DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
CONTEXT
WHERE/WHEN APPLICABLE

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE:
Thriving urban neighborhoods offer opportunities for residents to make and appreciate art. In the Heart of the City, these opportunities include art classes, community-theater, open studio exhibits, festivals, a permanent museum, and murals painted on abandoned buildings by local youth. There are many opportunities for these artistic activities in the Heart of the City, but awareness of them is limited.

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CONTEXT:
Jamaica Plain is well known around the city for its active artist community. Artists have influenced the type of housing in Jamaica Plain, particularly in former industrial buildings and other "artist loft" apartments in the vicinity of the Green Street MBTA Station. Abandoned warehouses along the Stony Brook corridor have been redeveloped as artists' studios.

Artists were among the first groups to move to eastern Jamaica Plain after a period of disinvestment and arson in the 1960s and 1970s. There is concern among some residents that the same artists that gave Jamaica Plain its character and helped revitalize it are now being priced out of the neighborhood as rents increase.

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WHERE/ WHEN APPLICABLE:
Arts institutions:
Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (Roxbury):
This museum is located in an historic mansion made of Roxbury Puddingstone that lies just north of Franklin Park. The museum offers rotating and permanent exhibits.

Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts (Jamaica Plain):
This school is located on historic Eliot Street in the first school established in the Jamaica Plain area. It offers art classes to 1,000 students each year in woodworking, upholstery, stained glass, life drawing, and glass blowing.

AAMARP Studios near the Stony Brook MBTA Station (Roxbury/ Jamaica Plain):
This is a group of nationally acclaimed artists from the African American Master Artists in Residency Program (AAMARP) who are featured in the Roxbury Open Studios event.

Forest Hills Cemetery (Jamaica Plain):
Over the past several years, the Forest Hills Cemetery has dramatically increased the quality and quantity of art it offers to visitors. The Cemetery not only showcases its traditional cemetery sculpture, it also offers new sculpture from local artists and smaller exhibits that make use of the natural environment to explore artistic themes. The Forest Hills Educational Trust also offers poetry readings, a lantern festival with live music, and other artistic celebrations for the community.

Spontaneous Celebrations (Jamaica Plain):
This organization seeks to "create and sustain a community cultural life that unites and empowers people for social change through the arts." Children and adults create art that becomes part of the yearly "Wake Up the Earth Day" celebrations that take place on the Southwest Corridor Park.

Footlight Club (Jamaica Plain):
This is the oldest community theater in the nation located on historic Eliot Street near Monument Square. Community members carry out all aspects of production for a series of plays each year.

Art Gallery at Green Street MBTA Station (Jamaica Plain):
This gallery is located within the station. It is surrounded by windows and the art within is visible from both outside and inside the station. The gallery is open at certain times during the week and for special events.

Arts organizations:
Jamaica Plain Artist Council (Jamaica Plain):
This organization runs the Jamaica Plain Open Studios event (see below), as well as a monthly poetry reading series, a choir, and an Afro-Caribbean artists residency cultural program. It serves as an advocacy group for the many artists living and working in Jamaica Plain.

Greater Roslindale Arts Association (Roslindale):
This organization provides a venue for artists of all skill levels who live in Roslindale to come together on a regular basis.

Dorchester Arts Collaborative (Dorchester):
DAC is a community-based organization that connects artists from every discipline with people who appreciate the arts, to support and expand the cultural life of Dorchester.

Other art in the heart of the city includes:
Murals:
Local youth paint murals in all Heart of the City neighborhoods through a City of Boston program called Boston Mural Crew. Youth paint murals on abandoned buildings in blighted areas such as Geneva Street behind Jeremiah Burke High School and on the sides of retail buildings and schools.

Poetry at the MBTA Stations:
Forest Hills, Green Street, and Stony Brook MBTA Stations all feature poetry and excerpts of literature relating to the area that is carved into stone outside the stations.

Open Studios:
Open Studio weekends occur in Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and Dorchester, although few of the events in Roxbury and Dorchester are held in the Heart of the City. The Jamaica Plain Open Studios showcases more than 150 artists in their homes and studios, as well as in schools, churches, and former factories.

Festivals:
The Caribbean Festival, held in Franklin Park, and the Wake Up the Earth Festival, held at the Southwest Corridor Park, both showcase the artistic talents of local residents through elaborate costumes, dancing, singing, and painting.

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