The Beachwood High School Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) in the year 1964-65, embarked on a fund-raising project, the results of which far exceeded their modest expectations. Marilyn Caplane and Adele Rosenberg, co-chairs of fund-raising, with the assistance of Lucy Hart, launched a one-day art festival and sale on Sunday, October 25,1964, in the cafeteria of the High School.

This project had been planned not only as a means of accumulating much needed funds, but also in the hopes of promoting and developing cultural awareness and growth in the community. Works from artists of Greater Cleveland plus that of Beachwood students were displayed to appreciative crowds. Adding to the excite­ment of the day, artists Robert Laessig and Fred Leach each donated one of their paintings to the High School.

This initial experiment became the start of a series of ten fine arts weekends, the last held in 1976. They included dance, drama, symphony and jazz. Subsequent shows featured demonstrations of ancient crafts, wood carving, glass blowing, portrait sketching, silent films and mixed media light shows. Preview nights included delicious refreshments prepared by devoted and talented women of the community. Refreshments were also offered in a bistro operated by students under the supervision of the Home Economics department.

Needless to say, each festival weekend surpassed the previous one in scope and depth. The ever-broad­ening dimensions of the fine arts weekends, the vast amount of time and energy required to plan and carry out each one, and the constant hope of each worker that a culturally oriented group could become a permanent and dynamic force in the Beachwood community, resulted in the formation of the Beachwood Arts Council.

The Beachwood Arts Council was chartered by the State of Ohio as a non-profit corporation on July 12, 1968. The Fine Arts Weekend held on February 22 and 23, 1969, was the first to be sponsored by this newly chartered  organization. To foster and encourage the development of all the major art forms became its mission.

Meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Beachwood Arts Council were held in private homes or other available places. When the Beachwood City Council moved into the new city hall on Richmond Road, the Arts Council was given the option of remodeling and refurbishing the old city hall for its own use. During the years 1976 to 1979 fund-raisers such as auctions, raffles, direct solicitations and cocktail parties raised enough to enable the group to have the necessary changes made to the building. On October 28, 1979, the organization moved into its own home. Originally called the Beachwood Museum, the name was later changed to the Beachwood Center for the Arts.

Building on its beginnings as an Arts Festival and Sale in 1964 to benefit the Beachwood High School Parent Teacher Association, and with the support of the Beachwood School Board, which at that time and for several years afterwards, generously permitted the Arts Council to use the High School for their weekend festivals, a rich and varied schedule of activities became the hallmark of the Beachwood Arts Council.

Since its inception the Beachwood Arts Council has consistently sponsored shows of the highest caliber artists, dancers and musicians of the Greater Cleveland area as well as some from other parts of the country. Its members have led many arts oriented tours, encouraged youth groups and have been an aggressive force for cultural enrichment in Beachwood.

The charter members of The Beachwood Arts Council devoted many hours to the cultivation of the multiple activities and achievements which materialized during the early years. However, a significant driving force must be credited to its original director, Lucy Hart. She was knowledgeable and energetic in her leader­ship. Her instincts about unknown artists, who would later become well known, were unerring and truly visionary.

On September 1, 2001, our show, “Celebrate! Honoring Our Past, Looking To Our Future,” was a tribute to those who helped us become a viable and respected artistically oriented force in the Greater Cleve­land Community.

In 2003 our gallery in the historic city hall building was demolished to make way for the expansion of the Beachwood municipal complex, and we were without a home.  Despite the fact that we were not able to mount any gallery exhibits, we continued to have many other activities including visits to other galleries and exhibits and art tours to view private and corporate collections .  We also initiated our Beachwood Arts Council Film Festival with showings of foreign and independent films not heretofore shown in the Cleveland area.

In September 2006 the City of Beachwood remodeled and expanded their community center adjacent to the City Hall, and included a beautiful new art gallery.  Our first exhibit there opened on October 21, 2006 with the showing of paintings of Kathy Skerritt, an outstanding local artist.