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Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, MD.

The Montpelier Arts Center (MAC) is a multi-faceted arts facility housed in a barn on the grounds of the 18th century, Georgian-style Montpelier Mansion, just north of Washington, DC. The center is owned and operated by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC).

History

Local community arts groups, along with the MNCPPC, sought to revitalize the Montpelier Mansion grounds. Plans were drawn up to renovate an old, turn-of the-century cow barn into a new community arts facility and ground was broken in 1976. However, before construction could take place, teenagers smoking on the grounds set the old barn on fire, destroying most of the structure. The only structure to survive was the ceramic tile silo. Community leaders went back to the drawing board and the State of Maryland approved funding for an architectural plan detailing a new building on the original outline of the barn and incorporating the surviving silo. Ground was broken in 1979 and the Montpelier Arts Center opened its doors later that year. Since then the Montpelier Arts Center has been providing quality arts programming for citizen's of Prince George's County and the surrounding Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area.

Program Offerings

The center houses three art galleries which offer over twenty-five fine arts and history exhibitions a year. MAC provides below-market value work studios for area artists to lease. The public is encouraged to engage the artists in conversation and learning. Montpelier offers classes every season in a variety of arts and craft topics ranging from Bronzecasting to Watercolor. Concerts are offered throughout the year to the public through the Montpelier Jazz Series, the Montpelier Classical Recital Series, and the Montpelier Folk and Blues Series. The center also records performances to CD and releases them on Montpelier's own JazzMont record label.

Arts programs of the MNCPPC are supported in part by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrives.