Boston Foundation gathering celebrates Greater Boston Arts Fund milestone

Boston – The Boston hosted a reception today to celebrate the Boston Foundation Arts Fund, launched in 1997 to raise $20 million for a permanent fund to support the arts in Greater Boston. The fund has surpassed that goal, raising to date $28 million.

A gathering of leaders and stakeholders, artists and donors who have helped make the fund a success came together to mark the occasion and to honor Anna Faith Jones, former President of the Boston Foundation, who launched the campaign with initial support from the Wallace Foundation. Also present was Helen Spaulding, Chair of the Boston Foundation Board of Directors at the time the campaign was started.

“The Boston Foundation is passionate about the arts, as an essential ingredient of a successful community,” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “They contribute mightily to the quality of life here, serving as a symbol and a catalyst for the vibrant and vital culture that nurtures all who live here.”

Important contributions to the total amount raised for the Art Fund, in addition to a $1.2 million gift from the Wallace Foundation, came from the estate of Brother Thomas Bezanson. A lay brother and ceramic artist, Bezanson made a gift of artworks to the Boston Foundation that are expected to raise as much as $15 million for the fund.

A book celebrating the fund and the impact it has had, titled The Boston Foundation: There for the arts, is available on the Foundation’s website, at www.tbf.org. in the form of a slide show in a section labeled There At The Beginning.

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The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, with assets of over $964 million. In 2007, the Foundation and its donors made more than $92 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of more than $155 million. The Foundation is made up of some 850 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes. The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to address the community’s and region’s most pressing challenges. For more information about the Boston Foundation, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.