FAQ: How long have you been open?
The shortest story:
HCA opened as a brick and mortar studio in North Kingstown, Rhode Island in December 2020. From December 2020 to May 2021 the studio was housed in a tiny 600 square foot building next to Wickford Middle School. In June the studio moved a mile down the road to its current location, a 1500 square studio at 7592 Post Road. The first summer in the studio was a balance of setting up the studio, some art camp sessions, and sprinkles of pop-up classes. A full schedule launched in September 2021. HCA Outside was built throughout the spring of 2022 and opened in June.
The medium story:
On March 5th, 2020 after 7 years of planning and testing for Harbor Creative Arts, Rachel gave her notice to leave her teaching position at the end of the 2019-2020 school year with the intention of opening a studio that summer. The next week the world shut down due to the arrival of Covid 19. She took a deep breath, held it in for a long time, finished out her school year remotely with 2 and 4 years olds at home, and in July offered herself the space and grace to put the whole plan on hold. The next day a friend asked if she would be interested in teaching art classes outside that summer, maybe on her deck. Just one month later she was teaching art to multiple small groups of kids a week and continued to teach 50-70 children a week in backyards, garages, parks, and more that fall of 2020 right up until Thanksgiving. Trusting her intuition and foreseeing the need for safe indoor programming that winter she opened up a small studio in the thick of the pandemic in December 2020 due to the need for in-person programming for those who felt safe participating.
The longer story:
Harbor Creative Arts was founded by and is currently operated by Rachel Armentano. While teaching middle school at a local private school, Rachel would fill notebooks with her idea for HCA. It was the dream of a place where she could bridge all of her experiences working in schools, museums, partner with community organizations, and apply her skills as a designer, professional development facilitator, mentor, and project and education consultant. For years leading up to this, in her spare time, she attended business classes and networked. Rachel worked out a proof of concept for Harbor Creative Arts by hosting pop-up art classes & art making events at local coffee shops and businesses on weekends, vacations, and afterschool. When she finally reached the point of practicing her business pitch with anyone she talked to she knew she was ready to give it a go full time.
What may look like an art teacher who just wanted to teach art on her own is actually a hefty, well-researched, well-edited plan, documented in a stack of diagram-filled sketch/notebooks and in discussions with handfuls of other business owners and educators. The growth in the first year was astounding. This past year we were able to renovate the studio and create an ideal space for our unique arts programming and community. As we start 2024, HCA hosts 100-170 children a week on average! The studio is currently managing this growth spurt and preparing ways to serve as many children and families as possible.
