City of Boston Receives $100,000 Award from National Endowment for the Arts
Photo by Olga Khvan
Mayor Marty Walsh announced today that the City of Boston has received a $100,000 Our Town award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which will support an Artists in Residency program hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
“This Our Town award signifies the City’s dedication to engaging and growing the arts,” said Mayor Walsh in a press release. “I thank the National Endowment for the Arts for recognizing Boston’s important role in maintaining and enhancing our cultural capital.”
The Artists in Residency program will be part of Boston Creates, a community-wide cultural planning effort led by Mayor Walsh and Julie Burros, the city’s first Chief of Arts and Culture in more than 20 years.
In May, Burros joined NEA chairman Jane Chu on a walking tour of the local arts scene, hosted by Jim Canales, president of the Barr Foundation, the largest family foundation in the state. They visited the Uphams Corner neighborhood in Dorchester, Emerson College, and Artists for Humanity, meeting with area arts leaders along the way.
“The City of Boston demonstrates the best in creative community development and whose work will have a valuable impact on its community,” said Chu in the press release about the NEA grant. “Through Our Town funding, arts organizations continue to spark vitality that support neighborhoods and public spaces, enhancing a sense of place for residents and visitors alike.”
The Office of Arts and Culture will collaborate with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design to work on implementing the new program, tapping into the college’s vast network of relationships with local, national, and international arts institutions.
The Artists in Residency program will provide training, development, and support for selected artists, and seek to connect them with city departments. In the coming months, City officials will determine which departments should host the artists, and once they do, they’ll use information from the unfolding connections to identify how artists-in-residence can benefit other departments and agencies in the future.
