Non-Profit Initiative Award Winner

Citi Performing Arts Center

 

Citi Performing Arts Center is one of the nation’s foremost nonprofit performing arts institutions, generating an average economic impact of $70M annually. With a strategic commitment to broad-based access and community outreach, Citi Center serves the full breadth of Boston’s diverse population with culturally relevant, multidisciplinary performing arts and arts education programming.

As New England’s largest nonprofit performing arts center, Citi Center serves the community as a cultural integrator, honoring all aspects of the performing arts including opera, dance, Broadway, classical and popular music, comedy, and family-friendly programs. It also serves as the community’s steward of Boston’s three iconic theatres—the Wang, Shubert, and Emerson Colonial—which have anchored the historic Theatre District for over 85 years.

In 2005, Citi Center began shifting its programming from one that was heavily focused on Ballet and Broadway to a deliberately more diverse and culturally relevant mix that integrates both popular entertainment and classical art forms. This shift re-defined Citi Center’s role and core competency as both a community-focused performing arts center and an open-access introduction for people of all ages, backgrounds, and interests to experience arts and culture, expanding audience growth and diversity.

Citi Center also serves the full breadth of Boston’s diverse population with free arts education programming that is accessible to youth/families of all socio‐economic backgrounds, including in‐school artist residencies; vacation week programs; citywide interactive community readings; the Teen Council, an afterschool community leadership opportunity; and the City Spotlights Summer Leadership Program, an innovative summer job for at‐risk Boston teens. Citi Center’s ticket access and community nights work with a 200+ community partner network to offer economically disadvantaged families who cannot afford them, tickets to award‐winning, professional arts entertainment.

While Citi Center’s entire education program is designed to target Boston’s diverse populations, the City Spotlights Leadership program is worth highlighting. Approaching its fourth year, the City Spotlights Leadership Program uniquely empowers Boston’s diverse youth to expand upon their existing strengths, to take an active role in their personal and professional development, and to become engaged leaders amongst their peers, in the workplace, and in their communities.

To ensure success, the City Spotlights Leadership Program uses an evaluation system that has been vetted by professional experts to gather program impact data using pre- and post-program assessments to identify artistic, social, personal, and workplace skill development. In addition to Citi Center staff, an Evaluation Task Force—an evaluation subcommittee of the Education Committee—is in place to ensure all programs are aligned with Citi Center’s strategic map, the program’s stated goals, and curriculum standards. Last summer’s program (2013) reached 16,490 audience members through 111 street performances, 773 youth participants through teen leader-led workshops at twelve community center, camp, and library sites, 22 neighborhoods through street performances and community workshops and 200+ audience members attended the Final Showcase.