NEC Celebrates the Grand Opening of Boston Arts Academy’s New Facility

It’s a bright day for the arts in Boston. New England Conservatory, as a member of the Professional Arts Consortium (ProArts) of Boston’s leading arts colleges, celebrates the grand opening of a new state-of-the-art facility for Boston Arts Academy (BAA) in the Fenway. Boston Arts Academy is Boston’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts, and celebrates 25 years of unprecedented student achievement this year. 

NEC President Andrea Kalyn currently serves as President of ProArts, which has supported the creation and development of BAA since its founding. Through President Kalyn’s leadership on behalf of NEC, the Conservatory is thrilled to be supporting the development of the next generation of artists and musicians in Boston, and serving as partners with other leading arts institutions to foster these crucial connections for the future. 

President Kalyn once reflected that “creativity, connection, and communication are fundamental to our shared humanity,” and NEC’s partnership in ProArts reflects NEC’s mission to nurture individual artistic sensibility and advance music’s contribution to contemporary society. President Kalyn also reflects on how “music is never static: it’s temporal by nature, and a central expression of humanity,” and these beliefs in the importance of music and art are central to NEC’s support of Boston Arts Academy. 

As the city’s first full inclusion high school, BAA admits students based solely on arts auditions, and serves a youth population reflective of Boston’s vibrant diversity. BAA’s new facility in the Fenway encompasses 153,500 square feet, with enhanced rehearsal studios, high-tech fashion and fine arts studios, a gymnasium, dance studios, a cutting-edge STEAM lab, a rooftop recital hall, and professional theaters – in addition to increasing the school’s capacity by more than 15 percent.

Boston Arts Academy serves as a significant outcome of the ProArts collaboration between the city’s arts colleges (which, in addition to NEC, includes Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, The Boston Architectural College, Emerson College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University). The partnership between ProArts and BAA encourages students to participate in preparatory programs at the colleges, and ultimately matriculate.

NEC is thrilled to see the development of this wonderful facility for the next generation of artists, and looks forward to further work with ProArts and Boston Arts Academy to continue nurturing the development of Boston’s arts community.