Agency Details:

Cook Arts Center, Formerly The Grandville Avenue Academy For The Arts

The mission of Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities is to transform lives in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood through reading and the arts and by celebrating the community's cultural richness.

Description:
Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities (GAAH) administers the programs of the Cook Arts Center (formerly the Grandville Avenue Academy for the Arts) and the Cook Library Center (formerly the Grandville Avenue Neighborhood Library). GAAH's mission is transforming lives in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood through reading and the arts and by celebrating the community's cultural richness.

The board, staff and volunteers of GAAH have a vision for the life-changing power of reading and the arts. The Cook Library Center and the Cook Arts Center will be nurturing environments for children, adults and families in the neighborhood, the Latino community and beyond, acting as greenhouses of lifelong learning.

The Arts Center will provide creative, diverse programs to encourage and showcase neighborhood residents' artistic talents. The Arts Academy will celebrate and cherish the neighborhood's rich ethnic heritage and its colorful rainbow of cultures.

The Library Center will be a community resource that promotes literacy and intellectual development and will provide services and programs that meet the needs and interests of the Grandville Avenue neighborhood. It will be a safe place for children, adults and families to learn and enjoy themselves.

History:
The seeds for Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities were planted in the mid 1990s when the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association and the Grand Rapids Dominicans began working together. Their mission was to improve the lives of children and young people in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood, an underserved area bordered by Wealthy Street, Burton Street, Century Avenue, and Godfrey/Clyde Park avenues. Their first accomplishment was building the Grandville Avenue Neighborhood Library that opened in October of 1996. The Library continues to provide neighborhood children with a safe, beautiful environment in which they can read, learn, and make friends.

Then in 2001 the Grandville Avenue Academy for the Arts, located a mile north of the Library, opened its doors. The Arts Academy complemented the Library’s goal of intellectual development by celebrating creative expression, both of the individual and of the community. In the meantime, in 1999 a group of dedicated community leaders formed Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities, the umbrella organization that administers the programs of the Library and the Arts Academy.

Today GAAH is reaping the benefits of the firm foundation on which the organization was built. GAAH’s board, staff, and volunteers are passionate about the mission and the work they do at the Library and the Arts Academy. In addition, the community has demonstrated its commitment to GAAH through generous financial support that has kept the organization financially viable and has allowed for expansion of programs and services for the neighborhood and in the broader community.

Although GAAH is a relatively young organization, its unique niche in the community has set it apart as a model and a leader in its field. The Library continues to be a quiet presence in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood that has a lasting impact on the children there. The Arts Academy has emerged as a multidisciplinary and multicultural arts center with a reputation for excellence.

The future of GAAH is bright as the board and staff continue to adapt to the needs of the Grandville Avenue neighborhood. GAAH demonstrates a healthy balance of planning for the future and opening itself to new opportunities in this ever-changing environment.

Contact person: Amy Brower, Program Director, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (616) 742-5499

Address:

644 Grandville Avenue SW Grand Rapids, MI 49503 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.gaah.org

Directions:

The Grandville Avenue Academy for the Arts is located on Grandville Avenue between Franklin Street and Wealthy Street. We are located on the corner of Grandville Avenue and Graham Street, just west of the US 131 Franklin Street exit.   Nearest Bus Stop: #10 Bus Line, 0 minute walk

Last updated on May 13, 2009