ArtReach​

  How Art Plus Gallery and our supporters make the scene brighter
​for thousands of others in Berks County every year.

​Since 1999, Art Plus has been on a mission. The 25 members of our artist cooperative do more than share gallery space. We are also dedicated to promoting art appreciation and participation throughout the Berks community in general, and among students in particular.
 
Three things make this mission possible:

1. Dedicated member artists. We donate 25% of our gallery sales, pay monthly dues and run the gallery without compensation
2. We hold periodic fundraisers
3. We have great “Friends of Art Plus Gallery”

These efforts of our artists and supporters go a long way, while staying right here in Berks County.

• A $500 Art Plus Gallery Scholarshipis awarded annually to a Berks high school senior going on to pursue a Fine Arts major in college.
• Each year an Internship is given to a Fine Arts major to give them real world experience in the business side of an art gallery.
• The annual “Nature of Nolde” Student Art Contest draws dozens of schools and thousands of students to “capture the nature of Nolde Forest in art.” Working with our state’s leading environmental education center and the Friends of Nolde Forest, Art Plus reaches schools county-wide, coordinates the finalists, hangs and judges the show, and provides part of the prize money.
• Our members coordinate Plein Air West Reading, the keystone event in Art on the Avenue that brings more artists and art appreciators, some from hundreds of miles away.
• The Berks County Art Scene map that we designed, printed and distributed county-wide without cost shows everywhere that you can find and buy original artwork.
• We share our Featured Exhibit Gallery with several schools, community organizations and/or guest artists each year.
• We engage parents and kids alike in art-related activities in West Reading’s wildly popular “Art on the Avenue” and “Fall Fest.” When there’s an event like Sand Fest or Ice & Spice, you can bet that we have a hand or two in it.
• Dues-free fellowships are offered to artists in financial need.
• Our artists speak at community clubs, hold workshops and demos, and help support charitable events.