We strive to be a place that:
- Strengthens access to the arts and arts education in our community
- Encourages health and wellness through creative exploration and connection to the land
- Fosters a strong sense of collaboration, community, and inclusion for families who are currently underserved in MetroWest
- Supports emerging and experienced artists in the development of their careers, work, and artistic practice
Great art shouldn’t only happen in big cities. What we’re building here is permanent. We hope you’ll find your way to it.
Bellforge Arts Center
History
From a place of healing to a home for the arts.
Listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, the landmark Medfield State Hospital (MSH) opened in 1896 as the first of its kind — a cottage-style campus designed to maximize daylight, fresh air, exercise, and socialization for its residents. It was a radical idea for its time: that environment shapes wellbeing, that healing happens in community. The campus once housed its own orchestra, served as a teaching hospital for Tufts, and fed more than 2,000 residents through its own self-sufficient farms and gardens.
The Commonwealth closed MSH in 2003. The Town of Medfield purchased the site in 2014, and after four years of extensive public input, a master plan was completed in 2018. In 2020, Bellforge Arts Center secured a 99-year lease on the Lee Chapel and the adjacent Infirmary, two signature buildings at the heart of the campus, with a vision to transform them into a year-round home for the arts.
On June 1, 2026, Bellforge broke ground on a $30 million historic preservation and renovation project, converting the Chapel into a 300-seat flexible performance venue and the Infirmary into 17 practice rooms and classrooms, anchored by a new glass connector serving as the central lobby and gallery. Doors are expected to open in fall 2027.
The legacy of healing and innovation that shaped this campus more than a century ago is the same spirit that guides us now. This is an extraordinary opportunity to reimagine this place as somewhere people come to make and enjoy art, to engage with each other, and to connect with the land. That work is well underway.