The building at 33 Hawley is owned by the Northampton Community Arts Trust, an organization that was created on a conservation land trust model to own and maintain affordable space for artists in Northampton.

The building is leased by three separate non-profit organizations: Northampton Center for the Arts (NCFA), A.P.E., Ltd., and Northampton Open Media. We are the Northampton Center for the Arts, which manages the Flex, Eli's Room, and 75% of Carole's Dance Studio. A.P.E., Ltd. manages the Workroom and 25% of Carole's Dance Studio. Northampton Open Media has a separate office and media lab on the lower level.

The building is ADA compliant and features ramps at each entrance, accessible doorways, stair railings, and an elevator that provides access to every level of the building. Full accessibility information including parking is available here: 33 Hawley: Building Accessibility

The building at 33 Hawley features a metal roof, which can allow sound to travel between the Flex Space (managed by NCFA) and the Workroom (managed by A.P.E.). To reduce noise transfer and ensure that both spaces can accommodate as much community art as possible, NCFA and A.P.E. have developed a shared schedule. We ask that all users of the Flex Space and Workroom follow this schedule. Please read our Noise Transfer Policy to learn more.

Renters are responsible for the set up and breakdown of your event, and that should be included in your rental time frame. You are responsible for setting up the space and returning the venue as found. Our events staff can help with set up and/or breakdown, but both must happen within your contracted rental time. 

NCFA will tentatively reserve space on our calendar for up to 3 days while plans are solidified. After that, a nonrefundable $100 deposit is required to confirm the reservation. If the entire cost of your rental is less than $100, the entire amount is due to confirm the reservation.

Contracts will be sent the Thursday after your deposit has been paid and we have received all of the relevant details of your event.

The remainder of your rental fee is due 6 weeks before a large event (over $1000) and 2 weeks for a smaller event. If rental fees aren’t fully paid by the due date, one courtesy email reminder will be sent, and after 1 week, the reservation will be cancelled for credit less the $100 non-refundable deposit.

You can pay for your deposit and balance via PayPal, by dropping a check off at 33 Hawley during business hours, or by mailing a check to NCFA at PO Box 366, Northampton, MA 01061. Space is not considered reserved until your deposit has been paid and confirmed.

We offer the option of risers in our Flex Space. The risers can fit 62 chairs, plus an additional 30-50 chairs on the floor, depending on how much space you need for the performance area. There is a $75 fee to set up, move, or take down the risers. We charge this fee any time a renter has a request that the risers be set up, moved, or removed from the room. Charging this risers fee is necessary to schedule staff to do this labor and is non-negotiable. We cannot provide information in advanceabout whether the risers will already be set up or removed at the time of your rental. This is because we often get last minute rentals with different riser requests and we need to have staff scheduled in advance to guarantee that they will be in the configuration you requested. Renters must provide their riser preference with a minimum of two weeks’ notice.

Yes, if your rental spans multiple days and you need the risers set up or removed, we require the fee for each day. This is because we often have multiple rentals per day in a given space with different riser requests and we need to account for paying our risers staff for their labor. 

Flex Space: The Flex occupancy with a stage area and risers ranges between 80-130 depending on the size of the performance area and other preferences. The risers can fit 62 chairs, plus an additional 30-50 chairs on the floor, depending on how much space you need for the performance area. Without the risers you can fit more chairs, about 125. Renter is responsible for setting up chairs and returning them to where they were found, unless otherwise agreed. The official capacity of the Flex is 200, which is standing room only. 

Eli’s Room: The official capacity of Eli’s Room is 125. Standing room is about 100, 75 seated. 

Carole’s Dance Studio: The official capacity of Carole’s Dance Studio is 125. Standing room is about 100, 50 seated. 

Exterior doors are not open to the public for a rehearsal or non-public event. There is no need for any of our tech equipment and essential use is for the space only.

Our events staff are hourly contracted workers, and are paid directly out of the $30/hour staffing fee. The staffing fee applies any time you would like staff assistance with your event, and is required if your event is open to the public, if you plan to leave the outside doors unlocked for any amount of time during your rental, or if you plan on using any of our tech systems in the Flex space (i.e professional sound system, projector, theatrical lighting). 

For events with rental fees of up to $500, we require two weeks’ notice in order to cancel your rental reservation and give you a credit for your rental fee (less the non-refundable deposit). For events with rental fees of $500+, we require six weeks’ notice in order to cancel your rental reservation and give you a credit for your rental fee (less the non-refundable deposit). 

We are a 501 (c)(3) and therefore cannot accommodate any rentals with political affiliations. We do not allow shoes or chairs in Carole's Dance Studio, so that may be prohibitive for performances in that space. 

We charge the cleaning fee every time food or drink is served, but since we often have back to back rentals and may not be able to schedule a full cleaning before the next person arrives, we ask that you leave the space in the condition you found it. 

We have dumpsters for both trash and recycling onsite, and we provide trash bags and bag replacements for staffed events. 

It is the responsibility of the renter to schedule rentals dropoff and pickup. If you need to rent tables or other materials for your event, you have two options: one is to schedule the drop off and pick up during our open hours (Weds-Sat 12pm-7pm), or, if pick up and/or drop off is scheduled outside of our open hours, we can hire staff at a rate of $30/hour to meet the rental company during off hours. If you would prefer the latter option, we will need at least two weeks' notice to schedule staff to be onsite for the pick up and/or drop off. If changes are made to the drop off or pick up plan within two weeks’ of your rental, there is a $50 service charge. 

