A Multi Arts Center: School, Gallery, Summer Day Camp & more! Follow us on Twitter @RoCA_Art_Centerl, Pinterest @ RoCAWestNyack & on YouTube...
Our History
RoCA is a multi-arts center dedicated to creating and promoting art through its School for The Arts, exhibitions, workshops, literary and performing arts events, Summer Arts Day Camp, and outreach programs.
Originally known as the Rockland Foundation, RoCA was founded in 1947 by a group of renowned artists, including Aaron Copland, Paulette Goddard, Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, Maxwell Anderson, and Helen Hayes. Their intention was to create a new cultural center, separate from New York City, taking advantage of the immense creative talent that had recently migrated to the region.
RoCA outgrew its Nyack storefront and moved in the 1950's to a ten-acre property in West Nyack. What began as a grassroots, volunteer organization has developed into the largest professionally staffed multi-arts center in the lower Hudson Valley.
RoCA attracts over 25,000 visitors and students annually from throughout the region. RoCA's School for the Arts and intensive Summer Arts Day Camp has an annual enrollment of over 2000. RoCA's Community Outreach Programs provide studio art programs to the underserved populations in the area. RoCA also administers the County 1% for Art, program that commissions public works of art.
"New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature."
The mission of Rockland Center for the Arts is to inspire, educate and enrich the community through creating, teaching and presenting the arts, and to provide opportunities for all people to experience and participate in the cultural life of our region.
RoCA believes that everyone has the potential to express themselves through the arts. RoCA is committed to the process of experiencing, responding to, creating, and presenting art. By providing a range of relevant, thought-provoking programs, RoCA engages the individual and the community through quality art experiences, while cultivating new audiences in personally meaningful ways.
art classes for adults and children, summer camp, art gallery, sculpture park
