Welcome to the Arts Center of the Capital Region.

The Arts Center of the Capital Region operates with a simple principle: art belongs to everyone.

From our mission to our values to our programs, we view the Arts Center as a creative and responsive organization with deep roots in the community, exciting collaborations and an expansive vision of how the arts can flourish in our region by helping to foster a supportive, inclusive and livable community.

We unapologetically advocate for the well-being of artists and for increased public participation in the making of art. We are a Regional Community Regrant partner for New York State Council on the Arts, the organizational partner for public art for the City of Troy, the co-chair of the Troy Cultural Alliance, and our CEO, Elizabeth Reiss, serves as the President of ArtsNYS, a statewide advocacy organization.

Our goal is to create a robust creative community that intersects, informs, and inspires the public while fostering growth in our artists and transforming our community’s cultural understanding and expression.

We achieve this goal through four core programmatic areas:

  • arts in the public realm, in which we develop public art and exhibitions with and for the public

  • community projects, in which we foster neighborhood engagement

  • arts education, in which we offer hundreds of classes a year for all ages and abilities, including community college and public-school programs, and

  • artists’ services, in which we provide funding and training services for artists, who are the foundation of our work.

During the darkest days of the COVID closures and confusion, we took a step back and asked ourselves–why do we do what we do? To answer this question, we developed a new set of guiding principles that remind us every day why we are here, and who we hope to be. In sharing these, we are sharing our deepest hopes for all of us.  We hope you see yourself when you read these.

We, the Arts Center of the Capital Region:

  • believe that the arts can connect people, foster understanding, and create change in our community.

  • understand that people define art in their own way and that our role is to encourage an open-ended dialogue of these multiple and open-ended meanings.

  • believe that every person can be creative and we respect each individual’s artistic investigation and expression.

  • acknowledge that there are many kinds of successes for an artist, and we strive to help artists reach their own goals, from creative output to financial success to simply living well.

  • strive to build an environment in which people can be comfortable, take risks and cross-pollinate.

  • are committed to the well-being of Troy as our core community and the Capital Region as our whole community.

  • share its resources to foster the growth of artists and emerging organizations so they can contribute to the cultural expression in communities and neighborhoods where they live and operate.

  • are a reliable partner that values relationship building, collaborating and supporting sustainability in the arts in the community.

  • stand on our legacy as a leader in the arts community, and works to maintain our role with integrity, generosity and innovative thinking.

The Arts Center of the Capital Region was founded in 1962 as the Rensselaer County Council on the Arts in Troy, NY, a gritty riverfront city, that, like many in upstate NY, had been devastated by the loss of its manufacturing base.  From 1910 to 2000, Troy lost 35% of its population and much of its downtown was shuttered. It was then that the Arts Center boldly purchased 6 contiguous storefronts and rehabilitated half of the available square footage into 30,000 square feet of studios, galleries and performance spaces that draw 40,000 visitors a year and directly contribute to the economic well-being of Troy.

We value our role as a downtown anchor. We are open to the public six days a week, our gallery exhibitions and community events are free, and we regularly allow use of our facilities for no cost.  We even provide artists furniture and art making equipment through a formal lending program.  Our drive to act as a beacon of activity for Troy was most acutely felt in 2020, when downtown Troy was temporarily shutdown by the COVID pandemic, and then completely boarded up during protests in response to the murder of George Floyd.  We responded to this tumultuous time by reopening our facility in June, 2020, with cooperation and funding from the City of Troy so that we could produce an outdoor socially distant art plaza to reignite downtown life.

Troy is one city in a four-city cluster that comprises the NYS Capital Region, approximately 150 miles north of NYC.  The cities of Albany, Schenectady, Troy and Saratoga are surrounded by suburban and rural areas.  The Arts Center serves the entire region through our NYS regrant program, artist training initiatives, exhibitions and public art development and as a site for studio-based classes for all.

The Arts Center of the Capital Region. 265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180. (518) 273-0552

Facebook Instagram Twitter