Milton Resident Honored, Fund Supports Students with Disabilities

Boston Arts Academy Foundation (BAA Foundation) has announced the launch of its Full Inclusion Fund, which seeks to raise $500,000 by December 31, 2020 to support Boston Arts Academy’s (BAA) commitment that all students, regardless of handicapping condition or severity, learn in a regular classroom or program. BAA Foundation secures funding for the city’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts through the support of individual and institutional donors. BAA is a full inclusion school with an academic-blind admissions process and a 22-year history of success in urban arts education with its diverse artist-scholar-citizens. The Full Inclusion Fund will provide BAA with additional funding to help students overcome an array of challenges by including clinicians in classrooms; providing professional development for faculty; and enhancing existing tutoring, counseling, and summer reading programs.

Pamela Reeve, former CEO of Lightbridge, Inc. and Board Chair of The Commonwealth Institute, is Chair of the Full Inclusion Fund, which honors Boston Arts Academy; Anne Clark, BAA Head of School; and Milton resident Sean Curran, BAA Foundation Board Secretary and Co-Chair of the Building Our Future Campaign. The Full Inclusion Fund is part of the BAA Foundation’s six-year comprehensive Building Our Future Campaign to augment the school’s budget and build long-term sustainability. BAA Foundation has raised more than $165,000 towards the $500,000 Full Inclusion Fund goal and more than $10 million towards the $32 million Building Our Future Campaign goal from its generous donors.

“At BAA and BAA Foundation, we believe that talent is equally distributed throughout the City of Boston, but opportunity is not. Contributions to the Full Inclusion Fund will ensure continued success for all BAA students throughout their high school years and beyond,” said BAA Foundation President Denella Clark. “We are proud to honor Anne Clark and Sean Curran and to encourage our community to help further their mission of providing BAA’s remarkable students with the resources they need to thrive in the face of any challenge.”

17 percent of BAA’s 477 artist-scholars have a documented disability, which may include a specific learning disability, emotional or health impairment, or communication or sensory challenge. In addition, up to 35 percent of BAA’s freshmen begin their high school careers reading below grade level. Many students also struggle with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues which require tailored social-emotional support.

“As a parent, you want to feel like your child’s school believes in their potential,” said BAA Head of School Anne Clark. “BAA Foundation’s Full Inclusion Fund will help BAA to remain a caring and supportive community for all students by providing funds to be spent over 10 years.”

“Growing up with a sister with Down Syndrome opened my eyes to what happens when a community works together to lift people up,” said BAA Foundation Board Secretary Sean Curran. “Students who succeed in the world add to our quality of life as they make meaningful contributions to society. BAA Foundation’s Full Inclusion Fund helps BAA make space for all of its students.”

Donations of all sizes to the Full Inclusion Fund add up to make a difference. For more information about and to donate to the Full Inclusion Fund, please visit https://e.givesmart.com/events/hPO/.

Members of the Full Inclusion Fund Host Committee commit to donating or securing $10,000 by December 31, 2020. Host Committee pledges may be paid off over up to four fiscal years (July 1-June 30), and Committee members will be recognized on a plaque in the Head of School’s Suite in BAA’s new school building at 174 Ipswich Street, which will open for students in January 2022. To learn more about the Host Committee, please contact Denella J. Clark, President of Boston Arts Academy Foundation at dclark@baafdn.org or visit https://e.givesmart.com/events/hPO/.

About Boston Arts Academy Foundation
Established in 1999, the BAA Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization that raises essential funds from private philanthropic sources to augment the BAA school budget. The BAA Foundation helps bridge the gap between the school’s allocation from the Boston Public Schools, and the true cost of a high-quality education that is both arts-intensive and college preparatory.

Construction of the new BAA school building will not change BPS’s funding formula, which supports BAA’s academic offerings. Through the six-year, comprehensive Building Our Future campaign, the BAA Foundation is raising $32 million to augment BAA’s school budget and ensure long-term sustainability. The campaign includes raising $10 million to bring the BAA Foundation endowment to $13.5 million, and securing $15.5 million in operating reserves. The endowment and reserves support what makes BAA unique, including expanded programming, the Health and Wellness Program, STEAM (STEM+Art), and funding for the arts. The endowment will support college scholarships for graduating seniors. The campaign supports BAA Foundation’s Annual Fund, which raises $5,000 per student each year. Building Our Future will ensure that as BAA’s student body grows, students can become successful artists, scholars, and citizens.

About Boston Arts Academy
Founded in 1998 as the city’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts, Boston Arts Academy (BAA) has distinguished itself among urban public high schools as a leader in innovative and effective student-centered education. Consistently recognized locally and nationally for its achievements, BAA exemplifies the power of an arts-rich education and many BAA graduates have found success in college through the arts. In fact, for the past six straight years, at least 97 percent of BAA graduates have been accepted to college, with most being first-generation college attendees. BAA’s dynamic program prepares graduates to be critical thinkers, effective communicators, collaborators, and creators. Students come from all 23 Boston neighborhoods to receive the formal arts training and academic instruction that will make them Boston’s next generation of artists and cultural leaders.

In October 2018, the BAA community broke ground on a new $125 million facility at its Fenway location, which will expand from 121,000 to 153,500 square feet and open for students in January 2022. Among many highlights, it will include new and much-needed enhanced theatres, career center, academic classrooms, dance studios, music practice rooms and fashion technology studios and workspace. When BAA opens its new school building, the number of students enrolled will increase to 500, and eventually grow over the years.