Keefe Says He Will Back Beachmont Arts Center Project

By Adam Swift

The future of a community arts center at the old Beachmont Fire Station is still in play, according to Council President and imminent Acting Mayor Patrick Keefe.

The arts center in Beachmont has been a major goal for Ward 1 Councilor and Public Arts Commission Chair Joanne McKenna. The city was working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) on a study for an arts center at the old fire station.

But at a City Council meeting earlier this month, McKenna stated that Mayor Brian Arrigo axed the study in retribution for McKenna’s vote against moving forward with plans for a new high school at the Wonderland site.

Following McKenna’s comments at the April 3 council meeting, Arrigo stated that  as long as he was in office, he would continue to work with community members and organizations to bring a vibrant arts space to the long-vacant Beachmont Fire Station and that it was never his intention to suggest otherwise. 

An email from Arrigo to Hannah Gathman at the MAPC dated March 23 of this year does state that the city was canceling the working group meetings on the Beachmont fire station project for the foreseeable future because “the city is unable to commit the resources to see this project move forward.”

Earlier this week, McKenna said she has talked to Keefe about the possibility to get the funding to move forward once again with the MAPC visioning process for the fire station.

She noted that there have been months of community meetings with Revere residents and organizations about the future of the building and the possibility of using it as a community arts space.

“I’d hate to see so much work go to waste,” McKenna said. “I hope we can get it up and running again. It’s a beautiful building, too.”

McKenna added that a recent engineering analysis also determined that the building was structurally safe.

In addition to the funding from MAPC for the study process, McKenna said that the city could possibly use community development funds to kickstart the process of converting the fire station to a community arts center that could be used for performance and studio space.

For his part, on Tuesday Keefe said he will be backing efforts to make the community arts center in Beachmont a reality. “Revere youth and the Beachmont community deserve an all-encompassing art space in the City of Revere, and there is not a better location than the old Beachmont Fire Station,” said Keefe. “Although this project has halted more recently, I will make sure to work collaboratively with the Beachmont neighborhood, Councillor McKenna, and MAPC to reignite this process and finally bring this arts center to life.”