A Very Special Thank You from the Director!

Thank you so much for your participation in the 10th Anniversary of Opening
Our Doors yesterday! The Day was a big success--we are still collecting
participant numbers but it may have been our biggest year ever.

The Day opened with the Boston Children's Chorus on the Plaza, followed Bob
Gittens who introduced Mayor Menino, then State Rep Byron Rushing, and Vice
Chair of the MCC Barbara Wallace Grossman. Two Berklee College
students--Eytan Nicholson and Vincent Sneed who created The Boston Song
performed it for us on the stage. The Kick-Off activities concluded with
the Happy Birthday Song led by Vincent Sneed, and then a huge children's
parade (led by the Hot Tamales Brass Band) around the Reflecting Pool.
Children picked up their free cupcake from the cupcake cake donated by Sara
Ross of Kickass Cupcakes Food Truck, and made their way to all other
activities.

Kelly Brilliant, Executive Director

Check out the FACES of the Fenway!

For today's post, we have a video clip for you to enjoy, we are gearing up for Monday's Opening Our Doors event, and will be back with all the latest news and Fenway cultural happenings on Tuesday!

Executive Director, Kelly Brilliant, Interviews Hunter O'Hanian of the MassArt Foundation

By Kelly Brilliant, Executive Director, The Fenway Alliance

Photo by JWLensworks

Hunter O'Hanian is Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the MassArt Foundation. He and BWP Connector Kelly Brilliant dug into the concepts of design and the creative economy.

Kelly Brilliant: Richard Florida and others have popularized the concept of "the creative economy. " How would you define it, particularly for those who may be skeptical that it is just trendy economist jargon that exists more in theory than in reality?

Hunter O'Hanian: It is the real economic activity which is a direct result from creative endeavors. The range is quite large as it varies from artists in their studios in Boston’s South End to galleries on Newbury Street, to the 1,000+ employees at the Museum of Fine Arts to the thousands working in the design related companies throughout the state. There is virtually no economic sector which does not contribute to the creative economy. Grocery store chains, financial institutions, hospitals, and universities make up the largest employers in Massachusetts and each and every one of them use members of the creative economy to succeed in their business model.

Happy 10th Birthday to "Opening Our Doors" Arts and Cultural Festival

Posted by Elise Couture-Stone, Marketing & Development Associate, The Fenway Alliance

Image by Tania Ostorga

This is an exciting year as we are celebrating the 10th Birthday of "Opening Our Doors"! We will have a children's parade led by the music of the Hot Tamales--a live brass band--around the Reflecting Pool of the Christian Science Plaza where we host the Kick-Off on Monday, Oct 10 at 10 AM. Kick-Ass Cupcakes is donating a beautiful cupcake cake so that everyone attending the Kick-Off can help us celebrate. Boston Children's Chorus will begin the Day, and Berklee guys Eytan Nicholson (writer) and Vincent Sneed (performer) will be on hand for a rendition of their famous "So Good--the Boston Song" to get us all in the spirit. Oh, and we'll have lots of food trucks so people can grab a quick, delicious lunch on the run, so they don't have to miss a thing!  Take a look at the full list of activities and events going on this year, and don't miss out!
   

We here at the Fenway Alliance have been working diligently with our partners to bring the city this free arts festival, we really hope you can join us! One of our staff members will be riding a city bike from event to event, taking pictures and tweeting throughout the day, maybe you and your family will have a snapshot taken and posted on our website, Facebook and blog! 

See you there! 

ShiftBoston! Interviews Executive Director Kelly Brilliant:

By Elizabeth Tereshko, Editor, ShiftBoston! 
etereshko@gmail.com 


ShiftBoston: Can you tell us a bit more about the 'Opening Our Doors' event? What is happening and who are the key players involved?

Kelly Brilliant: I had the germ of the idea for Opening Our Doors when I took the position of Executive Director of the Fenway Alliance 11 years' ago.  I thought that we had such great cultural and artistic resources within the 21 member institutions of the Fenway Alliance (including the MFA, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Conservatory, NEC, Berklee College of Music, BSO, Northeastern, etc.) that it was just natural to offer a free day of culture to the community.   I thought it was important that it be free to allow those who might not ordinarily participate due to costs concerns.

I remember what a positive impact it had in our community when Malcolm Rogers, Director of the MFA, opened up the Huntington Avenue entrance of the Museum about 11 year's ago-basically  the Museum's  front door--which had been shuttered for a number of years, prior.  I wanted to build on that spirit, and also build on a day that the Museum of Fine Arts had traditionally been open for free to the public--Monday, Columbus Day.  "Opening Our Doors" seemed like a fitting name for our event.   I crossed my fingers that the other the institutional members would get behind the idea.   And they did in a quantity and quality of artistic offerings that I couldn't have ever imagined.