Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities
Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities operates the Cook Arts Center and the Cook Library Center. Our mission is to transform lives in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood through reading and the arts and celebrating the community's cultural richness.
Our board and staff recognize the life-changing power of reading and the arts. With the help of many talented artists and committed volunteers, we strive to provide an enriching environment for children and adults living in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood, and beyond.
The Cook Arts Center provides creative, diverse programs in a number of artistic disciplines. The Arts Center is a celebration of the neighborhood's rich ethnic heritage and its colorful rainbow of cultures.
The Cook Library Center is a community resource focused on literacy and intellectual development. Our services and programs help meet many needs and interests of residents in the neighborhood. The Library is a safe place for discovering the pleasures of reading and learning.
Looking back …
The seeds of Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities were planted in the mid-1990's when the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association and the Dominican Sisters-Grand Rapids joined forces to improve the lives of children in the Grandville Avenue neighborhood.
As a result, the Grandville Avenue Neighborhood Library opened in 1996, followed by the Grandville Avenue Academy for the Arts in 2001. Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities was incorporated in 1999 to operate the Library and the Arts Academy.
When the Library moved to a larger facility in 2008, GAAH's Board of Directors renamed the buildings the Cook Library Center and the Cook Arts Center in honor of Peter C. and Pat Cook.
Thank you ...
GAAH's programs are made possible through the generous support of area foundations, corporations, and individuals.
Additional funding has been provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arts Council of Greater Grand Rapids.
