The Lake Placid Center for the Arts (WCMA) presents and fosters arts programs that inspire, enrich, educate, and entertain people of all ages. LPCA is building a new sustainable, accessible, and energy-efficient modern facility, which will be a destination for artistic excellence, and an essential driver to boosting. LPCA is situated on 4.5 acres close to Lake Placid and the Adirondack Park and will be able to welcome a wider audience as the only year-round arts complex in the North Country within a forty-mile radius. For the last fifty years, LPCA has offered robust programming and facilities including a celebrated art education program serving a broad range of ages and skill levels, the “Gallery @” is one of the largest professional spaces in the North Country for local artists to exhibit their work, and offering professional development workshops for artists in partnership with organizations like New York Foundation for the Arts. Sustainability has become a core guiding principle of LPAC and its internal operations.

Technical Assistance funding from 2023 engaged mechanical and sustainability consultants to plan and design the new arts complex. Sustainability consultants CodeGreen designed a sustainable redevelopment approach including a campus-wide climate action plan which largely focuses on reducing dependence on the site-based fossil fuels that have the most significant impact on the climate and are responsible for the majority of emissions. The 2024 Implementation Grant funded one of the many climate initiatives included in the climate action plan-installation of two rooftop heat pumps on the annex building—the future hub of arts education classes.This installation will support LPCA’s transformation of mechanical systems from gas to electric. As a result, LPCA will significantly mitigate their reliance on fossil fuels, reduce energy usage and emissions, and improve comfort and the air quality of staff and students.In addition to energy, LPCA is tracking annual water consumption and emissions and continues to look for ways to decrease their environmental footprint by following their climate action plan.