On any given day at the Waupaca Arts Hub, you might find students learning an instrument or 3D‑printing a dragon. You could see a pottery class going on, a musical performance, or children making something out of cardboard or other materials set aside just for them in a “Create‑and‑Grow Space.”
“My favorite story is, a couple kids found a spider and built a house for it,” says Carol Coulliard, executive director of the Waupaca Arts Hub. “I mean, how cute is that? They had plans. One kid had a suit of armor that he made; someone made a toy for their cat.”
The Arts Hub is “a baby” of the two‑decade‑old Waupaca Community Arts Board and was created by Laura Reynolds and her sister‑in‑law, Marci, five years ago following a discussion about artistic opportunities for kids in the area. “It was very easy for kids who had an interest in sports to get involved and do things,” Reynolds says. “There were fewer opportunities for those kids who had an interest in music or in art.”
The Arts Hub got its start on the second floor of the First United Methodist Church, which was loved, but when the group began to outgrow the space it decided it could move if someone provided funding.
“You know, sometimes you say things and put it out there, and then right at our birthday bash in April (2024) we had a donor walk up to us and [say] we would love to give you some money to help purchase a building,” Reynolds says.
In January 2025, the Arts Hub started a comprehensive campaign for $1.5 million to cover the full cost of the building, renovations, equipment and programming support. The Arts Hub found a home at 515 School St. in a former 10,400‑square‑foot elementary school that had been the offices for CESA 5 before it moved to Stevens Point.
“We thought that we would never fill it up, but we have done that,” Reynolds says. The Hub, which opened in the space this spring, includes wings dedicated to art and music and offers something for most artists, from very small children through adulthood.
The Arts Hub completed extensive renovations, including a transformation of the building’s school gymnasium/auditorium into Woodpile Foundation Performance Hall, Coulliard says. The hallway and a room were developed into the “Create‑and‑Grow Space,” which lets kids of all ages be creative, stay off electronic devices and decompress a bit before they do their music lessons. That space is equipped with kid‑friendly cutting tools, including Beaver Bot jigsaws — they can just press the beaver’s nose to start it up.
Rotary Club of Waupaca gave the Hub $25,000 to purchase equipment in a special makers’ space room that includes 3D printing, a commercial laser and a printer that uses sublimation — a technique that uses heat to adhere designs to products so kids can put their original artwork on T‑shirts, mugs or other items, Reynolds says.
The Hub is within $100,000 of its original goal, with the remaining funds planned for a special backyard space. “We envision it by day being a place where people can gather, that third space where people can come, kids can play and have a good time,” Reynolds says.
More than 300 people walk through the doors of the Arts Hub each week, Reynolds says.
“We forget how far we’ve come,” she says. “We had an empty building, and starting January this year… every time we have needed somebody, they’ve stepped in and helped us out. So this is really about community.”
What’s happening at the Waupaca Arts Hub
A partial list of activities:
Band instrument lessons
Basket making
Birdhouse building
Chemistry
Cooking
Costume design
Dance and choreography
Digital arts
Drawing, pastels, watercolors and painting
Drum lessons
Electric circuits
Fused glass making
Guitar/bass guitar
Jewelry making
Music rooms for lessons and practice
Paint‑your‑own‑pottery
Piano lessons
Pottery classes
Robotics
Rock band
Singing groups for youth, teen and adult
Space for events, including corporate retreats
Story writing
Ukelele
For a full list, visit waupacaartshub.org.