Your rental must start and end at the agreed-upon times in your contract. Leaving later than the agreed-upon time in your contract will result in a retroactive charge for the additional time, plus a $50 fine. This is because we often have back to back rentals, so scheduling what you need in advance is very important. Additionally if you stay longer than the contracted time and your event is staffed, we need to pay our staff for their time.

Flex: We have approx. 125 chairs available for use in the Flex space.

Eli's Room: We have 85 folding chairs available for use in Eli's Room.

Flex: 12 folding 6ft x 3ft tables 

Eli's Room: 10 folding 6ft x 3ft tables

Flex Space: Four 5’ by 8’ black theatrical flats, Marley dance flooring (for an additional charge), use of the Center’s Mason & Hamlin grand piano.  If you would like the piano tuned for your event (totally optional, the pianos are tuned quarterly), then we charge $200 for the tuning. 

Eli's Room: sink (no food is permitted down the sink drain), portable projector (staff required), upright piano (optional).

The Center owns four 20’x6.5’ strips of heavy duty vinyl marley dance flooring that can be used for all styles of dance as well as floor covering for theatrical productions, creating a 20’x26’ stage area. The marley must be laid by (or under the supervision of) a Center staff person, and there is a $100 fee for use. 

We offer non-exclusive use of our lobby and mezzanine with Flex rentals on a case by case basis. 

We do not offer any credits or refunds for unused rental time.

If you have any issues with the lockbox and your event is not staffed, please text or call us at: 413-584-7327. Texts are generally the best way to reach us for urgent issues onsite. 

Ticket sales and registration are handled by the renter. We offer some publicity assistance with rentals including posting your event on our website, as well as 1-2 posts on social media and in our weekly newsletter. 

The building is ADA Compliant, with ramps at each entrance, bathrooms on the same main level as the theater as well as the lower level, and an elevator to every level as well. You can find more information about our accessibility here. 

Renters and audiences are welcome to park in our spacious lot at 33 Hawley. Parking is free and available for 33 Hawley tenants and guests only. Our parking lot has just over 100 spots, and is a shared lot between all of the building partners. There is also plenty of free on street parking nearby. 

NCFA does not require renters to obtain insurance. The following language is in our rental contract:

The Renter agrees to provide liability insurance OR the renter agrees to indemnify and hold the NCFA and the Northampton Community Arts Trust harmless for all costs, damages, actions and liability of every kind in case of any personal injury to any person, or damage to renter’s equipment or other property, even if such injury or damage occurs on the premises at 33 Hawley Street during the date(s) and time(s) specified in this contract. If Renter will provide own liability insurance, please attach insurer information.

You may hang art or other materials on the walls in your rented space as long as you use command hooks or another material that won’t damage the walls or pull up the paint. Holes in the walls are not permitted. 

Yes, 33 Hawley offers free WiFi, and the network name is 33Hawley. No password is required. 

Use of alcohol or other legal intoxicants and the smoking of tobacco or any other substance on the premises of 33 Hawley Street by the Renter, guests, and students during the hours covered by this agreement are forbidden unless explicitly approved by the Center. The use of illegal substances is forbidden. 

NCFA allows alcohol at public and private events with written permission on a case by case basis. If you plan to serve alcohol at your public event you will need to obtain a liquor license from the City of Northampton. Please note that they only offer beer and wine licenses to individuals. Here is a link to the application: https://northamptonma.gov/275/Short-Term-1-day-Liquor-License

If you have any questions about this process, please contact Annie Lesko: alesko@northamptonma.gov 

We are happy to offer a post on our website, as well as one mention in our weekly newsletter and one social media post per rental. In order for us to do this, please fill out this Advertising Form.

Please also note that in order to have events posted you will need to list us at the “Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley” on your promotional materials. 

You can find examples of other posts here: https://www.nohoarts.org/events. 

We have HEPA air filters in all of our rental spaces. 

We don't have preferred caterers, so you can use whoever works best for your needs,  but we have had great experiences with Myers and Seth Mias, and both know the building well. Please be sure to note to the caterers that we do not have an oven in our small kitchen space in the green room. 

Our events staff can set up tech in advance (for bands, etc.), but they are not able to run tech during performances. If you need someone to follow cues during a performance, you would need to bring in a separate theater tech person to run the lighting and sound boards. 

The Flex space offers use of our theatrical lighting (trained technicians must be hired by the renter), as well as our projector. The projector is a 6,500 lumen Vivitek 7095 and projects a 16 ft x 10ft screen image right onto the Flex wall without the need for a screen. 

As long as the film is in a format that can play on your laptop, it will play on our projector. 

We have an HDMI connection for the laptop to plug into the projector, so you just need a cable or dongle that can connect HDMI to the laptop.  You can connect your phone or laptop to the sound system, you just need to bring the USB-C dongle with a speaker jack (something like this). 

The Flex space offers multiple sound setups. The 'basic sound system' allows users to plug a device into the main speakers hung from the grid. Microphones can be made available upon request. The 'advanced sound system’ includes: 

six high quality speakers
two subwoofers
six microphones (1 wireless)
an advanced mixer (Allen & Heath SQ-5)* 

*Use of the SQ-5 must be managed by a sound technician provided by NCFA for a fee or by an approved sound technician provided by the Renter. Regular staff are not expected to be able to provide instruction on the SQ-5.