On October 9, 2003 The Art Studio, Inc., located in downtown Beaumont, was broken into and vandalized. Though damage was done, The Art Studio has recovered and is now looking to the future in preparing for their 20th birthday celebration and other community service projects.

"This group of kids was probably led by the guy who went in and ripped us off before. He would come in saying he was a volunteer, we'd say fine. He'd come in and run around the building unlocking windows. Then, later on his friends would come back and rob us," said Greg Busceme, executive director and co-founder of The Art Studio, Inc.

The night of October 9 members of The Art Studio knew they were going to be robbed when two men kept walking by the building and asking when everyone would be leaving said Busceme. In order to prevent the robbery, Busceme and other members of The Art Studio stayed until 2 a.m. and called the police department to inform them of the suspicious activity. However, these attempts proved to be unsuccessful.

"They didn't mess up pottery in the sales gallery, that was a big concern we had. They could have really done some damage, but they didn't. They did what they thought was pretty bad," Busceme said.

Minimal damage was done with the break-in and most everything was replaceable, such as the computers. The main damage was done to two pieces of artwork, which could be repaired.

"All we (Beaumont Police Department) can do is increase our patrol activity and become more visible in areas where vandalism is a problem," Detective Rick Boaz said.

Busceme and Boaz both agree that burglary and vandalism happen in all areas of Beaumont, including the West End. Busceme feels that the location of The Art Studio is a safe place due to the inactivity of the neighborhood.

However, the studio is not taking the break-in lightly in terms of security. From donations, the studio has been able to screen up doors and windows, get security cameras, and are in the process of putting up additional outside lighting. Also, The Art Studio has hired an off-duty police officer to patrol outside during art openings to make visitors feel more secure he said.

"The general effect (of the break-in) was concern (from the community) that it would shut us down, which is unheard of. We've been against harder situations than this. This is not a big thing to us at all," Busceme said.

With the damage from the break-in cleared, The Art Studio is looking towards the future with the renovation of an adjacent building the studio purchased two years ago. As well as, clean up days that took place November 8th and 9th to prepare for the studio's 20th birthday celebration.

On December 19 The Art Studio will be holding a fundraiser/birthday party for the studio. The casual affair will help catapult the Square Foot Campaign to raise money for the new building, which will be used as a performance center.

The building will be used to host band night, which The Art Studio has hosted every third Saturday for six years. Also, the building will be available to theatre groups, and the studio's own programming. Also, there will be a dance area within the building to offer a variety of different dance classes said Busceme. Through offering studio space, Busceme hopes that instructors can build their clientele large enough to one day open their own studios.

A wide variety of classes are taught at the studio from ceramics to photography to painting, and many more. The popularity of The Art Studio has grown the past few years, and the members of the studio aren't going to let obstacles stand in their way.

"If you get lemons, you make lemonade." Busceme said. "In a lot of ways the people around us gave us lemonade."