Newton, about to lose Cultural Center, gets grant to help create a replacement

NEWTON

The creation of new regional cultural arts center in Newton took a step forward last week when the Newton Cultural Alliance received an $18,750 grant to conduct a feasibility study of the project.

The money came from he Massachusetts Cultural Council's Cultural Facilities Fund and will be matched with $31,250 in private donations raised last spring for the project. The city's current Cultural Center is housed in the former Carr School in Newtonville, a building that is being reclaimed by the school department.

State Representative Kay Khan, who has championed the project, noted in a press release that "Newton is a community of artists."

A regional arts center will, Khan said, "enrich the quality of life in the city, while stimulating the creative economy and raising revenue for the entire western suburban Boston region."

The Newton alliance applied for the grant and was one of 62 winners out of 201 applicants. Cultural officials urged anyone seeking more information or looking for ways to get involved in the push for a new cultural center to contact them via e-mail.

-- Megan Woolhouse