The Art Base fosters creative expression in the visual arts for all ages and abilities.
The Art Base (formerly The Wyly Art Center), is a treasured community gathering place, housed in the old library building in historic downtown Basalt.
The Art Base fosters creative expression in the visual arts for all ages and abilities—providing a base of operations for artists in the Roaring Fork Valley through education, exhibitions and events that support and stimulate the vitality of our community.
We are working towards a higher concentration of arts in our community, with the goal of increased civic engagement, more social cohesion, higher child welfare and lower poverty rates.
An education rich in the arts, regardless of socioeconomic status, improves academic performance, lowers drop-out rates and elevates GPAs and standardized test scores.
The Art Base exhibits regional student, emerging, and established artists—are gallery openings are always on the second Friday of each month. We host free community art events and offer visual arts workshops for adults and children. We serve a highly diverse community that includes three Title I Schools with approximately 40% of students eligible for the Free or Reduced Lunch Program.
The Art Base also provides art classes for the at-risk and under-served, including the developmentally disabled, teen parents and youth in addiction recovery.
A combination of arts organizations, cultural events, and creative businesses has been shown to dramatically increase the financial vibrancy of the towns and cities in which they are located.
We support our local artists!
Thank you for believing in the power of the arts!
