About Us

Our Mission

Our Mission is to provide a world-class fabrication center where professional artists in our community can realize their full creative potential. To connect these working artists with both children and adults to educate and inspire a much deeper understanding and appreciation of art and creative process behind it. 

History

The Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts was the vision of artist and entrepreneur, JB Berkow. Since thirty percent of America’s artists live in the Southeast United States, Ms. Berkow wanted to encourage young, emerging artists as well as established artists to continue living and working in South Florida. The Benzaiten Center will support these artists’ efforts to create glass and metal fine art sculptures in a world-class fabrication center by providing them with extremely reasonable studio rental costs along with a gallery for showing their work. This is all in a seaside community that is an affordable location for artists to live and work.


This project began in 2010 with the development of the prospectus and business plan. The professional development team provided input and guidance about the Benzaiten concept, mission, vision and charitable purpose to establish this nonprofit organization. They also conducted a feasibility study to determine the project need in the community. In addition, JB Berkow and her team networked with civic, social, and key business leaders to gain support for the Benzaiten project.



The City of Lake Worth and the Lake Worth CRA have been extremely supportive of the Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts. They consider art an integral part of the Lake Worth community. The City and the CRA support the arts and are committed to raising awareness of the arts by cultivating the Lake Worth Arts District. The Benzaiten Center is proud to be their partner and a part of this revitalization of Lake Worth.


Why the name Benzaiten? Benzaiten is the Japanese Goddess who represents all things flowing i.e., love, knowledge, music, the river and in our case hot molten glass and bronze.

About the Center

The Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization located in an Historic FEC Train Depot just a few steps from the heart of downtown Lake Worth Beach. Our 14,500 square foot is a three-dimensional fine art fabrication facility dedicated to living and working artists as well as to our community. We bring art to life, immersing the public in arts production and its creative processes, while providing direct interaction with highly skilled artists.


Benzaiten supports the creation of significant new works of art, a collaboration between peers across multiple media, and instruction from master to emerging artists as well as those who just want to experience firsthand.


The center currently has the following components:

The Largest Glassblowing Hot Shop in the State of Florida

Which is a full-service 5,000 square foot facility with four glory holes, two furnaces, multiple annealers, and a large cold-working room.

The Flameworking Studio

is a 750 square foot air-conditioned room with multiple stations, various torches and multiple kilns.

The Fusing Studio

is a 750 square foot air-conditioned room with large work tables and multiple kilns.

The Glass Casting Studio

is a 600 square foot area. With state-of-the-art equipment, it is capable of casting small to medium-large works in glass.

The Welding Center

is set up in an outdoor, protected area with all the necessary equipment to create large and small pieces of art.

The Fine Art Gallery

is an elegant 2,000 square foot air-conditioned space that showcases fine art pieces created by our own staff and the many ‘Visiting Artists’ that we showcase yearly from around the country.

The Crystal Gift Shop

is its own special shop jam packed with unique one-of-a-kind collectables made by our own staff. All the money earned from this shop goes towards our extensive Children and Scholarship programming.

Future Plans Include


  • Working Sculpture Garden, which will located in a 5,000 square foot area on the West side of the building. One third of the space will be dedicated to creating large-scale, monumental sculptures. Visitors will have a protected area with bench seating where they can come and watch as these huge creations come to life. The other two-thirds will be devoted to displaying sculptures, plantings, seating with special designated areas where stone-carvers will be working at cement tables and benches.
  • A Fine Art Foundry that will take outside people’s artwork and cast them in bronze.
  • A Jewelry Making Studio that is a natural offshoot that will utilize much of the equipment and supplies that we are already using in the Glass Casting Studio and Foundry.


WE ARE ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR CORPORATIONS TO HELP MAKE THESE FUTURE COMPONENTS OF BENZAITEN COME TO FRUITION. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR MANY UNDERWRITING AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES!


Share by: