Boston Foundation for Architecture

CONTACT:

52 Broad Street
Boston, MA 02109-4301
617-951-1433, ext 232
www.bfagrants.org

Richard Fitzgerald, Director

DESCRIPTION:

BFA is a "public" charity (i.e., its funds come from many donors) founded in 1984 to support a broad range of community education programs, and particularly school education enrichment about the "built environment," showing "how well-designed spaces are created, and how they affect the quality of students' own lives, and of the lives of their communities." So this is philanthropy -- "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of life." In 1999 BFA joined with TECET (The Engineering Center Education Trust, a sister organization of engineers and land surveyors) to support programs that recognize the importance of the combined disciplines of architecture and engineering in creating our built environment. Why did they do this? Primarily because informed citizens make better design and engineering decisions, both as voters and as clients, and because professions, to work best in a free society, need to teach the public the values of their work - an ancient Greek ideal of culture, known as paideia. We can all learn and benefit from BFA' s example, so shouldn't we support it as well?

(1999: CULTURE: Education: Formal: School-Related)