Now + There receives a $50,000 grant from the Boston Foundation to expand public art in the city
BOSTON, MASS. (May 2021) – Now + There, a nonprofit organization bringing temporary, site-specific public art to all neighborhoods of Boston, is pleased to announce that it received a generous $50,000 grant from the Boston Foundation to support general operating and to expand its work opening minds, conversations, and spaces in the city with free public art installations.
“This grant will allow us to strengthen our capacity to commission site-specific artworks that provide moments of joy as well as time for reflection as we come together again in public post-pandemic,” said Executive Director Kate Gilbert. “We look forward to building upon our record of creating and funding 23 free public artworks over the last six years to serve Boston artists and neighborhoods.”
Now + There started in 2014 with Gilbert as Executive Director. Since then, the organization has supported and paid more than 200 artists for 25 public art installations and has forged alliances with 73 community partners in 30 locations throughout Boston creating projects experienced by tens of millions of Bostonians and tourists alike. Currently, the organization has installations in Prudential Center with artist Cicely Carew’s Ambrosia and in Central Wharf Park with Jose Dávila’s To Each Era, Its Art. To Art, Its Freedom.
Funds for this grant come from the Boston Foundation’s Permanent Fund for Boston, Greater Boston’s only endowed fund focusing on the pressing needs of Greater Boston. The Permanent Fund has been made possible by more than a century of gifts from those who seek to support innovative solutions to the region’s most pressing problems since 1915.
ABOUT NOW + THERE:
Now + There (N+T) is a non-profit public art curator fostering artists and the public to create bold public art experiences that open minds, conversations, and spaces across Boston, resulting in a more open, equitable, and vibrant city.
ABOUT THE BOSTON FOUNDATION:
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, brings people and resources together to solve Boston’s big problems. Established in 1915, it is one of the largest community foundations in the nation—with net assets of $1.3 billion. In 2018, the Foundation and its donors paid $129 million in grants to nonprofit organizations. The Foundation works in close partnership with its donors, with more than 1,100 separate charitable funds established for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. It also serves as a think tank and advocacy organization, commissioning research into the most critical issues of our time, promoting civic engagement and helping shape public policy that advances opportunity for everyone in Greater Boston. The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), a distinct operating unit of the Foundation, designs and implements customized philanthropic strategies for families, foundations and corporations around the globe. For more information about the Boston Foundation or TPI, visit tbf.org or call 617.338.1700.
Photo: Nick Cave, “Augment” 2019 at 555 Columbia Road, Dorchester, (c) Casey Preston