Since the fall of 2009, the Boch Center has partnered with Boston Public Schools in the In-School Arts Residency Program (formerly known as Target Arts), an artist residency and ticket access program partially funded in the 2018-19 school year by the Mabel Louis Riley Foundation. The goal of the program is to improve school success, engage families, and strengthen the community by providing access to Boston's rich offerings of music, dance, visual arts, theater, and cultural events. Thousands of students in selected schools have gained greater exposure to Boston's theater district through the residencies and associated ticket access.
The program currently operates residencies within five Boston Public Schools per academic year. Within each residency, Boch Center teaching artists facilitate arts-based curriculum with literacy, artistic, public presentation, and social-emotional learning-based goals and outcomes.
Students in participating schools develop original works of art in various mediums centered on themes determined in collaboration with a classroom teacher. The students’ art, along with other literacy components, culminates in a final showcase production at the school. The residency also incorporates a selected children’s book that helps accentuate the theme, with each student receiving a copy of the book at residency completion. At a time when arts dollars are being cut from school budgets, we strive to fill the gap in arts education and play a leadership role in arts program delivery and resource coordination.
