Through workshops as well as specific projects and initiatives, BostonAPP/Lab continues to convene a wide cross-section of Greater Boston’s talent -- artistic, financial, municipal, organizational -- for the purpose of incubating new collaborations -- and new projects -- that will generate a vibrant, robust environment for the arts in greater Boston’s public places, reflective of the area’s individual, community, and institutional assets. Initially a committee within the Boston Society of Architects, the Lab is now a 501(c)(3) that continues to incorporate the imperatives of civic engagement in all its efforts -- of what it means to take, in Robert Irwin's phrase, art out into the world.
We continue to work closely not only with the Boston Society of Architects but, via our Board, with organizations such as Artists for Humanity, Future Boston Alliance, the Cambridge Arts Council, etc., as well as local community development corporations such as Nuestra Communidad, the Hyde Square Task Force, etc. The Lab's four key areas of focus or objectives include (1) continuing workshops, which by now number nearly two dozen; (2) identifying and placing resources behind special projects, such as the ArtsCommons; (3) providing seed money for new ideas emerging from the workshops; (4) expanding and solidifying institutional and organizational partnerships. We are eager to explore with supporters -- individual or organizational -- answers to the key question: "What can we do together that we can't do separately?"