In Reading, PA, there is an amazing community art and cultural center called GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. This is a historic factory turned artistic campus that everyone should visit. It is a resource center with a mission “to nurture the arts, foster creativity, promote education and enrich the community.”

It first began in the 1800s as a factory for manufacturing optical glass lenses and safety goggles. This is how the center created its name today. It was a very successful factory until the early 2000s when it closed its doors to later reopen the campus as a reimagined and renovated GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. Today, it is now serving over 250,000 visitors a year and is one of the largest interactive art centers in the United States.

This is an incredible center to keep your hands busy and create something beautiful. In this large factory, there are seven big teaching studios for ceramics, warm and hot glass, photography, jewelry, printmaking, and wood. They also have a theater that shows art-house movies every day. 

Goggleworks also offers incredible programs and ways to meet some of the most innovative and famous artists out there. They even host an arts festival in Reading that brings in thousands of visitors each year so they may explore the historic, campus and immerse themselves in the arts. The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, PA is an amazing place where art, creativity, community, and history intertwine for an immersive and incredible experience.