Main Street Arts History

Since 1988, Main Street Arts has anchored cultural life in Rockingham, VT, and the surrounding towns. The only multidisciplinary, lifespan arts education center in Windham County, MSA is an intersection of diverse folks. 

The 1850 building at 35 Main Street in Saxtons River had been a butcher shop and then an Odd Fellows lodge. Two Vermont Academy teachers, Mary Hepburn and Karen Lanterman, acquired the building in 1988 and founded Main Street Arts. Hepburn went on to lead the organization for many years. Around 2014, MSA expanded the building to be fully ADA-accessible, including an elevator to the second-floor theater. As community needs and demographics have changed, MSA has adapted to meet them, including a period focused on theater programming. MSA  developed a new strategic plan following the COVID-19 pandemic, with the mission “to strengthen personal and community wellbeing through diverse arts experiences and social connection.”

Today,  MSA offers more than 20 tuition-based classes at our arts center while partnering with local organizations to provide free, community-based programming that responds directly to local needs. Every year, approximately 30 exceptional teaching artists engage around 3,000 participants through high-quality arts experiences.

At MSA, children performing in theater and music programs learn alongside older adults playing in a string band or creating linocut prints. Bringing people together—within programs and across generations—is central to our mission. Lasting friendships are formed in classes, meaningful mentoring relationships develop between participants and teaching artists, and culminating performances create opportunities for people of different ages and abilities to connect. We are deeply committed to making the arts accessible to all by reducing barriers to participation, reaching historically underserved communities, and fostering a welcoming environment where everyone feels they belong.