By Jon Chesto at The Boston Globe
Mark Lev told the crowd gathered last week at Fenway Park‘s Dell Technologies Club that the Boston Arts Academy Foundation was only around $1 million away from reaching its $35 million fund-raising goal.
Good thing for Lev and the foundation’s other board members that they just landed a big anonymous donation: $1 million outright, to seed a scholarship fund in foundation chief executive Denella Clark‘s name, and up to another $1 million if the foundation can match it through other gifts.
Mayor Michelle Wu announced the donation at the event, billed as a “preclosing celebration” to wrap up the six-year, $35 million fund-raising effort.
The foundation raises funds for the Boston Arts Academy, the visual and performing arts-focused public high school, located across the street from Fenway Park. (Lev is an executive at Fenway Sports Group, whose principal owner is Boston Globe publisher John Henry.)
“We need leaders who love and practice the arts,” Wu said. “We need leaders who recognize the power and the importance of beauty, empathy and human connection. … These are the kinds of leaders that the BAA educates, supports, and shares with the whole world.”
Two days later, another prominent nonprofit that helps Boston kids raked in some bucks at Fenway. The BASE raised $650,000 for its sports-based programming at the annual gala, which was held a day after the nonprofit “rededicated” its Roxbury facility as the Yawkey Urban Sports Complex, Home of The BASE (reflecting a $1.5 million gift from the Yawkey Foundation that helped enable the nonprofit to buy its Shirley Street home). Among those on hand at the gala: NCAA president Charlie Baker, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy, Fidelity Investments executive Pam Everhart, and Westfield Capital managing partner John Montgomery.
Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll spoke at the rededication. The speech happened to echo some of Wu’s comments about the benefits of arts education, but Driscoll focused on athletics instead.
“The skills that you learn in a team help you your whole life,” Driscoll said. “Every single kid in our community deserves access to that opportunity.”
By Jon Chesto at The Boston Globe
