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76 City of Worcester: 300 Years year – to bring to the city renowned orchestras and performers. The association's music festival, which began that first year, is considered the nation's oldest music festival. In 1877, the Worcester Art Society was formed to promote the arts through an annual series of exhibitions and lectures held in various venues throughout the city. An early goal of the Worcester Art Society was to create an art museum. But that was not to happen then, for Worcesterites were just beginning to accumulate the wealth required for such a major philanthropic effort. Their ambitious goal was finally realized in 1896 when Stephen Salisbury III, the last of the line of one of Worcester's wealthiest and most prominent 19th century families, invited fifty leading Worcester citizens to join him in establishing an art museum. The Museum, which opened two years later, was founded "for the benefit of all the people of the city of Worcester" with a mission "to promote art and art education." Thanks to prescient acquisitions by its directors and curators, as well as many gifts from generous collectors, the Worcester Art Museum soon became internationally recognized for its encyclopedic holdings of both western and eastern art, which range from the nation's first public collection of Japanese prints to America's largest holdings of ancient Roman mosaics to the first medieval building incorporated into an American collection. Worcester's other major art collections, which are housed at the American Antiquarian Society, established in 1812, and the Worcester Historical Museum (1875), also benefit from years of collecting, serving as major resources for the community and beyond. From its founding, the Worcester Art Museum has been committed to art instruction, carrying on the mission of the Art Students' Club, which was established in the 1880s for "the encouragement, promotion and practice of art." Today's artists benefit from a variety of Worcester organizations, including the Worcester Center for Crafts—one of the oldest organizations of its kind in America (1856) -- and ArtsWorcester, which has been exhibiting and advancing regional artists since 1979. The Worcester Art Museum has offered adult art classes since early in its history. The Museum continues to offer art classes to both children and adults. source: Worcester Historical Museum The Arts In Worcester From the Norton Pottery, a garden seat, one of three known to survive. source: Worcester Historical Museum