Young Audiences of Massachusetts

CONTACT:

255 Elm Street, Suite 302
Somerville, MA 02144
617-629-9262 x25
www.yamass.org

Carol Bonnar, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

YA (founded 1962) is Massachusetts’ only statewide arts organization specifically for youth. Its mission is to encourage a lifelong engagement with the arts for children and serves as a vital link between teaching artists and the region's school children. Each year, YA's school arts presentations reach nearly 145,000 children in 200 communities across the state and introduce kids to music, dance, theater, and puppetry; last year, it conducted 223,000 student/artist interactions in 443 sites. It has created innovative collaborations with From the Top (Catalogue '04), Boston-area children's hospitals, Harvard University, and local music educators. So what’s the problem? Since the Catalogue first featured Young Audiences in 1999, communities’ demands for YA presentations have significantly increased, yet external funding for these programs has all but dried up. The group has tightened its already tight belt by cutting staff, strategically using talented interns, renegotiating its rental space, and enhancing board involvement in fundraising. But it can't do it alone. YA has to find new sources of funds, and that means personal charitable contributions. You can help this first-rate organization do even more of its heavy lifting in Massachusetts arts education.

(2005,: CULTURE: Arts: Performing: Music and Dance)