Celebrity Series Of Boston Announces Completion Of $23 Million Capital Campaign

Celebrity Series of Boston, one of the nation's most highly regarded performing arts presenting organizations, announces the successful completion of its $23 million LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts For All capital campaign which kicked off in 2018.

Comprised of Endowment, Innovation, and Annual funds, this significant effort will strengthen Celebrity Series as an organization, catalyze artistic innovation, deepen community engagement, and help us build audiences to sustain the organization over the long term. The raised funds are dedicated to expanding the artistic footprint of the Celebrity Series to include more artists' debuts and works in new and mixed artistic genres, grow community programs that introduce the joy of live performance to new audiences, and build a stronger infrastructure that will capitalize on state-of-the-art technology.

Already, the enhanced Endowment and Innovation funds have allowed Celebrity Series to add new artistic initiatives such as presenting groundbreaking young choreographers and dance ensembles in their Boston debuts at New England Conservatory's Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre. The funds have allowed the Neighborhood Arts community programs to deepen relationships with local artists and to present free and low-cost performances in Boston's neighborhoods, including Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, and others. Important infrastructure investments have also begun, including the launch of a new website in April of 2018.

The campaign's impact continues in the 2019-2020 Season, with September's Concert For One public performance project and innovative performances by emerging to established artists ranging from tap/hip hop choreographer Caleb Teicher to the virtuosic and idiosyncratic violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja to the legendary Kronos Quartet, and more, alongside expanded Artist Connections and Neighborhood Arts community programs and the implementation of new technologies to improve the customer experience.

Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director, says, "We are thrilled with the success of the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All campaign. I am grateful to our Board of Directors for their leadership and to all of our campaign donors for their endorsement of Celebrity Series' mission and vision. With a strengthened endowment, risk capital in our Innovation Fund, and steady growth in annual giving, Celebrity Series is well-poised to embrace risk taking, artistic ambition, and civic leadership while also investing in the deep traditions that have been at our core for over eight decades. Across all of our programming, we seek to manifest our vision that the arts are for everyone-on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods-everywhere."

Founded in 1938, Celebrity Series of Boston has built an enduring reputation for artistic excellence and innovative curation. Celebrity Series presents over 65 main stage performances across eight to ten venues in Boston and Cambridge each season and is a critical and unique part of the cultural fabric of Boston. Without Celebrity Series, Bostonians would have to travel to the cultural capitals of the world-New York, London, Paris, Shanghai-to see the artists who appear on Celebrity Series stages every season. With the expansion of its Neighborhood Arts programs, more than 130 events and workshops are presented in local schools and community venues across Boston each year.

The vision of the Celebrity Series remains consistent - to nurture appreciation for live performance, to broaden the artistic experience of our current audiences, and to attract new audiences, whether it is on the traditional concert hall stages or in a neighborhood community center. LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All was launched to realize new potential within the organization, and to give funding to new initiatives, local artists, and to further secure the fiscal future of the organization.

Board Chair Joshua Boger says, "This was the right time for Celebrity Series to embark on this journey, driven by a strategic vision for a solid, influential, and innovative future. I am grateful to my fellow Board members for their passion and commitment to such an ambitious project. Through their generosity and other supporters, the benefits will accrue not just to current stakeholders and audiences, but to generations to come-so that the impact of Celebrity Series will be felt in Boston and beyond for many years"

The $23 million LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All campaign had three components: an enhanced Endowment Fund to strengthen organizational sustainability, a spend-down Innovation Fund to accelerate investments in the organizational mission, and Annual Funds for fiscal years 2017-2019.

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