Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center
Help us open the doors to a new art center for the City of Cambridge!
Maud Morgan Visual Arts Program Fall 2008 Studios
The Supreme Judicial Court has spoken, and the Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center is finally and completely out of court, thanks to our skillful pro bono legal counsel at Goodwin Procter. We are, finally, able to move ahead with the long delayed vision to realize a children’s art center named after our neighbor Maud Morgan.
Much has happened in the six plus years since we first conceived of this grand idea. Our original plan for an art center that would be open days and evenings has had to be modified to accommodate the challenges from our neighbors; the budget estimates have to be adjusted for the dramatic increases in construction costs; and, new opportunities for realizing our dream have also appeared.
In Fall 08 we quietly began visual arts programming on a small scale with a drawing class for Cambridge middle school students and another for adults. There will be a third class this winter in ceramics. We will find temporary space this fall to house the classes until permanent space is available.
Over the past year we have newly formed a partnership with the Art
Institute of Boston (AIB), one of the components of Lesley University,
soon to be located in Cambridge at Porter Square. We have been working
with Lesley University President Joe Moore and AIB Dean Stan Trecker
discussing the possibility to house studios there as part of their
proposed development, with the ownership and complete autonomy we
always anticipated. In plans that are currently being presented to City
agencies, the AIB proposes an Arts District in Porter Square. The
concept of an Arts District has citywide interest involving the
Cambridge Arts Council, and the Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center will be
a highlight of this district, bringing new life to the arts for
children and adults alike in Cambridge. For more information on the AIB
development, click here.
We continue to consider the benefits of building
studios on the original site as we also explore the partnership with
Lesley in order to provide even greater arts programs for children and
practicing artists of Cambridge. If we develop the original site, it
will provide wider opportunities for all ages of children for more
hours of the day.
Thank you all for your continued support during the
challenges of the last few years. Please contact me at
tdelancey@agassiz.org with any questions, or call me at 617 349-6287 x17, and I will be happy to
discuss our emerging plans more fully.
Terry DeLancey, Executive Director
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