NEW MARLBOROUGH VILLAGE ASSOCIATION
dba New Marlborough Meeting House

Our roots date back to the 1960s, when a group of New Marlborough neighbors formed the Village Green Association whose goal was to maintain and beautify the historic Village Green. In 1972 the group incorporated as the New Marlborough Village Association, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.

In 1973 the Association purchased a .4-acre parcel of land south of the Green, effectively doubling the “Greenspace” at the village center. To this day our organization oversees the maintenance of the Green.

By 1976 the historic Meeting House adjoining the Green to the west had become too much of a financial burden for its dwindling number of members to maintain, and the Association entered into an agreement to assume ownership of the building. Since then, there has been a succession of projects aimed at restoring the beauty and structural integrity of the original Greek Revival design. The mid-1990s and mid-2010s saw major restoration projects, which were funded by numerous local contributors and timely grants from agencies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Since 1991, there have been annual activities in the Meeting House aimed at the entire community. First there was a concert series with the title Music for the Meeting House, which had as its explicit aim the raising of funds for the restoration of the building (the most pressing issue was halting the gradual tilt to the north of the cupola and belfry). The addition of a literary component and family events to the series led to the changing of its title to Music (and More) for the Meeting House, subsequently shortened to its present Music and More.

With the Sars-Covid virus halting the world in 2020, the Meeting House did not host any events. We spent the year imagining future uses of the building, the gallery, and the grounds, with a commitment to create even more vibrant programming. As of 2021, the original name “New Marlborough Village Association” was rebranded and the name changed (as a dba), to “New Marlborough Meeting House” to better reflect the focus of our activities.

The Gallery
In the late 1990s, two local artists urged the Association to consider renovating the basement of the building so that art classes and exhibits could be held there. This led to a large community effort at clearing out much debris and whitewashing the walls. The first exhibit took place in 1998. Subsequent improvements have included the installation of a new wood floor, a furnace, a de-humidifier, and professional gallery lighting. There are three shows annually, one of them featuring the work of New Marlborough artists. The Gallery is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest exhibit spaces in the area.

OUR MISSION

The NEW MARLBOROUGH MEETING HOUSE’s mission is to promote, on a continuing basis, the restoration, maintenance, and enhancement of the New Marlborough Meeting House so that this classic 1839 building may be used as a space for the community to come together for a wide variety of cultural and civic activities produced by the Meeting House, including concerts of all kinds, from classical music to jazz, for presentations involving the spoken word such as lectures, panel discussions, and interviews with notable figures, for dance, for art shows, and as a venue for community gatherings, all with a vision of making the Meeting House a focal point for the community and to serve the community in an equitable, diverse and inclusive manner.

THE BOARD

BOARD MEMBERS 2023-24

Barry R. Shapiro, President
Judy Friedlander, Vice President
Will Regan, Treasurer 
Benjamin Harms
Paula Hatch
Anna Houston
Joe Poindexter
Richard Stebbins 
Abbe Steinglass
Ellen Sweet

2024 Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, August 10, 2024 @ 10 a.m. at the Meeting House