September 18, 2019
Contact: Stephanie Janes PR, (617) 419-0445, stephanie@stephaniejanespr.com
Celebrity Series of Boston Announces Completion of$23 Million Capital Campaign
The LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts For All campaign increases the innovation, endowment, and annual funds, making an lasting impact on the arts in Boston
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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.
Funds raised via the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All campaign include:
ENDOWMENT
Provides greater financial stability, enabling an increased annual endowment draw to support artistic and community impact.
INNOVATION FUND
Provides a springboard for artistic risk, accelerates innovation and experimentation, and commissions local to international artists for projects on stage and in the community, via funds to be spent down over the next 10-15 years.
Three years of annual fund giving representing continued growth alongside the Endowment and Innovation Funds and supporting presentations of extraordinary artists across the spectrum of their careers, community engagement programs, and audience development.
More 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 2019-20 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, The Boston Foundation, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, The Catered Affair, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Deloitte LLP, D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., Foley & Lardner LLP, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, Liberty Mutual Foundation, The Klarman Family 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. celebrityseries.org
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