Wayne Art Center — Local services in Radnor Township

Breaks my heart.

My husband and I took the French Regional Cooking. This was our first cooking class at WAC. There wasn't much information online about the class, facilities or how it's conducted. Having taken other types of classes before and being a member I didn't think twice when buying the tickets, which were about $170. We were excited!

When we got there the instructor was running behind because they left something at home, the overall vibe was frazzled right away. The kitchen space is not like other spaces that we've been too that teach classes where you typically have your own space or table. All the participants were put together in the same larger size standard kitchen together, along with the with the center staff and winery rep, It was like 18-20 people, very close quarters.

The start of class was disorganized, the instructor was frazzled, there was poor communication on the class roles, It was left to the participants and based on recipes we had just received a minute or two prior. My husband and I were first put on a task that didn't actually need to be done after waiting for a bit for the teacher to circle around, we were reassigned. We also struggled to get clear guidance on the recipe we were finally assigned too. The recipe was modified from what was written and some elements were pre-made which was clear until we asked, which lead to more confusion.The teacher was doing their best but spread thin amongst the group. At one point the teacher just walked away in the middle of me asking question about the recipe, literally just walked away......

At another point a participant took over my husbands spot after went to wash his hands and was rude to him when he tried to continue working on the counter he was previously using. Another participant was snippy to me when I questioned the quantity of something. After about 40 minutes of being there I had to dismiss myself to the restroom because I was so overwhelmed by the heat, noise, close quarters and chaos. Some other less notable things occurred in that time, which further diminished our experience. Since it wasn't what we were looking for (relaxed date night) and we were uncomfortable in that environment, we made the choice to quietly leave the class as to not disrupt the teacher further or draw any attention towards us.

Within the next couple of days my husband emailed the center to share our experience. The email was forwarded by the Director to the Instructor of our class. Unfortunately the response was more focused on dismissing and blaming us for our experience, even chastising us. After asking more than once for a resolution and for them to provide a credit towards future classes, they stopped responding.

A few weeks went by and I was in the process of signing up for another painting class. After sharing my experience and at the encouragement of my painting instructor I decided to reached out directly to the Director Nancy myself. After emailing explaining our experience and my concerns her response was more of the same narrative... (paraphrasing) "everyone loves us, your the only ones that ever had an issue, you should have done this instead. ". which was disheartening. There was 0 gesture of goodwill to even try to come to a resolution.

What I discovered on my own was that they maintain a ZERO refunds policy, even in the event of medical or family emergencies (and certainly not for customer service concerns).

After Nancy's response we won't return to the center as it's not a place where we feel that our experience is valued. Given that it's a center for and by the community that makes me sad.

As for cooking classes, we go to that store in KOP with the french name that sells kitchen stuff... they have AMAZING classes, chaos free and fun (for all).

AND even after disclosing to the Nancy that it was the anxiety caused by the environment that caused me to leave. They STILL respond to this review still insisting that we should have stayed. Thank you so much for...

I’d like to preface by saying this has no reflection on Mark Gruener’s class as my daughter really enjoyed his Realistic/Pixar drawing class. When I signed up, online, I had no idea the size of this studio and that I would need to remember names and the name of the class etc,. My child and I walk in and go directly to the front desk to ask where the 4:30 class was located. She says sternly & with zero customer service “Well, how am I supposed to know what 4:30 class you signed up for?!” Then she says “Can you take your sunglasses off and let me see your eyes?!” As I slide them down to show her my eyes, I’m in dismay and say “Is there a reason you needed to see my eyes?” She smirks and responds with “Uh yeah, because we’re inside.” I was speechless only because it was I couldn’t believe how confrontational & rude she was. Someone else was behind me and heard the whole exchange. Every Tuesday, as we walk in, my daughter whispers to me “There’s the mean lady.” I’m relieved that the class is over and I no longer have to go there. And since this lady is so bothered that I had my sunglasses on, maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to be rude. I have rosacea and depending on my stress level, it can be severe at times. I wear my sunglasses to cover as I’m very insecure about it. My daughter loves art, but I’m sure I can find other studios...

My girls attended a week of Young Chef culinary camp with Ms. Birgit, and they had an incredible experience!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

This Art Center is not only gorgeous, but the experience enrolling and dropping off and picking up each day was easy peasy. I was really impressed with the variety of cultures and foods the kids were exposed to, and they loved it so much they have been begging me to let them keep remaking the recipes. As a parent, I love that the menu was nicely balanced, with some very healthy and fresh options mixed in with yummy treats.

This camp ended up being the perfect summer experience for my girls, and I am so grateful they got to spend a week being inspired by the...