Celebrity Series of Boston to Receive a $45,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to Support Community-Based Boston Artists and Programming Through its Arts For All! Neighborhood Arts Program

(June 10, 2020—Boston, MA) Celebrity Series of Boston announces an Art Works grant of $45,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). This grant will support the Arts For All! Neighborhood Arts program, which partners with Boston-based artists for workshops and performances in local neighborhoods. As Celebrity Series is guided by the core value of paying artists for their work and responding to the needs of community partners, this grant allows the organization to be nimble and flexible in continuing community concert programming digitally or in-person in regards to COVID-19 limitations on public gatherings.

“These awards demonstrate the resilience of the arts in America, showcasing not only the creativity of their arts projects but the organizations’ agility in the face of a national health crisis,” said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “We celebrate organizations like the Celebrity Series of Boston for providing opportunities for learning and engagement through the arts in these times.” 

“The Arts for All! projects for which we have received NEA support are led by performing artists who represent the diversity and artistic excellence of today’s American landscape,” says Gary Dunning, Executive Director of the Celebrity Series of Boston. “We believe it is more important than ever to honor our commitments to artists, and in so doing support not only their livelihoods but also their need to create. While artists based here in the community of Greater Boston have had some access to artist relief funds and unemployment benefits afforded through emergency efforts, these efforts do not cover all of their lost income. We believe it is incumbent upon Celebrity Series as a major presenter to continue to employ local artists even as we face the realities of uncertain revenues of our own. Even if we cannot gather in person, we still want to invite people of all ages and walks of life to come together in shared, interactive live performing arts experiences that celebrate creativity, expand our horizons, and broaden our understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society.”

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

About Celebrity Series of Boston  

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 81 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods–everywhere. 

Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2020-21 Season Sponsors Amy & Joshua Boger, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose support helps fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community. Institutional supporters include the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, The Catered Affair, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., Foley & Lardner LLP, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute, Cynthia and John S. Reed Foundation, Royal Little Family Foundation, Stifler Family Foundation, Anonymous, and many others.

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