Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education
Making Art and Community Happen

Our Vision, Mission and Values

Vision Statement
Hubbard Hall will be a model for how rural arts and education centers enrich their region through artistic creativity, innovation, excellence, collaboration, and inclusiveness.

Mission Statement
Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education brings together people across generations and backgrounds, by cultivating vibrant artistic expression and offering inspiring experiences.

We honor the traditions of Hubbard Hall by:

  • Producing and presenting a wide range of high-quality performances
  • Offering a variety of classes including theater, music, dance, wellness, and visual arts
  • Nurturing creativity and encouraging innovation in artists
  • Supporting financial, physical, and cultural accessibility to the arts
  • Engaging with the community through meaningful gatherings, and
  • Stewarding our historic campus as a vital community asset

Values Statement
Art enriches society, and we believe that:

  • Community is the Heart: We are not just a venue that serves a community; we are a community that makes art. Audiences, artists, students, staff, and volunteers create Hubbard Hall together.
  • Mastery Matters: We honor craft. We commit to rigor, skill development, and professional excellence. World-class work can and does happen in small towns.
  • All Voices are Nurtured: We teach. We mentor. We make space for emerging artists and lifelong learners to grow side by side.
  • Courage Lives Here: We are a safe haven for risk taking. We support artists who experiment, challenge norms, and tell stories that matter. We believe rural spaces can lead cultural innovation.
  • Diversity is Our Strength: We bring together different art forms, lived experiences, and ways of thinking. Creative cross-pollination makes us stronger.
  • Inclusion Is Action: We reduce financial, physical, sensory, and social barriers so people of all ages, identities, and abilities can participate fully and authentically.

Productions and Presentations –
Theater, Music, Opera, Dance, and the Visual Arts

Since 1878 Hubbard Hall has developed, produced, and presented theater, music, dance, and the visual arts and in recent years has become a world-class development center for new work. Since 1977, Hubbard Hall’s current 501(c)(3) has engaged thousands of artists, students, and audience members in acclaimed productions of theater, opera, music, and dance.

Education

Our education programs are at the heart of our work, as we engage learners of all ages in hundreds of classes and workshops annually, both on campus and off.

Classes on Campus

As a training ground for both young and seasoned artists, Hubbard Hall continues to develop a new generation of artists and audiences while providing opportunities for individuals to take new risks and grow beyond their comfort zone. Through classes in dance, theater, music, movement, visual arts, puppetry, creative writing, martial arts, yoga, and even gardening, Hubbard Hall gives students of all ages an opportunity to learn, collaborate, and grow.

School Programs

In addition to offering student matinees and scholarships for students to attend some of our fee-based classes, we provide free programs in the classroom, including playwriting and performance-based programming. By offering arts education programming in schools and throughout our region, we connect more deeply with our community and give students throughout the region the opportunity to learn and grow through the arts. We also partner with Bennington and Skidmore Colleges to provide professional theater training to their undergraduate students. We provide professional fellowships for current students and recent graduates as well.

Facilities

Hubbard Hall operates four buildings across our campus, including the original 1878 opera house and three revitalized freight yard buildings containing dance, music, and visual arts studios, offices, arts exhibit spaces, and a black box theater. We also own and operate the Cambridge Community Garden, a collaborative garden managed entirely by volunteers and engaging hundreds of students each year with opportunities to grow and harvest their own vegetables. Recognized as an arts institution in the state of New York, Hubbard Hall is a national model for community-based arts organizations.

People

We have a staff of 5, with four part-time and one full-time, a hardworking board of directors, a large company of artists and teaching artists, hundreds of students, and an army of volunteers who make everything possible at the Hall. Please consider joining our team.

Support

Our annual budget relies on 50% earned and 50% contributed income – a great but challenging balance. We rely on many individual donations, grants, and volunteers to do what we do. Please consider supporting us with a gift of any size. You can give at hubbardhall.org, in person, or over the phone at 518-677-2495.