Behind the Rise Up Community Art studio's move to downtown Wausau
The Rise Up Community Art Studio’s new downtown Wausau location had a pretty sizable crowd in its new space Saturday.
That day was the grand opening of the studio, which is now located in the former Voss Studios photography business location, and community art kicked off the very next day.
The community art studio is the latest project for Rise Up Central Wisconsin, which kicked off in 2017. The non-profit formed initially taking inspiration from a program in Philadelphia which aimed to tackle addiction by giving people a project to work on — painting murals in the community.
Rise Up did plenty of that — it’s pretty hard to walk around town in Wausau these days without running into one of the murals. Not far from the new community art studio is the Verizon building near Scott Street, where one of Rise Up’s community murals adorns an entire face.
Start of the Rise Up Community Art Studio
The murals eventually led to the community art studio. The murals were a community project — an artist would design the mural to be a paint-by-numbers project and then community members would come paint. The project gave many children with difficult home situations a place to be in peace, said Rise Up President/Founder Tara Draeger. Draeger told The Wausonian that when some of those projects were done, some of the kids would wonder, well now what?
Rise Up opened its physical space in Whitewater Music Hall in 2021 and eventually opened a community art studio for local artists to make use of.
The move to the former Voss Studios building
Whitewater Music Hall’s owners surprised many when they announced they would be closing the music hall. While they kept the building and existing tenants using the building could stay, Draeger said they wanted to have the studio in a space with more traffic.
Then the perfect place opened up.
“This is it,” Draeger said when she first walked through the building. Emily Voss has had the building on the market for some time. Rise Up decided it was a great place for the community art studio.
What’s in the art studio and who is it for?
Draeger on a Thursday morning gave The Wausonian a tour of the facilities. There is a front space with tables and desks where people can work. Paintings from community members who earn their living off of their art adorn the walls. A loom rests against the wall.
The walls are colorful, giving an art vibe to the room.
There is a painting studio in the room directly behind it, and then in the back is a photography studio with a continuous wall and some equipment from her studio. Draeger says they plan to rent that area out to photographers who need some studio space.
But other than that, everything at the studio is free, including the art supplies. I ask if people are skeptical of that or feel funny about that. Draeger said they get a mix of reactions:
I think both. I think some people are like, Yes, finally, a place to create. And then some people are like, oh, I'm not an artist. I can't, I’m intimidated, I can't go in there, because I'm not an artist. So I think that's the piece of like, this is for everyone. You don't have to be an artist, you can create, and you don't have to know how to create.
Draeger says the studio has artists of all ages who gravitate toward different activities. There are older artists who create quilts in the space, and artists of all ages who paint or partake in other art activities at the studio.
Where is the Rise Up Community Art Studio?
The Rise Up Community Art Studio is located at 622 N. Third Street, Wausau. It’s across the street from Downtown Grocery, and between Evolutions and Design and Nichole’s Boutique.
The studio is still working on regular days/hours but in the meantime, you can check the Rise Up Facebook page for updates on open studio times.
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