Follow Your Art Community Studios (FYACS) has an opportunity to purchase its space at 647 Main Street and is seeking community support to make “The Big Yellow House” its forever home.
The Mass Cultural Council, in collaboration with Mass Development, has selected Follow Your Art for a 2025 Cultural Facilities Fund matching grant. When we raise $200,000, it will be doubled. Follow Your Art can only access the grant funds if they raise an equivalent amount from the community.
The Cultural Facilities Fund supports the acquisition and renovation of nonprofit cultural facilities. FYACS will apply the funds toward the purchase of The Big Yellow House at 647 Main Street in Melrose, which it has been renting from a group of founding investors since 2019.
“The plan was always for Follow Your Art to own the building one day. The initial timeline was delayed by the pandemic, but the arts center is now well established in the community and the owners are ready to sell. The time is now,” shared FYACS Executive Director Kris Rodolico.
Over $100,000 has already been raised and Follow Your Art is asking for the community’s help to raise the remaining amount to secure the full match. The matching grant will enable FYACS to make a significant down payment on the building, secure a lower mortgage, and funnel the savings into its programming and updates to the space.
Thousands of people have taken classes, visited gallery exhibitions and live performances or contributed to community art projects at The Big Yellow House. In its short time as the area’s community arts center, FYACS has become a vital space for community gathering. The nonprofit mentors and employs dozens of high school youth, fills an important role as a local venue for live performances, and offers individualized support so people of all ages and abilities have access to creative experiences. In a sentiment echoed by many, one participant noted, “You’ve created something really special here. This place is a gift to the community.”
“The Big Yellow House is Follow Your Art’s indisputable home,” says Rodolico. “We want to stay here and need the community’s help to make this our permanent space.”
To learn more, donate, and/or get involved, visit fyamelrose.org/building-capital-campaign/