Front Porch Arts Collective and More Massachusetts Arts Organizations Receive $400,000 From New NEA Program

Front Porch Arts Collective is one of four performing arts organizations in Massachusetts and 112 nationwide to receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts’ new ArtsHERE Program to expand arts access in their communities.

Front Porch Arts Collective will receive $130,000 over two years to support a strategic plan to increase its footprint in the historically Black neighborhood of Roxbury through residency in a proposed performing arts development. The Porch is a Black theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston. Their artistic programming includes full productions, staged readings, concerts, developmental workshops and community appreciation events. Mentorship of aspiring Black and Brown theater professionals is an additional keystone of their work.

The other Massachusetts recipients include: Company One Theater in Boston, which received $130,000 for community organizing, training and engagement strategies; Boston music ensemble Castle of our Skins, which received $120,500 to expand community engagement through staffing, website projects, programs, and accessibility training; and Worcester’s Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts, which received $117,000 to help establish a center for cultural exchange, learning and immersion. 

“While we’ve long called Boston home, The Porch artists and team members are excited to think about what a physical home base could look like for us,” says Co-Producing Artistic Director Dawn M. Simmons. “It’s forward-thinking, purpose-driven and equitable programs like the NEA’s ArtsHere that help make this dream a reality.”

The four Massachusetts groups were selected for funding as part of a new NEA pilot program in partnership with six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations including New England Foundation for the Arts. More than 4,000 grant applications were received. The grants support projects to strengthen each organizations’ capacity for meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for underserved groups and communities. 

The NEA says these groups and communities — whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by factors such as geography, race or ethnicity, economics, or disability — frequently report lower rates of participation in various arts activities than other groups do.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is thrilled to provide resources to this group of exceptional organizations, with a program to help deepen meaningful and lasting arts engagement in underserved communities,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Everyone should be able to live an artful life; ArtsHERE is an important step in strengthening our nation’s arts ecosystem to make this a reality.”

In addition to the grant awards, ArtsHERE recipients will also participate in quarterly peer learning workshops, monthly cohort sessions, and one-on-one meetings with technical assistance coaches and field experts. These meetings are designed for knowledge sharing, learning and capacity-building to help reinforce the initiative’s goals.

 

 

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