2005 Blooming Art: Nurturing the Future

Significant Work Gets Significant Support: Blooming Art: Nurturing the Future Raises $1.3 Million Dollars!

Ann & Graham Gund and Hunt Alternatives Fund hosted a spectacular fall garden party, which featured various live performances and exhibits by young artists from Eastern Massachusetts on October 1, 2005.

At Blooming Art: Nurturing the Future, donors, youth arts service providers, and young artists gathered for an afternoon celebration of the power of art to change lives.  Performances by youth from Books of Hope, Boston Arts Academy, Community Music Center of Boston, From the Top, Topf Center for Dance Education, and Urban Improv energized the crowd of 300 people. Artists from other organizations – 96 Inc, Artists for Humanity, Community Art Center, Dot Art, Faith Quilts, RAW Art Works, the Revolving Museum, Troubador, and the UMass Lowell String Project – offered hands-on activities, art displays, and impromptu performances as guests mingled and talked with the leaders of these organizations. Bill Walczak, founder and CEO of the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, delivered a dynamic keynote speech about the importance of art for all youth and for the health of communities across Massachusetts and beyond.

Including the Hunt Alternatives Fund match, participating organizations collectively raised over $1.3 million dollars, to support the programs featured in the event catalogue (read the full catalogue below).  Significantly, 20 percent of all gifts were from new donors and nearly 60 percent of existing donors increased their standard donations.

Please contact any of these organizations for more information on how you can support their work to empower young artists in Eastern Massachusetts.

Watch the “Youth Arts Matter” Video Short

Watch Bill Walczak's Keynote Address

Please click here to read the full event catalog