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Ceremony on Monday, May 18, 11 a.m. to noon, at Lincoln and Royal Streets, Allston, MA
(BOSTON, MA – May 7, 2009) Hosted by the Honorable Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) is pleased to announce the dedication of the Lincoln Street Green Strip project in Allston.
Developed by the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation (ABCDC) with artist team Legge Lewis Legge (www.leggelewislegge.com), the Lincoln Street Green Strip public art project rehabilitates a marginalized strip of land alongside a heavily-trafficked street and commonly used pedestrian stairway that connects residential and business districts in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. A site study revealed existing patterns of use which were then repeated throughout the site. Sculptural elements were added and placed to imply long obscured or future pathways, entrances, and exits. The site's natural foliage and steeply sloped terrain have been preserved and maintained into a hybrid urban meadow.
The art for the Lincoln Street Green Strip project originated through a 2005 grant of $50,000 from NEFA's Art & Community Landscapes program and is one of eight projects selected from a national pool of applicants. Art & Community Landscapes is a partnership among the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Park Service, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Additional funding for the Lincoln Street Green Strip project was provided by the City of Boston Department of Neighborhood Development/Grassroots Program.
As a grant recipient, ABCDC benefited from a national call to artists, which paired New York and Texas based artist team Legge Lewis Legge with the Allston community. NEFA’s support leveraged additional funding from the City of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development/Grassroots Program, which provided both a Technical Assistance Funding Award and a Construction Funding Award.
The event will include words from Mayor Menino and other community leaders involved in the project.
About Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation
Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation is a 501 (c)(3) organization based in the Allston Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Its mission is to engage neighborhood residents in an on-going process of shaping and carrying out a common vision of a diverse and stable community in the face of sustained economic pressures. That vision is evident in community-led projects that protect and create affordable housing, create greenspace, foster a healthy local economy, provide avenues for economic self-sufficiency, and increase understanding among and between our neighborhood’s diverse residents.
Founded 29 years ago by community members, Allston Brighton CDC is dedicated to protecting and enhancing housing, economic development and open space resources, the only community-based organization to do so. To date, it has built 523 homes for low- and moderate-income renters and first-time homebuyers. Participants in its asset building and home buying classes have purchased 1000 homes, saved over $250,000 for education, homeownership and entrepreneurial goals and leveraged over $2 million in assets. Allston Brighton CDC provides tenant rights counseling to over 200 households a year, and its Latinos en Acción committee has led over 400 people in action on housing issues. Allston Brighton CDC’s open space advocacy seeks to increase local stewardship over community open space resources and provide connections to city-wide initiatives on open space preservation and sustainability. Allston Brighton CDC’s work is supported and moved forward by local residents and volunteers. For more information, please visit www.allstonbrightoncdc.org or call (617) 787-3874 or email info@allstonbrightoncdc.org.
About NEFA
NEFA creatively supports the movement of people, ideas, and resources in the arts within New England and beyond, makes vital connections between artists and communities, and builds the strength, knowledge, and leadership of the region’s creative sector. NEFA is a 501 (c)(3) that operates with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England state arts agencies, and from corporations, foundations, and individuals.
NEFA administers nine grantmaking programs that support the performing arts, public art, and Native American artists. NEFA also leads projects and initiatives that range from the analysis of the impact of the creative economy to the creation of online tools which link and advance the regional, national, and international cultural community.
NEFA’s Public Art programs, including the Fund for the Arts, support public art projects through planning and/or implementation grants awarded to community-based nonprofit organizations for engagement with individual artists. Organizations funded through NEFA’s public art programs represent a broad array of nonprofits, including the arts, the environment, community development, youth, and education. For more information, please visit www.nefa.org or call [617] 951-0010.