Professional Arts Consortium

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The Professional Arts Consortium (also known as ProArts) is an association of six Boston, Massachusetts institutions of higher education which emphasize the visual, applied, and performing arts. The consortium allows for shared resources, such as libraries, between member schools. Students of member schools may also cross-register for courses in any other member school. It also maintains the Boston Arts Academy (BAA), a partnership with the Boston Public Schools.

The Consortium is made up of Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Boston Architectural College, Emerson College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University.

History

The Professional Arts Consortium (ProArts) was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1984.

Launch of online neighborhood ProArts Connect, found at www.proartsconnect.org.

New ProArts Website, www.proarts.org, launched.

Emerson College hosts interdisciplinary, inter-institutional course entitled, “Invisible Cities, Interventions.”

ProArts hosts “Defining the Future of ProArts Conference” at the Boston Architectural Center.

ProArts holds “Chairing the Academic Department” conference in collaboration with the Colleges of the Fenway Consortium.

Boston Arts Academy celebrates its first graduating class

Boston Arts Academy opens its doors.

Boston School Committee notifies ProArts that proposal submitted for arts high school, the Boston Arts Academy, submitted in September, has been accepted by the city.

First “Careers in the Arts” program held at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Berklee College of Music accepted as sixth member of the ProArts Consortium, effective January 1, 1991

ProArts sponsors the first of two annual teachers conferences for arts educators in the area.

ProArts joins Mass Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) with provides substantial savings for members via access to state contracts.

ProArts Summer, a six-weeks residency program for artistically talented high school students in Massachusetts, sponsored by the Consortium and funded by the State Board of Regents and the Mass Council for the Arts and Humanities. The program is offered again for two more years.

Professional Arts Consortium, consisting of the Boston Architectural Center, Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Emerson College, and the Boston Conservatory of Music, incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Cross-Registration begins at all five Consortium institutions. First collaborative course, “Situations in the Contemporary Arts,” offered through MassArt.

Arts Festival sponsored by the Consortium held on Peddocks Island

Proposal for developing a summer arts program for high school students submitted to the Massachusetts Board of Regents.

Berklee College of Music invited to attend meetings of the Task Force and participate in activities.

Art House, an inter-arts residency program, begins with a director and 50 students from the BAC, MassArt, the SMFA, and Emerson College. The Program is housed in the Emerson dormitory, Fensgate.

Academic Deans of the Boston Consortium of Professional Arts being meeting to discuss a joint seminar course, “Contemporary Issues in the Arts.”

The Beaudoin Report or “Consortium Task Force Final Report,” written by D. Bee Beaudoin in conjunction with Task Force members from the Boston Architectural Center, Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Emerson College, and the Boston Conservatory of Music is completed. The study for an arts consortium recommends goals, area of cooperative activities, and benefits to the member institutions and to the Boston area. (It was noted that the New England Conservatory of Music also participated in formal discussions concerning the Consortium over this period.)

A Task Force of the Boston Consortium of the Professional Arts, appointed by the CEOs of the Boston Architectural Center, Massachusetts College of Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Emerson College, and the New England Conservatory of Music meets to study collaborative programs among these institutions.

The Presidents of the Boston Architectural Center, Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the New England Conservatory of Music submit to the City of Boston a proposal that would transform Peddock's Island in Boston Harbor into an “Art Park.” The concept for the park included an art camp to provide arts training for talented young people, weekend arts festivals, continuing education courses, and conferences. Although supported by many, including the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, the proposal was not accepted.

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