairments.
Gateway opens an onsite “Outsider” Contemporary Art Gallery, the first of its kind in Boston, Massachusetts.
Additional studio space is developed at 58A Harvard Street, now known as Studio A, accommodating the growing needs of the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission to serve people with psychiatric disabilities.
A PBS Special featuring Gateway artist Bohill Wong wins an Emmy Award.
Gateway Crafts expands further, opening a ground floor jewelry studio and a street level retail store at 60 Harvard Street.
A twelve member advisory committee of collectors, art professionals, philanthropists, and artist family members is established.
Gateway Crafts is renamed Gateway Arts!
Read Outsider Art: the Studio Art Movement and Gateway Arts by Rae Edelson (Director, Gateway Arts) to learn more about the international history of outsider art studios and Gateway’s place in that history.