HYDE PARK — The Hyde Park Art Center has provided most of its art classes to the community on a tuition-free, pay-what-you-can basis for the past two years.
Now, every course at the nonprofit art center will follow that model, establishing the center’s Oakman Clinton School and Studio as the first all-ages visual art school without a set tuition, officials said this week.
The Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., began offering pay-what-you-can courses through its Open Arts initiative in spring 2022 after raising $13.8 million.
The center raised more than $3 million in additional funds by the end of the year, exceeding the initial goal and allowing leaders to expand the initiative, officials said.
All art classes — of which the Oakman Clinton school offers more than 150 per year — have been transitioned to a pay-what-you-can model, leaders announced this week.
On-site and virtual courses for artists of all skill levels in painting, ceramics, photography and other media are available through the school. Instructors also offer professional development programs, such as one for working artists to improve their grant writing.
Adult classes previously cost about $300 on average for a 10-week course, with youth classes running about $200, then-Executive Director Kate Lorenz told Block Club in 2022.
Those rates were on par with programs at similar arts institutions, but “needless to say, it’s cost-prohibitive for many households,” Lorenz said.
“Our community asked us for better ways to alleviate the financial stress and economic barriers that can come with signing up for a class,” co-Executive Director Jen Tremblay Chambers said in a statement this week. “That was a call to action.
“We see first-hand every day the importance for people to be able to access their creativity and build deep relationships with peers and teachers. Many consider the school a second home, and we’re thrilled that tuition no longer gets in the way of their belonging.”
Before the Hyde Park Art Center implemented its tuition-free model, instructors sometimes struggled to fill their class rosters, which could lead to class cancellations, teaching artist Randall Miller said.
“That kind of unpredictability was frustrating for students — and difficult for me as the teaching artist — because I loved working with those students, and I needed steady work,” Miller said. “Now, my courses have waiting lists, and the students I’ve worked with for years have been able to maintain their work and sense of community.”
To register for courses through the Hyde Park Art Center, click here. To donate to the Open Arts initiative, click here.
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