When you walk through the doors of Art Time 4 Kids in downtown Fredericksburg, you aren’t just entering a classroom; you’re experiencing a community.
Inside this colorful space, you can expect to see children — from preschoolers to teens —building new skills and an appreciation for the arts in a variety of classes. This atmosphere of joy and creativity has been nurtured for 11 years under the leadership of owner Claire Ellinger.
“I always tell people the business started by accident,” Ellinger said. “I had friends that knew I was a former art teacher and I just kind of started doing art activities that became a little more structured and formal.”
When Art Time began in 2014, Ellinger ran the business out of her basement, but as demand grew, she quickly realized it was time to find a commercial space.
“I realized that if I wanted to be a legit business, I could no longer meet in our neighborhood and fill my cul-de-sac up with all these customer cars,” she said.
A cure to the common pandemic learning experience
The search for a new space took Ellinger from a shared studio at LibertyTown Arts Workshop to the Hanover Street picket-fence-adorned building that Art Time 4 Kids calls home today.
The multi-colored picket fence is a recognizable feature of Art Time 4 Kids’ location at 101 Hanover Street in Fredericksburg. (Photos by Joey LoMonaco)
Art Time experienced a great deal of growth during the pandemic. During this time, the business became Ellinger’s full-time pursuit, and the number of classes offered greatly increased.
While some area schools had uncertain schedules while grappling with remote learning during the pandemic, Art Time offered a reliable music and art-based curriculum and rolled out virtual and in-person classes and art camps.
“Art Time did better because of COVID, and I think it’s because I was offering kids’ activities,” Ellinger said. “In my opinion, if you can get your small business through COVID-19, then it gives you that, like, ‘okay, I can do anything now.’”
Today, Art Time offers more than 30 classes for all ages, including music classes taught by Robyn Bauer.
In a social media post earlier this month, Ellinger announced her plans to sell the business after relocating to Richmond, but expressed her plans to stay involved with Art Time and working with the older students.
“I’ve still been active for the past year, owning and running it, and I’ve really leaned hard on my right-hand woman, Julia Migliaccio,” Ellinger remarked. “Since she ended up being the buyer, I think that I’m going to be her right-hand woman now.”
New owner, same heart
Migliaccio, a former elementary school teacher, became involved with Art Time five years ago as a parent. At that time, Ellinger was in search of another part-time teacher, and Migliaccio was able to use her experience as an educator to fulfill this need. Although she hadn’t been very involved in the arts before taking this position, Migliaccio found that her background in elementary education made the partnership with Ellinger successful.
“I had the teaching aspect, and she had the art aspect, and so I learned a lot of the art from her and through her,” Migliaccio said.
Ellinger and Migliaccio have worked together to expand their middle school, high school, and homeschool programs. Going into the future, Migliaccio intends to keep the business running very similar to the way it has been.
New Art Time 4 Kids owner Julia Migliaccio is a longtime arts teacher at the school.
“If it’s a good thing, why change it?” she said. “That doesn’t mean that new ideas aren’t appreciated, or open for discussion, but it will definitely be the same loving product that the people of the Fredericksburg area have come to love and expect.”
“I want people to walk into that business and see my face, see her face, see that it’s the same,” Ellinger said. “Obviously things will be different behind closed doors, but to the customer it will feel exactly the same.”
Migliaccio shares Ellinger’s philosophy of emphasizing the love of art and plans to continue Art Times’ mission of building a love and appreciation for the arts in area youth.
“We’re not trying to push out the next Van Gogh, the next, you know, Michelangelo,” Migliaccio said. “We want them to feel like they are Van Gogh, that they are Michelangelo, that they are these famous artists, because of their pride in it and their excitement over their art.”
