Ottawa Center for the Arts

The membership of the First Congregational United Church of Christ was established in 1840, and the prestigious church was built in 1870-1871. It has since been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and will now become one of Ottawa's most exciting initiatives.

We are pleased to announce the creation of Ottawa Center for the Arts, incorporated in August 2023. Due to the enormous generosity and forward vision of the church membership, this magnificent space will soon be filled with voices, instruments, movement, words and every form of visual arts. The Center houses one of the oldest working and powerful Schantz pipe organs to be found.

The church will be purchased by Ottawa Center for the Arts Development Group, an incorporated and emerging 501(c)3 organization.  In the interim, the SRCCF serves as the Fiscal Sponsor for the project.

While actual bids for renovations have not yet been received, the building has been appraised at over $320,000 and most worthy of the costs associated with repairs. We anticipate that those repairs will be somewhere between $350,000 and $750,000, however, we are confident, given the excitement throughout our community, that a great deal of those costs will be eliminated due to generous donations of funding, labor and in-kind gifts.

Ottawa has an incredibly vibrant, growing downtown full of live music, art, dance, museums, architecture and one of the best "small town" feels around. What a grand and marvelous addition Ottawa Center for the Arts will be!

Click here to find out about the upcoming Ottawa Center for the Arts Cocktail Reception