Our Story

The Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts was founded in 2015 by Lexington, an accredited, award-winning provider of disability services in New York State. Part of Lexington’s work is to ensure that the people it supports lead enriched lives and are engaged in the community, and the arts center is a way to accomplish both while also giving back to the community at large.

The Center is named for Lexington’s former executive director of more than 40 years, Paul Nigra. Paul worked tirelessly throughout his career to support people with disabilities and believed that everyone could and deserved to achieve success and fulfillment, regardless of their differences. Paul was also a lifelong lover of the arts. He directly supported many individuals as they pursued their artistic passions and founded Lexington’s world-famous rock band, Flame, a group of musicians who never let their disabilities be a barrier to success. The Arts Center is Flame’s home base.

Today, the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts is a year-round community Arts Center open to the public and people of all ages, abilities and artistic skill levels. We offer classes, workshops and lessons in all artistic media as well as fun family events, educational opportunities, rental spaces and more to the creative minds of Fulton County, NY and beyond. The beautiful facility sits on 66 wooded acres and was designed in collaboration with the Savannah College of Art and Design, which also provided guidance with arts programming and operations.

Anyone looking for a place to explore the arts and discover their own creativity is welcome at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts. Children and retirees alike, and everyone in between, can find art and hobby-related classes in every artistic discipline. As a hub for creativity in our community, we offer the vast majority of our classes to the full public, act as a venue for theatrical and musical performances, and provide recording and media resources to those working on their own projects. All are welcome to take advantage of what the Nigra Arts Center has to offer, but we also offer a membership for which our Nigra Arts Center members receive special discounts and exclusive opportunities, events and special access to the facility.

The Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts is more than an arts center – it is a gathering place where people can spend meaningful time together, bonding them as a community.