At the heart of the 20-year history of the New London-based Center for the Arts is a paradox: Until recently, it was less an arts center with a fixed address than a set of programs meant to build community around the arts.

After a long period of gestation, the Center for the Arts is now a physical place, an art gallery/studio and a classroom at 428 Main St., in New London.

“That had been a longtime goal of the organization,” Dena Stahlheber, CFA’s executive director, said in an interview in the new space last week.

Stalheber’s hiring, a little over two years ago, as CFA’s first full-time paid leader, helped spur the opening of the center.

“I think I just asked the board the questions that reminded them they wanted one,” Stahlheber said. “It’s a center for the arts. Where’s the center?”

The center’s gallery, which is displaying a group exhibition, will be open from 5 to 7 p.m. this Friday as part of CFA’s monthly First Friday art walk around New London. Its regular gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and by appointment. The aim, though, is to have the center open and active daily, Stahlheber said.

Stahlheber’s hiring and the opening on April 10 of the center’s first true physical space puts CFA on new ground, literally, of course, and in how it operates. With multiple new board members, new staff and the new space, the organization is opening itself up for growth and change, Stahlheber said.

“We want this to be for the entire community,” she said. “It’s a gift, and we’re open to different ideas.”

Founded in 2005, the organization has been up and running in its current form since 2010, when it was reinvigorated by new board members. The volunteer board, led primarily by Jean Cronin Connolly, did what the best nonprofits do: It forged connections among disparate organizations and people — artists, teachers, businesses and residents of the 12 towns around Lake Sunapee that CFA aims to serve.

Connolly has been involved with CFA since moving to New London in 2010 from Needham, Mass., where she taught art for 20 years in the Boston area.

“With very limited funds, we wanted to celebrate what existed in the region,” Connolly said in a phone interview.

The board created opportunities for artists living in and around New London to show their work, primarily in “microgalleries,” small spaces in cafes, banks and other businesses, and in New London’s Whipple Hall and New London Hospital. Local musicians perform at First Friday gallery events in New London.

CFA also makes grants to schools for arts programs. A recent example is a $1,200 commitment to Kearsarge Elementary School in New London to bring the East Bay Jazz Ensemble to the school.

The center also organizes three artists guilds — for writers, visual artists and performers — and has a membership program.

A key piece of having a space of their own is being able to hold classes, talks and other events at a central location with sufficient parking. The space itself is tucked in behind Main Street. The larger gallery room was most recently a bike shop. The classroom is smaller, but has more windows and ample light.

“I feel like we get to give back to the community now,” Stahlheber said.

In addition to the new space, CFA has many new board members, a part-time staff of four people and nine interns. Its annual budget has grown in the past few years from $120,000 to nearly $250,000, Stahlheber said, between adding rent and new staff.

The organization is thinking in terms of a three-year plan, Stahlheber said. A year to figure things out, a year to build and a year of operating at a new level. If that plan succeeds, then CFA can plan further.

“I think the dream is to have our own space one day,” Stahlheber said. So the current rented space is a kind of test. “Let’s see if the community wants this.”

New London’s Center for the Arts holds its First Friday gallery stroll from 5 to 7 Friday evening. In addition to the CFA’s new space, there will be art on display at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, Blue Loon Bakery, Grounds, New London Inn and Tatewell Gallery. On June 12, CFA will hold an anniversary party in Colby-Sawyer College’s Wheeler Hall. Tickets ($45 for members, $55 for non-members) are available through centerfortheartsnh.org.

Alex Hanson can be reached at ahanson@vnews or 603-727-3207.

Beep, boop, band

I wondered who would be interested in hearing music from classic video games rearranged for a jam band, so I headed to Fairlee Town Hall on Saturday night to catch Plattsburgh, N.Y., musician Scott Hannay and his cohort of amiable rockers.

Last week, Hannay told me that his performances are usually frequented by gamers with an affection for classic video games and the music that helps give them their charm.

Of the people I spoke to, however, most were just looking for something fun to do on a Saturday night. A couple from Thetford, for instance, told me they came to the show because their neighbors had invited them.

With limited options for entertainment, it seems that Upper Valley residents embrace the off-beat options.

“It’s hard to have a bad time listening to this,” said Jake Dupuis, 45, of Orford, who’d brought his 12-year-old son, Sergio, with him. Dupuis grew up playing 8-bit video games like the ones projected on a tall screen behind the band, but he and his son also attend shows at the Fairlee Town Hall all the time because it’s so close by.

Dupuis is right, though. The music made for easy listening. When re-created by the band, the pinging timbre of scores from 8-bit games like Super Mario 3 and Castlevania was replaced by a richer, more human sound, aided greatly by flurries of improvisation from the saxophone and trumpet players.

Still, as someone who didn’t grow up playing video games, I confess that it was hard for me to get much out of the show beyond the heartening experience of watching adults and their progeny dance to music that, at its core, is kind of goofy.

In keeping with the tradition of video games, it seems the show offered an uncomplicated form of escape, one that the contented crowd, the band and the beaming maestro at the center of it all, seemed more than happy to accept.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.

 CORRECTION: The annual budget for the New London-based Center for the Arts for the current year is $250,000. The budget figure was incorrect in a previous version of this column.