Broadmoor Improvement Association photo
(image via Broadmoor Improvement Association)
The Broadmoor Improvement Association’s long-awaited renovation of the former St. Mathias School on General Taylor Street into a new Arts & Wellness Center will open to the public Monday, June 1., officials announced.
Tenants began moving into the space this week. For details about the facility, see the news release from the organization below:
Health, wellness, culture and creativity are headed to the Broadmoor neighborhood.
The Broadmoor Improvement Association (BIA) is opening the Arts & Wellness Center (AWC), an 11,500-square-foot facility located at 3900 General Taylor. The center, which is located on the second floor of the former St. Mathias School, is designed to enrich the community at every life stage by bringing together innovative, creative programs and holistic wellness services in one vibrant collaborative space.
AWC will offer workshop space for practicing artists as well as classes for aspiring artists and creative professionals, personal and mental health counseling/support, yoga and fitness classes, and office space for arts organizations and non-profits.
In addition to housing the BIA administrative office, the AWC will include a dance and fitness studio, recreational and educational programs, counseling offices, conference space, holistic wellness pods. Other tenants include Young Audiences, Community Works, Center for Restorative Approaches, Thibodeaux School of Music and Early Learning Focus.
Broadmoor’s Arts & Wellness Center features:
- A 780-square-foot movement room for community dance, theater and fitness classes or rehearsals and performances
- Two 130-square-foot counseling offices with a waiting area
- Four 120-square-foot holistic wellness pods available for rent to holistic wellness practitioners (massage, acupuncture, reiki, etc.)
- One 750-square-foot multipurpose area for creative arts classes, conferences, meetings and events
“In addition to creating a new home for New Orleans’ arts and wellness practitioners, the project eliminates the largest piece of blight in the Broadmoor neighborhood,” said Emily Wolff, executive director of BIA. “Like the rest of the neighborhood, the school flooded during Hurricane Katrina and sat abandoned and neglected until we targeted it for re-use and renovation. We worked in partnership with Blessed Trinity Church and the Archdiocese of New Orleans to pull together the $2 million in funds needed for renovation.”
BIA anticipates serving more than 350 participants each day. Community members interested in teaching dance classes or creative arts workshops can rent space inside the center, and the facility’s multipurpose room is available to rent as a rehearsal room, counseling office, or conference or event space.
The facility will begin offering classes in June.
