On Monday, you started to hear it, started to feel it. Arts leaders across the city texting, calling, emailing each other, asking “Anything yet?” “Have you gotten an email?” “Do you still have funding?” It was as if we were standing on a collective front porch watching a tornado blow through our beloved community. 

On Tuesday, we received word. 

Dear ArtsHere Grantee, 

We want to inform you that the ArtsHERE program is among the grants terminated by the National Endowment for the Arts…

Let’s back it up…

Last year, The Porch was awarded a $137,500 multi-year ArtsHERE grant. This pilot program from the National Endowment for the Arts and South Arts would fund our efforts to build a home for Black Theater in Boston. We received the first $65,000 last year. Now the termination of this grant program means the Porch loses $72,500. That's more than $6,000 a month gone, each month, over the next year.

These funds were earmarked to support:
  • Funding for full time positions like Pascale Florestal our Director of Education & Community Engagement
  • Free Community Programs by The Porch like the Family Recipe Reading Series and Pop Up Performances in Roxbury, Dorchester and other community programs 
  • Education Programs for the next generation of arts workers like Young Critics, Apprenticeship, and College Night 

Our dreams and plans are in jeopardy. Here are some easy things you can do right away to help us:
  • Attend our Family Reunion event June 22nd at Bow Market. Despite everything, we will gather together in radical joy and community, toast the season past, and strengthen our resolve to advance a vision of racial equity through theater in our beloved Boston. Get Tickets Here. 
  • Donate to The Porch Spring Match - a donation today doubles your impact.  Help us ensure we don’t lose momentum, and don’t lose hope.
  • Advocate. The arts economy is larger and more impactful than you know.

This set back will not break us, we remain strong but need your support to continue fortifying our place as Boston’s leading Black theatre company!


What else can you do to help?   (long section here, drink water, take breaks):

  • Advocate!  And encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.  Not everyone knows what these cuts will mean, but they will if you tell them. This isn’t the time to be caught slipping.
    • Stay informed and spread the word about the impact of this attack - In the barrage of breaking news and events, details of how policy changes impact the arts get lost. Tools like this NEA Grant Termination Tracker create visibility for arts organizations who have been affected and show the scope and scale of losses.
    • Contact Congress - Your voice makes a difference! Even legislators who don’t agree with what’s happening need to know that you don’t either. Don’t know who your legislators are? We got you! Click Here and tell them Cultural preservation is a priority!
    • Follow the good work of our friends at MassCreative! They have their finger on the pulse of advocacy all over Massachusetts and the US. 
    • Stay informed. More of your community works in the arts than you realize. Gutting the NEA impacts people’s livelihoods. 
    • Attend a webinar, find out more about the cuts and the attack on institutions across America. Here are the events on our radar so far:
The arts and culture sector creates jobs. Our work stimulates your imagination. Helping our communities addresses the issues of the day.  This isn’t the first attack on our values and it won’t be the last. The Porch has always been in this work, shining a light on inequity, advocating for our community, putting our humanity on display tirelessly, and employing good people.

We’re ready for the fight,
The Porch Fam

Photo: Kai Clifton and Zion Middleton in A Strange Loop. Photo by Maggie Hall Studios