Posted on October 26, 2006

Wallace Foundation Taps Seven Boston Arts Groups for Excellence Awards

The New York City-based Wallace Foundation has announced Excellence Awards grants totaling $4.6 million to seven Boston arts organizations in recognition of their commitment to community- and audience-building activities.

Challenge grants of $1.1 million were awarded to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition, the Boston Lyric Opera Company, From the Top, the Huntington Theatre Company, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum were awarded program grants ranging from $368,000 to $500,000.

The foundation also announced that, in collaboration with the Boston Foundation (TBF) and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, it will create a Learning Network for all Boston arts organizations to inform and support the participation-building work of arts organizations throughout the city.

"We created these awards to encourage organizations to sustain and expand the impact of their work with local constituencies, to draw national attention to the importance of engaging more people in the arts, and to generate an assortment of useful, broadly applicable lessons and practices that will be helpful to the field," said Wallace Foundation president Christine DeVita. "The Excellence Awards honor organizations that have made a commitment to engage more people deeply in the arts part of their DNA."