Barr Welcomes NEA Chairman Jane Chu to Boston

As we have engaged in planning for the future at Barr, I have shared in previous posts that one of our decisions has been to adopt a regional perspective to our work, with selected opportunities to engage nationally. We are especially interested in such national engagement when it can help to elevate and advance our priorities in this region.

To that end, we are excited and privileged to host Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), for her first official visit to Boston. The chairman is visiting in order to explore the rich arts and cultural assets that Boston has to offer. This is an exciting moment for arts and culture in Boston—especially with the recent launch of the City’s cultural planning process, Boston Creates—and the perfect time to elevate the conversation to a national level.

Working with many of our partners, we have a full agenda for Chairman Chu’s visit, highlighting some of the outstanding and creative work being done on the ground by the NEA’s and Barr’s partners. Follow the Twitter hashtag #NEAinMA, as well as Barr (@BarrFdn), Chairman Chu (@NEAJaneChu), the Massachusetts Cultural Council (@masscultural), and me (@jcanales), for photos, updates, and insights throughout the day on May 4. And please check back here, on Barr’s blog, for a follow-up post in the next week about what we experienced and learned together.

Finally, I encourage you to read this morning’s Boston Globe op-ed co-authored by me and Chairman Chu. We highlight three national trends that are evident in other leading creative cities and are so fortuitously aligned today in Boston. Boston’s opportunity—and challenge—is to seize this moment to shape a world-class and inclusive arts and cultural sector.