SINCE 1917 the Concord Art Association has been a center for the arts in Concord, Massachusetts. Founded by the American impressionist painter, Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts, the association moved to the circa 1750 John Ball House purchased by Miss Roberts in 1922. There, Daniel Chester French, renowned for the Minuteman statue at the old North Bridge in Concord and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., was elected the first president and a skylighted gallery was installed on the second floor of the colonial house at 37 Lexington Road. Under the leadership of these two Concord artists the association flourished in the 1920s with paintings and sculpture exhibited by Monet, Hassam, Henri, Cassatt, Sargent, Beaux, Benson, Dewing, Hoffman, Grafly, Davies, Bellows, Fechin and many others.

THE MISSION of the Concord Art Association is to encourage, promote and advance the visual arts.

This is to be achieved by organizing and promoting:

1. Exhibitions to educate and increase understanding and appreciation of the visual arts.
   
2. Workshops to educate and increase the skills of people practicing the visual arts.
   
3. Lectures to educate and increase understanding and appreciation of the visual arts, or to educate and increase the skills of people practicing the visual arts.
   
4. Trips to educate and increase understanding and appreciation of the visual arts or to educate and increase the skills of people practicing the visual arts.
   
5. A museum to display visual art, to educate and increase understanding of the visual arts.

The Concord Art Association is in Concord, and while it has traditionally received most of its support from local residents, it considers its mission as not limited by geographical bounds and is a regional organization in terms of members, officers, directors and supporters.

In the Articles of Incorporation of the Concord Art Association, the founding members of the association organized it for the purpose of "the encouragement, promotion, and advancement of art and art exhibitions; to establish and maintain in the Town of Concord an Art Museum; to acquire and dispose of works of art." This purpose continues today. The art association has over 400 artist members and mounts from ten to twelve major exhibitions every year (member and open competitions, retrospectives and group shows) together with smaller, one-person shows in the Coleman Gallery. Classes, workshops, panel discussions, lectures and trips bring artists and patrons together from the entire New England area. The association also maintains a small permanent collection which it exhibits from time to time, and on occasion lends items from the collection to other museums for exhibition elsewhere.