EASTHAMPTON — It is no secret to locals that a cultural revolution has taken place inside Easthampton’s mills, as artists, restaurants, business owners and everyone in between have claimed spaces in the buildings to call them home.
That includes tenants of Eastworks, more than 40 of whom will pull back the curtain this weekend to welcome community members into their creative operations during an event known as Open Studios.
“This is just a great event for the community to come and see what our tenants have been up to for the last year and support arts and culture,” said Brittany Arita, a member of the Eastworks Open Studios Committee, which organizes the event.
The annual tradition at Eastworks, located at 116 Pleasant St., will take place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitors can explore the mill building to discover everything it offers. Arita said it is hard to summarize the wide variety of work every tenant brings, which includes painting, photography, pottery, jewelers, musical instrument refurbishing, glass work, photobooth curating, a skate park club, exercise businesses, nonprofits and more.
Several restaurants inside the building will be open during the event and many food trucks will attend as additional options for visitors, Arita said.
The event draws hundreds of people from near and far each year. Arita said that even people familiar with Eastworks often leave Open Studios having discovered something new.
“Open Studios has been around a while so if you’ve been every year, you’re still going to find something new,” Arita said.
Open Studios started about a decade ago and has been held annually in different fashions, though it has taken some years off, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Arita said.
Arita said the event has always been spearheaded by multiple tenants like her, and although she only joined the organizing committee in 2023, the event has already grown since then. There are multiple new tenants this year, such as Bridgeburners Bookshop, Ryan Stratton of Photobooth Northampton and others.
Also new to Eastworks this year are a number of murals on the inside and outside of the building, painted by tenant Bright Matter Studio.
“There’s always new people that want to come and participate. Having more restaurants in the building definitely adds to it but it’s definitely a big collaborative effort,” Arita said.
Arita encourages visitors to find the Open Studios booklet upon arrival, a guide to help people find every location on each floor of the building.
Pasqualina Azzarello, arts and culture program director for Easthampton, said Open Studios is a touchstone event for arts and culture in the city. The event coincides with Easthampton City Arts monthly Art Walk, a tour throughout the city displaying different artists. Azzarello encourages visitors of Art Walk to stop by Open Studios, and vice versa.
“We strongly encourage everyone to head on out to Eastworks Open Studios to support our lovely community of talented artists,” Azzarello said. “We recognize this as a touchstone annual opportunity to support local arts and culture and we encourage people to support local artwork.”
There are multiple entrances to Eastworks with free parking in the front and back of the building, with accessible entrances and elevators. For more information, visit eastworksopenstudios.com.
