Welcome to our blog! This is something that has been in the works here for awhile, and we are very excited to finally introduce it to you all. We feel this blog will be a great way for community members to get to know who we are, what we do and what we stand for in a more personal way. 

A little about us

For those of you who do not know, The Octagon Center for the Arts is a nonprofit arts council here in downtown Ames, Iowa, where we strive to make art prevalent, accessible and valued in our community. We do this by offering classes to the public, selling art by local artists in our shop, displaying art in our galleries that are free to the public and much more. Because art matters! 

What to Expect From the Octagon Blog 

On this blog, we will be posting all sorts of different content ranging from the meaning behind our values, a day in the life of an employee/intern, information for artists, information about our events and anything else that might pop up along the way. 

Here at the Octagon, we want everyone to feel like they are welcome. Whether it be in our shop, the galleries, at an event or just on our social media, we strive to make every person feel comfortable being here. We hope this blog will continue that same welcoming presence. This is going to be a place where people can get to know what the Octagon truly is. We want the Octagon Center for the Arts to not just be a place, but a community. 

If you’ve made it this far, thanks so much for tuning in to this first post! We are excited to finally be launching this blog and hope that you all are excited too. We would love for you to give us a follow on social media, subscribe to our newsletter and better yet, come in and say hi!

by Julianna Cassutt and Madeline Leopardo