Recent News
The Place to be: New community art center in downtown Concord
By Kelly Sennott ksennott@hippopress.com
Thursday, February 5, 2015
The name of Christa Zuber’s new downtown Concord arts center — The Place Studio & Gallery — came about after she read an article by Robert Steuteville on why “place” is the new American Dream.
Not that white picket fences, houses, yards and expensive cars aren’t important. But Steuteville thinks this generation — who experienced walkable college neighborhoods with diversity, culture and mixed-use main streets and downtowns — has come to prefer this over suburbia. They’re looking for cities with history, charm and character, and where there’s a clear sense of place.
Hence, The Place.
Zuber started the business on a whim; she almost purchased an art center in Abu Dhabi, which is where her sister lives. Her sister had been trying to get Zuber and her husband to make the move, and when that fell through, Zuber was devastated.
“She found this art business for sale, and that’s how this whole conversation started. It kind of started as a joke, but we ended up putting a bid in. … I had this whole idea built up in my head, and then [when they didn’t get it], I didn’t really know what to do. So for a couple of months, I just kind of dropped it,” Zuber said. “But then I thought, why can’t I still stay and do it here?”
So this fall, Zuber quit her job at the OutFITters Thrift Store, got a loan and settled in the quarters that used to house Imagination Village. She opened The Place in late October with the idea that it would become a downtown community art center, a place where people — particularly adults who’d lost their inner artist — could relax and create in a low-key setting.
Downtown: A new Place to get creative opens on Main Street
By Megan Doyle / Monitor staff
Sunday, October 19, 2014
(Published in print: Monday, October 20, 2014)
Six weeks ago, Christa Zuber up and quit her job.
“I literally walked into my supervisor’s office and said, ‘I have no idea if it’s going to work,’ ” Zuber said.
She’s about to find out. This weekend, Zuber opened her downtown do-it-yourself studio and shop – The Place Studio and Gallery at 9 N. Main St.
Zuber, 35, has both taught art in a classroom and worked at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. Nothing fit quite right, she said. She nearly bought a similar studio geared toward children in Abu Dhabi, where her sister lives, but that deal fell through.
She started her own business anyway, right here in Concord.
“Creativity – people are really lacking it in their lives,” Zuber said. “I think it can help relaxation, stress levels.”
Opening a business on a whim hasn’t been easy on Zuber’s stress levels. She had to raise the money to get going, write a business plan and secure a loan, renovate her store and purchase all of her supplies. And she gave herself just a month and a half to do it.
“I had an idea, but no idea how to make it happen,” she said.
Main Street Redesign
By Megan Doyle / Monitor staff
Published on Concord Monitor
October 13, 2014
A Place for imagination
Christa Zuber believes everyone can be creative.
“I think a lot of people think they’re not very creative, and it’s more that they don’t have the opportunity to explore it,” she said.
So she’s opening The Place Studio and Gallery at 9 N. Main St., which will have a grand opening this Friday evening. The studio will focus on “do-it-yourself crafts,” Zuber said. She’ll have materials for ceramic painting, acrylic painting on canvas and decoupage.
“Everyone could use a little more creativity in their lives,” Zuber said.
Creativity is the key to life – or at least Christa Zuber’s business idea
By Tim Goodwin / Insider Staff
Published on The Concord Insider
August 26, 2014
Christa Zuber has never been to Abu Dhabi.
She lived in Australia for two and a half years while getting her master’s and traveled to destinations like New Zealand, Fiji and Thailand, but there’s no United Arab Emirates capital stamp on her passport. It’s actually her sister, Jennifer, who has the desert paradise on lock down for the family and was almost the reason Zuber moved there this spring. That, and her plan to open an art studio amid the breathtaking skyline and ridiculously blue water that she had only witnessed on the internet. Although it is a lot easier to explore in your pajamas.