February 22, 2006

Dear Friend of The Arts:

Since its inception in April of 2003, the Brookline Community Center for the Arts (BCCA) – a non-profit community and arts organization - has served over 7,500 members of all ages and abilities while employing over 290 professional artists and instructors. Through hard work, diligence and community support, we transformed our facility at 14 Green Street in Brookline into a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art, fully accessible dance and performance space. We offered a wide array of classes and events for all ages and abilities in dance, movement, theater, fitness, martial arts, music, visual arts, and more. We offered over 170 weekly classes in everything from Argentine Tango to Flamenco, Samurai Taiko Drumming to Irish Céili, Brazilian Capoeira to Chinese Kung Fu, Scottish Highland and three types of Classical Indian dance. We also hosted over 40 monthly events including Tap dance jams, Break Dancing and martial arts competitions, and community meetings. There was something for everyone!

The BCCA had a strong presence in and influence on both the arts world and the local scene, and garnered significant attention from the press, including coverage on major radio and TV news networks, and over 60 feature articles in the last six months alone! Regrettably, after a long and arduous fundraising campaign that raised over $350,000 ($210,000 in donations and grants, and $140,000 in pledges), our purchase and sales agreement expired and the owner sold the building to another buyer. Our sudden eviction on May 15 th , 2005 resulted in a major financial blow to our organization and a loss to the Brookline & Greater Boston community, especially to the lower income and underserved children and families to whom the BCCA catered.

Nevertheless, through continued efforts, planning, and dedicated philanthropic support, we managed to regroup, strengthen our organizational structure, and find a suitable property to re-establish our programs. During the past year, we raised over $100,000 to stay in business, reduced our startup debt by 82%, revised and improved our business and strategic development plans, and continued to offer as much programming as possible at alternate community locations. In September 2005, we came upon a wonderful building at 1047 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. After much negotiation and planning and good will on the part of the philanthropic owner – Roger Tackeff of Renaissance Properties (which houses the Boston Children's Theater) – we arrived at an excellent purchase deal for a 15,437 square-foot commercial condominium to establish our new and expanded arts center.

As the saying goes, when one door closes, another opens. In this case the saying rings completely true. Our planned facility will house seven fully-equipped movement art and music studios, a 400-seat theater and grand ballroom, a non-profit radio station and recording studio, an art gallery, an urban dancewear store, and much more. The addition of the theater and art gallery will serve to widen the scope and representation of art genres at the BCCA. As this location is truly in the heart of Boston – surrounded by Brookline, Allston, Brighton, Newton, Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville, and downtown Boston – it will further our mission of serving the Greater Boston community and beyond.

We are very excited about our anticipated move to Boston, and are meeting with city officials and arts organizations to discuss changing our organization's name to the Greater Boston Community Center for the Arts. Our center's programming has been unique to New England in its variety, breadth, and quality of offerings. We would like to invite you to attend our upcoming donor, artist, volunteer, staff, and founder appreciation gala, “A Taste of the Arts.” This event, which will also serve to launch our New Building Campaign, will take place on Saturday, March 18 th , 2006 at the Back Bay Events Center's John Hancock Hall and Back Bay Grand ballroom (180 Berkeley Street, Boston; validated garage parking will be available at 100 Clarendon Street). The evening's festivities will feature a catered VIP reception with live Latin Jazz from 7 to 8 p.m., performances of dance, music, theater improvisation, comedy, martial arts, spoken word, and song, and special award presentations from 8 to 10 p.m., a social dance with DJ and live music, song, and dance performances from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., and a visual arts silent auction from 7 to 11:30 p.m. Many of our founding faculty, staff, volunteers, founders, board and community members will attend. We would love to have you there, and promise you a wonderful and unforgettable evening! For more information and tickets log onto http://www.BCCAonline.com/gala.html or call us at (617) 738-2800.

I've included some updated literature about the BCCA on the sidebar to this page. Should you desire anything further, I can be reached directly at (617) 642-1444 or by E-Mail at Dan_Y_Marshall@BCCAonline.com. I look forward to meeting with you and thank you for the valuable opportunity to share our visions and to collaborate towards furthering our common goals of serving the Greater Boston community.

Best Regards,

President & Executive Artistic Director
Brookline Community Center for the Arts
(617) 642-1444
Dan_Y_Marshall@BCCAonline.com