The Batavia Artists Association at Water Street Studios incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit arts organization in the state of Illinois in 2009. Our mission is to make the arts accessible to the Fox Valley area and beyond. Our vision is to be a cultural hub in the Midwest. We provide art classes, exhibitions, artist studios, events, outreach and more. In our pursuit of inclusivity, we are proud to provide wheelchair accessibility and a gender-neutral bathroom so we can truly attract the best and welcome all.
Our Education program provides high-quality art classes for ages five to over sixty-five in a variety of mediums including drawing, printmaking, painting, ceramics, metal-working, jewelry-making, and more. We currently serve over 340 students from 35 surrounding towns through our paid programming including Aurora, DeKalb, Naperville, Joliet, Rockford, and more. Out of the over 340 students served 66% of our students live outside of Batavia. We support our artist community by employing over 30 art instructors from 10 surrounding towns including Downers Grove, West Chicago, Yorkville, and more.
Our Outreach program offers free art instruction for low-income families at Batavia Apartments as well as providing free arts programming to our surrounding community through over thirty strategic partnerships including local nonprofits, senior centers, public libraries, park districts, local businesses, and more. We provided 1,852 free art sessions over the last year through our eight free programming opportunities including Ripple Effect, open houses, Open Sketch, Batavia Library Art & Science Fair, and more.
We have 26 subsidized artist studios for emerging and professional artists to work in a highly creative and collaborative environment. We currently have 30 resident artists that live within a 25-mile radius of Batavia. Resident artists are given the opportunity to exhibit, sell artwork, teach classes and workshops, and participate in on-going events and fundraisers to further their own artistic businesses and passions.
We offer four, free monthly community events to make the arts accessible to our community including our Gallery Openings, Live Art Series, Waterline Writers, Open Sketch and unique rental space for private events such as weddings, business meetings, and parties. These events support our programming so we can continue to offer free events for families to create a sense of place in our community.
Water Street Studios is the only nonprofit community arts center in the area that provides all of these services to the Fox Valley area and beyond through high-quality arts programming. We are able to make the arts accessible to our community through high-quality programming because of the dedicated efforts of our staff, board members, donors, and volunteers.
A gift to the Water Street Studios Endowment Fund will help assure that this vibrant hub for the appreciation, creation, education and support of the arts, and our core community of artists, students and patrons will continue to grow, thrive and enrich the lives of everyone in our community.
My name is Jennifer Leek and I’m the art teacher at Nicholson Elementary School in Montgomery. When I learned my budget was getting cut, I set out to find a business that would help with donations. Water Street Studio happily stepped up. They have been wonderful beyond words to myself and my students. Not only did they help with supplies for a project for the whole school, they also offered classes for my students, who would never be able to do something like that if not donated.
Once a month with transportation paid for, I got to bring 12 students to Water Street Studio. Each month it was a new grade where they got to do an art project, meet the artists and see the gallery. This experience has been the most wonderful experience for my students. Watching their faces light up has been the highlight of my school year. The projects were so engaging and fun. The demonstrations by the artists were incredible. The whole experience has just blown us away!
On our way back to school I hear conversations of “how amazing it was, how fun, did you see that awesome piece of work, that artist was so cool, the was the best field trip”. If it wasn’t for Water Street Studios I could never have offered any of this to my students. Thank you so much for everything you have done for us.
Jen Whetsel Leek
Art
Nicholson Elementary School
Education is important to us. We support causes that touch our lives and align with our values. We believe in paying it forward. We are here for a short time,, and it is the next generation that will take on what we leave behind.
Michelle Emanuel
Donor and Past Scholarship Recipient
Being a part of the Community Foundation scholarship committee is the highlight of my year. For many, a scholarship from the CFFRV is the reason they are able to continue reaching for their dreams and changing the future of our world. I hope each recipients knows just how inspirational they are to those of us who are lucky enough to read their stories.
Jessica Breugelmans
Scholarship Committee Member and Board Member
YEP has made me realize the importance of being involved in my community, and how to make a difference. There are a lot of problems in the world but if we can do everything that we can to help the world will become a better place. YEP has helped me realize this and encouraged me to help more people in the future.
Madi Porter
YEP Member
Grant funds from the Community Foundation helped provide updated technology. These upgrades were transformative. By creating new time saving processes, it turned us into a more efficient organization.
Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry
Grantee
I am incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Zari Foundation Scholarship and the Community Foundation in supporting my education. I am majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerospace engineering at the Rose-Hulman Institue of Technology. In my spare time, I volunteer on campus, in the community and I’m also the principal violist in the symphony orchestra. I hope to make an impact on the next chapter of space exploration by eventually working at a groundbreaking aerospace company such as SpaceX or NASA.
Taytum Newell
Albert M. Zari Scholarship Recipient
YEP was a great experience to have in high school. I became a more confident person, someone with a lot more perspective. Coming from a small school, YEP allowed me to branch out into my community, meet students from other schools, and learn about their backgrounds. I made some great friends and still keep in touch with them today.
Abby Vagnoni
YEP Alumni
Give your gift of time and see what it means to the people you impact. Helping others is what life is all about.
Neal Ormond
Donor & Fund Advisor
Education is important to us. We support causes that touch our lives and align with our values. We believe in paying it forward. We are here for a short time,, and it is the next generation that will take on what we leave behind.
Michelle Emanuel
Donor and Past Scholarship Recipient
Being a part of the Community Foundation scholarship committee is the highlight of my year. For many, a scholarship from the CFFRV is the reason they are able to continue reaching for their dreams and changing the future of our world. I hope each recipients knows just how inspirational they are to those of us who are lucky enough to read their stories.