Arts and Culture


•  Worcester Center for Crafts. New England's Center for crafts
   education, advocacy and entrepreneurship. Worcester State
   University works with the center to provide art education to the
   students and well as the community as a whole.

•  Mechanics Hall is a beloved historic destination in the heart of
   Worcester’s downtown. It is considered “an acoustical
   masterpiece” and is known for its inspirational beauty. It hosts a
   wide variety of classical and jazz acts, charitable events, and
   theatrical performances. It is available for weddings, banquets, and
   corporate meetings.

•  Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts  showcases all performing
   arts across the spectrum including Blue Man Group, Rock of Ages,
   Author Jodi Picoult, Shrek the musical, and The Nutcracker. It was
   founded by two Worcester State University alumni, Paul Demoga
   ’67 and Edward Madaus, M.Ed. ’72. (Read about Paul and Ed’s
   vision to restore this historical cultural venue in the fall 2008 issue
  of WSU’s alumni magazine, “The Statement.”)

•  The Worcester Art Museum holds over 35,000 pieces of art from
    over a 5,000-year time span. Visitors may “view paintings by
    Cassatt, Gauguin, Goya, Monet, Sargent and Whistler; admire
    floor mosaics from the ancient city of Antioch; see cutting-edge
    contemporary art; and discover the museum's many other
    treasures.”

•  The Worcester Historical Museum, founded in 1875, is dedicated
    to preserving, interpreting and collecting Worcester’s history in all
    time periods and subject areas. The museum has a research
    library that consists of a research collection of some 6,000
    published titles, a photograph collection of over 200,000 prints,
    and approximately 4,000 linear feet of non-published documents
    in a variety of forms.

•  The Higgins Armory Museum boasts a “collection, some 4,000
    pieces in all. Visitors can view major examples of arms and armor
    from medieval and Renaissance Europe, Ancient Greece and
    Rome, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Japan. The museum
    also offers special programs and educational tours/field trips for
    students around New England.

•  ARTS Worcester’s Aurora Gallery “is the only professionally
    managed non-profit gallery in Central Massachusetts in which fine,
    performing, and literary artists can exhibit new work. Programming
    also includes open studio tours, lectures, concerts, collaborative
    arts festivals, and professional workshops.” It also runs Worcester
    Windows, a community gallery program that uses storefronts
    throughout downtown Worcester as exhibit space to enhance the
    City’s downtown and to provide display opportunities for local
    emerging and established artists. Worcester State University
    visual arts majors have volunteered as curators and contributed
    artworks to this program.

•  Saint Joseph’s Abbey is the residence to Roman Catholic
    monastery of monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict
    Observance, popularly known as Trappists. Come visit the
    beautiful rolling hills of Spencer and the exquisite design of the
    monastery.