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Kids designed practically every aspect of EPACENTER.
In 2010, local youth began choosing the land that the East Palo Alto art and tech nonprofit would be built on. They helped create the course offerings. They even worked with architects to design the building on Bay Road.
It might have been more affordable to create a one-story center, said EPACENTER Executive Director Nadine Rambeau at a July city council meeting, but kids wanted a place to view their own city, so the nonprofit planned to build a second story with balconies.
The state-of-the-art building was in the works for years, contending by COVID-related delays before it was completed in 2022. Since then, institution has been serving hundreds of local 6- to 8-year-olds through affordable art programs.
But ever since the facility opened, EPACENTER began fielding requests and concerns from adults who were also interested in using the facilities in a city that historically did not have access to amenities like digital labs. Eventually, Rambeau said, staff decided to switch gears.
The nonprofit’s board of directors recently voted to expand its services to adults, with plans to add frequent concert programming, parent-child classes and expanded service hours among other additions.
“We will always remain committed to serving youth in the community,” Rambeau said in a conversation with this publication. “That is our guiding star. Youth were pivotal in developing this project, and we want to make sure that they continue to have access to opportunities at every level, regardless of any expansion in programming.”
In 2024, the center served 718 students, 62% more than the previous year, according to an annual report, through music lessons, cooking classes, public mural projects, summer camps and other programing offered for free or at more affordable rates.
“But many individuals in the city, families, seniors, youth, all wanted more access to the arts in their community,” Rambeau said.
Some residents have expressed interest in using the center’s music studios, accessing the kitchen to cook healthy meals, creating classes for parents to take alongside their children and implementing more senior programming to foster connection throughout the day.
“We intend to implement classes, concerts for the general public to enjoy, specific master classes with artists,” Rambeau said. “The facility will be operational, potentially six or seven days a week, when we finally get to that organizational capacity.”
The nonprofit plans to spend the next year engaging with the public to learn more about their wants and needs.
“We expect that community members will play an integral role in actually shaping what we offer,” Rambeau said. “So nothing has been formed yet because we have not yet gone through that process.”
Going forward, the nonprofit hopes to create more public and private partnerships as it expands.
It is also getting some help from City Hall. Thanks to a recent $100,000 grant from the City of East Palo Alto, EPACENTER will kick off this fall months-long public programming and music performances intended to draw more diverse crowds and a variety of age ranges.
“In the eight years that I’ve been in the community, this will be the first time that there will be consistent arts programming for the community every weekend from October to June,” Rambeau said. “It’s a huge step in the right direction.”
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