Media coverage
The Boston Globe, June 6, 2006
Designers vie to take a plaza beyond bricks
by Tom C. Palmer Jr.
Read article.
The South End News
BCA Plaza prepares for its facelift
Linda Rodriguez
Read article.
South End News, January 19, 2006
Public art
The BCA wants you to help redesign its plaza
The Boston Courant, January 14, 2006
BCA Has New Vision for Plaza
by Thomas Grillo Courant News Writer
The plaza outside the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) will be upgraded following a design competition to improve the block on Tremont Street from Clarendon to Berkeley.
"We love the plaza. We simply want to bring arts and entertainment outside and encourage the community to come inside," said Libbie Shufro, BCA president and CEO. "Most people don't know what exists behind our brick wall and we want to spill out on to the plaza and invite people in."
On Saturday, January 21, inside::out, a design charette, will be held at the BCA's Cyclorama from 10 am to 1 pm where the public will have an opportunity to suggest plaza improvements.
Shufro wants ideas to transform the plaza into a space that will not only serve as an everyday gathering place, but can also be adapted to accommodate larger seasonal activities and special events. In addition, the BCA hopes a redesigned plaza will offer a welcoming environment that unites the arts with the South End neighborhood.
"The plaza is a public space that people can't use," said Shufro. "Let's dream together and figure out what is important to all of us. Part of our plans are about renovating the plaza, but we want to unite our programs and buildings so this becomes an arts block."
In advance of the event, BCA has held community focus groups with local businesses, artists and donors to ask for their suggestions.
Following the half-day charette, the BCA will devise a list of guiding principles and seek proposals from landscape architects. Five finalists will be selected in May and the winner announced in September. Construction is expected to commence by the fall.
While Shufro said the project budget has not been finalized, she expects the cost to be about $2 million.
The BCA is located on a four-acre complex that includes the Cyclorama, site of exhibitions, performances and community events. It also houses the Community Music Center of Boston, the Art Connection, the Boston Ballet Costume Shop, three theaters and a rehearsal studio.
The adjacent Tremont Estates Building, originally an organ factory built in 1850, is home to more than 50 artist studios, the Mills Gallery, two rehearsal spaces and Hamersley's Bistro. Boston Ballet's headquarters, a 1991 building that contains rehearsal and administrative spaces, and a ballet school is also part of the complex.
"We want people to go to our theatre and exhibitions but not have to rush in and rush out," Shufro said. "We want people to hang and for this to be a community gathering place."