{"id":2338660,"date":"2026-03-20T14:58:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2338660"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:58:30","slug":"sanctuary-transforms-1850s-maynard-church-into-performing-arts-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/sanctuary-transforms-1850s-maynard-church-into-performing-arts-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctuary transforms 1850s Maynard church into performing arts venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MAYNARD \u2014<\/strong> Since the mid-1800s, the building at 82 Main St. has been bringing people together.\u00a0For more than a century, it served as a Congregational Church; more recently, it’s been a performing arts venue.<\/p>\n\n

The people behind the Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center<\/a> continue to strive for that sense of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like a church because that\u2019s what it is,\u201d said Kevin Baker, Sanctuary’s director of programming and business development. \u201cAs unassuming as it seems from the outside, once you walk in you can feel the energy and the vibe, and you can tell it\u2019s a place where you can meet great people and do fun things.\u201d<\/p>\n

With stained glass windows, soaring ceilings and a sprawling wooden dance floor, Sanctuary offers a rare blend of history and intimacy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe building is such a special place in town,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThe bell in the steeple was cast by one of Paul Revere\u2019s apprentices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Back from the pandemic: <\/strong>Sanctuary in Maynard gets a second chance<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Main Hall, which can accommodate more than 300 people, offers original touring acts, high-energy tribute nights, community events and the ever-popular Dead Ahead (a Grateful Dead tribute band) residency every Tuesday<\/a>. A full bar and lounge features free local music seven nights a week.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are not a lot of places where you can go any night of the week and the bar is open and there’s live music,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n

A rich history of community<\/h2>\n

Built in 1852, the former Congregational Church was a focal point for the community for more than 150 years. William Doyle purchased the building in 2017 with the intention of turning it into an event venue where people could come together and enjoy good music.<\/p>\n\n

Doyle put a lot of money into renovating the space, according to Baker.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe turned the altar into a stage and built this beautiful bar and lounge in the back,\u201d Baker said. \u201cThey also renovated the ground floor level so now we have a community school, Well-Balanced Dog Training<\/a> (a dog-training business) and the Maynard Food Pantry<\/a> on the lower level.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Baker, who worked in the music business before switching to real estate, attended his first performance at the Sanctuary in November 2023.<\/p>\n

His store’s a stage: <\/strong>Downtown Maynard optician opens his doors to live music<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had never heard of the place,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cIt was the talent that brought me there. I walked in and was in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n

New management seeks to build on venue’s success<\/h2>\n

Baker and his business partner, Shannon Phypers, took over management of the venue in June 2024, purchased the building a month later and, as Baker said, \u201chit the ground running in September 2024 and never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

He said a \u201cgreat team\u201d was already in place, and that they’re all \u201creally excited to be able to carry the torch and make it the best it can be for the town and surrounding communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are continuing to learn every day, and have made several improvements since taking over, including installing world-class sound and lighting systems, and some changes to the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The venue is available for special events, such as weddings and private parties.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re big on partnership and community,\u201d Baker said. \u201cHaving a sense of community and having a sense of being part of something larger is one of those items you have to check if you\u2019re going to be happy as a person.\u00a0You need a sense of belonging.\u00a0You need to have a place to go with no judgment and where everyone is just there to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sanctuary is such a place, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think music crosses different demographics and really brings people together. It\u2019s a great place with a good vibe where you can come and listen to good music and dance.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wickedlocal.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAYNARD \u2014 Since the mid-1800s, the building at 82 Main St. has been bringing people together.\u00a0For more than a century, it served as a Congregational Church; more recently, it’s been a performing arts venue. The people behind the Sanctuary Cultural Arts Center continue to strive for that sense of community. \u201cIt looks like a church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2338661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[39915,30218,28769,22220,23530,344920,431354,24391,239382,22005,43013,305421,6297,284334,390017,239372,239374,305420,305427,51971,344918,344927,21739,344928,47944,390022,370135,317485,390018,23846,239343,239347,347962,23759,147314,67134,344919,23152,284335,344940,453058,23139,239344,23362,357874],"class_list":["post-2338660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-affiliate","tag-ai","tag-and","tag-arts","tag-bars","tag-buildings","tag-churches","tag-clubs","tag-clubs-u0026-nightlife","tag-concerts","tag-content","tag-dead","tag-eamotion","tag-enabled","tag-framingham","tag-geographic","tag-geographic-reference","tag-grateful","tag-grateful-dead","tag-highlights","tag-historical","tag-historical-sites-u0026-buildings","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-travel","tag-ma","tag-ma-content-sharing-framingham-milford","tag-ma-content-sharing-wicked-local","tag-massachusetts","tag-milford","tag-nightlife","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-performing","tag-positive","tag-reference","tag-sharing","tag-sites","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-theaters","tag-theaters-and-performing-arts-venues","tag-travel","tag-u0026","tag-venues","tag-wicked"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sanctuary-transforms-1850s-Maynard-church-into-performing-arts-venue.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2338660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2338662,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338660\/revisions\/2338662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2338661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2338660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2338660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2338660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}