About Weehawken
At Weehawken Creative Arts, we are in the business of changing lives, nurturing dreams, and helping kids and adults in Ouray County and neighboring communities discover their creative potential through the arts.
We offer transformative, individualized arts education programming led by extraordinary instructors, as well as a variety of art-inspired events. More than that, we offer a place for you to find your very own community of kindred spirits, wherever your artistic passion lies.
Weehawken Creative Arts was founded in 2004 by Susie Opdahl, a creative dynamo who retired to Ouray from Oregon with her husband, Jim, in the late ‘90s. Susie had a vision to actively engage her new community and help it prosper by creating a program that would offer arts education opportunities for locals and visitors alike. With the help of a dedicated board of directors, her idea found fertile ground and soon grew from dream to reality in the form of a new nonprofit organization.
Today, our programs are offered in Ridgway, Ouray, Montrose and Silverton and we regularly draw students from those communities and beyond for both classes and our signature special events. Additionally, we run a gallery space in Ridgway called The 610 Arts Collective which serves hundreds of artists annually.
Meet Our Staff
Locations
Classroom Spaces:
1075 Sherman Street, Ste 201, Ridgway (no staff onsite)
145 N. Cora Street, Ridgway (no staff onsite)
Omni, Apex and Summit Rooms at the MRD Field House, 25 Colorado Ave, Montrose (staff onsite with programs)
1309 Mayfly Drive, Montrose, CO (no staff onsite)
Aerial Ouray / Hypoxia, 1900 Main Street, Ouray (no staff onsite)
472 Main Street, Ouray (The Wright Opera House), enter at the backside of the building, lower level (no staff onsite)
CONTACT:
970-318-0150 (leave a message) or email questions@weehawkenarts.org
In-person staff works at The 610 Arts Collective Gallery at 610 Clinton Street, Ridgway (Tues-Fri, 10-5) and at MRD Field House (with afternoon/evening programming in-session during the school year. We do not have standard hours in the summer at the Field House — though we are happy to set a time to meet you in-person).
Mission & Vision
The Mission of Weehawken Creative Arts is to provide high-quality arts education, personal growth programs and cultural events while playing a leadership role in the arts within our communities year round.
Our Vision is that Weehawken Creative Arts is a sustainable organization that acts as a conduit for creativity within our community.
Board of Directors
- Marti O’Leary President
- Courtney Meyers Vice President
- Sandy Kern Treasurer
- Rhea Bothe Secretary
- Mary Aliota Member at Large
- Kevin Koprek Member at Large
- Lissette Riviere Member at Large
Interested in serving on our board or other active participation with Weehawken?
970-318-0308 (ask for Ashley)
questions@weehawkenarts.org
The Sherbino Theater/Ridgway Chautauqua Society Partnership
A serious movement has been afoot within Ouray County for arts organizations to cooperate in the areas of event planning, scheduling, marketing, coordination, and event staffing. Willing to lead, Weehawken-RCS/Sherbino took the spirit of collaboration a step further and entered into an Agreement for Collaboration, Cooperation & Cost Sharing (MOU) in the fall of 2014.
Ten years later, The Sherbino and Weehawken have partnered with sharing a staff team, a shared office space, a shared gallery space and some shared community/fundraising events. The two organizations also share mutually beneficial programming, and are taking advantage of economies-of-scale efficiencies wherever possible.
Most-recently, Weehawken and Sherbino identified a key property to future-keeping and future-planning and made a shared property acquisition at 145 N. Cora, Ridgway — which is referred to as The Annex on Cora.
