Mission, Vision, Values

Mission

The Wassaic Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, uses art and arts education to foster positive social change. We nurture connections between our artists and our neighbors facilitating a mutual broadening of perspectives and respect across economic and cultural boundaries.

Vision

The Wassaic Project envisions a community in the Hamlet of Wassaic and its surrounding region that is socially inclusive, generous, cooperative, and economically vibrant.

We engage in a collaborative effort with members of our community to develop programs that are creative, experimental, and accessible across the economic spectrum.

We strive to be actively anti-racist and to have diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as an integral part of our programs and initiatives. We will continually evaluate, solicit feedback, and evolve our efforts to ensure their effectiveness.

We build local pride and community vitality by an informed sense of the past and a clear, contemporary, innovative, and compassionate look toward the future.

We foster the youth in our community and help them realize their full potential.

We aim to be financially stable with a creative staff and multiple partners — nonprofit, public, and private.

It is our hope that the work that we do in Wassaic will be shared nationwide and serve as a toolkit for community revitalization through the arts and the spirit of generosity. Above all else, we honor and respect our community.

Values

Take pride. We’re proud of the programs we run, the artists we support, and the community in which we live.

It’s better working together. We nurture partnerships between artists and our community rooted in the belief that collaboration, creativity, flexibility, and accessibility improve the reach and quality of our work and that connecting artists of diverse disciplines and viewers of varying backgrounds inspires new ways of looking at art and the world.

Be accessible in all we do. Aim to communicate equally with as broad an audience as possible, through our programming, events, and initiatives, regardless of race, gender, orientation, as well economic, mental, or physical ability.

Promote open conversation and dialogue. Connecting artists of diverse disciplines and viewers of varying backgrounds inspires new ways of looking at art and the world.

Be generous and respectful. We live in a diverse community and we celebrate that through our actions and our programs.

Be cool. We strive to be flexible, transparent, good-humored, and open-minded.

Create things that are wonderful!