Re-centering the arts in Boston: the whole city context
The South End has emerged as one of the most vibrant, new centers for the arts in Boston. In a pattern of growth, now centuries old, Boston has expanded into new territories time and time again. Older neighborhoods are revitalized by their new centrality, and new ones are created.
In the late 19th century Huntington Avenue was dubbed "The Avenue of the Arts" in hopes of creating an arts district outside of Boston's urban center. The construction of Symphony Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Opera House, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum secured this role for Huntington Avenue that endures to this day. This area of Boston, called the Fenway, was mostly vacant, unclaimed territory at the time, yet it represented a new direction for the city's expansion.
The Seaport District represents a similar ambition and opportunity for growth. As with the Fenway area at the turn of the last century, the arts are meant to provide a catalyst for development. The new site for the Institute for Contemporary Arts (completion 2007) is located in the Seaport District, almost alone alongside industrial piers, a sea of surface parking, and a venerable restaurant Anthony's Pier 4.
Today, the South End, thanks to a revitalized residential base, recent expansion by the Boston Center for the Arts, and the South of Washington (SOWA) art gallery district, is reflecting a shift in epicenter away from the older Museum of Fine Arts and Newbury Street areas. The BCA is emerging a new hub for culture in the city—the place where audiences can experience some of the most innovative and creative work being done in the region.