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Fund for the Arts: Christen Boone to Step Down as President & CEO
When Christen Boone first joined Fund for the Arts, its objective was, “How can the community support the arts?”
Seven years later, the organization’s focus has evolved into, “How can the arts best serve this community?” That paradigm shift is perhaps one of the greatest impacts (and there are many!) Boone has had on the Fund.
She will leave quite the legacy after she’s gone. On June 30, 2021, Boone will step down as President and CEO.
EMPOWERING ARTISTS AT EVERY LEVEL, IN EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD
During her tenure, Boone led the re-engineering of the 70-yearold Fund for the Arts into a powerhouse regional arts agency. The Fund boasts nearly 20,000 donors and is committed to creating a strong, vibrant, educated, and connected community through the unique power of the arts.
The Fund has raised more than $50 million under Boone’s leadership. It wasn’t just from the support of individual donors, either. Staying true to the vision of supporting and unifying the local community, Boone was able to partner with the city’s top corporate leaders, philanthropists, educators, and prominent organizations to achieve this goal.
SO WHERE DID ALL THAT MONEY GO?
In the past, funds typically went to “traditional” arts organizations, such as opera, orchestra, ballet, children’s orchestra, and children’s choir. Only a small number of groups were eligible to apply for assistance.
However, Boone recognized that as the local community changes, the arts that support the local community also change.
In order to promote the Fund’s vision of building “equity, diversity, and inclusion,” she wanted to extend financial support to lesser-known creative organizations that do other important work as well.
“We believe Louisville has a world-class arts scene,” she says. “How do we make sure all of our diverse groups are getting support?”
With Boone’s guidance, the Fund revamped its application process. “We wanted to focus on art that moves this community forward, not just art for arts’ sake,” adds Boone.
Organizations may apply each year if they meet certain criteria. During the application process, the organizations must explain how they are supporting education, providing opportunities, and moving the greater community forward. It’s also important that each organization offer programming that’s accessible to everyone in Louisville.
Christen Boone has been with
The grants end up being anywhere from 10% to 20% of a receiving organization’s operating budget, so the Fund’s support is significant.
With the implementation of this new process, double the number of organizations receive critical operating grants.
Re-engineering the 70-year-old Fund for the Arts into a regional powerhouse didn’t happen overnight — and it certainly wasn’t happenstance.
The groundwork was set by establishing the Imagine 2020 Cultural Plan, which aligned the arts and culture sector around a shared vision for community impact. “One of the things that we did was really look at strong cultural communities around the country,” Boone recalls. “One thing that came up again and again [in our research] is that many cities had strong cultural plans. They identified strengths and weaknesses. They were intentional about what they wanted to build for the future and how it integrated with the greater community.”
The Imagine 2020 Cultural Plan wasn’t drafted behind closed doors. The Fund helped coordinate focus groups and surveys that involved over 5,000 people of all backgrounds to answer a fundamental question: What does this community need? After two years of input and feedback, the Cultural Plan was published in 2017. It was the first time Louisville created a such a plan in 15 years.
The plan can be summarized by its five core pillars:
1. ACCESS. More art for more people in more places.
2. CULTIVATION. Attracting artists and creative professionals to Louisville.
3. EDUCATION. Ensuring every child in the community has the opportunity to experience and participate in art.
5. PROMOTION. Promoting Louisville as a national and international leading city of arts and culture.
Nearly all of Boone’s achievements as President and CEO of Fund for the Arts can be correlated to the principles found in the cultural plan.
EXPANDING THE CULTURAL PASS PROGRAM TO OVER 40,000 CHILDREN ANNUALLY
The Louisville Cultural Pass program began five years ago as a result of Lousiville Metro’s Imagine 2020 planning. It was developed to address the question: What if we could make sure that every child in the city has access to the arts? “One thing I love about the Louisville community is that if you put out a ‘what if,’ our arts community really comes together to make it happen,” Boone says.
The Cultural Pass program does just that.
Over 40,000 children annually receive the pass, which gives them free admission to arts and culture venues through the summer. There are approximately 50 to 60 opportunities for children and their families, including the zoo, science center, museums, performance arts, and much more.
Christen Boone speaking at the Fund for the Arts 70th anniversary celebration at the Brown Theatre.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Boone heard comments like, “I’ve never felt invited to some of these [arts and cultural] organizations. Having the Cultural Pass was my invitation.” The Fund also partnered with the parks and neighborhood centers to break down transportation barriers to accessing arts and cultural attractions in the city.
CELEBRATING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY WITH THE ANNUAL AWARDS IN THE ARTS EVENT
“How do we celebrate everything that we have in our community?” Boone asks. “We realized that individual organizations might have their own events, but no one was celebrating the fullness and diversity of the entire Louisville arts scene. Nobody was doing that. We wanted everybody to come together each year and celebrate the richness in our community.”
Boone co-created the annual Awards in the Arts event, which honors emerging artists, organizations making an impact in education, and even bestows lifetime achievement awards. Over the past five years, the event has been able to recognize and honor over 30 organizations and individuals.
“This is an opportunity to continue to remind ourselves that we have a great legacy in the arts,” Boone says, “but also a reminder that we need to invest in it and lift it up and tell those stories.”
The event is held on Opening Night at Churchill Downs, kicking off Kentucky Derby week. “Our arts are as important as our bourbon and horse scene,” Boone says.
LAUNCHING THE IMAGINE MURAL FESTIVAL
The Imagine Mural Festival in the historic Smoketown neighborhood is another success story that came out of the Cultural Plan. Smoketown is one of Kentucky’s oldest and historically under-invested neighborhoods. Murals provide immediate and free access to the arts for the local community.
“When you place murals in traditionally under-invested communities, you create a new form of ‘equity’ or access to that art,” says Boone. It was important to Boone and the Fund that the murals authentically tell the story of the neighborhood. Community activists, leaders, and the Smoketown Neighborhood Association came together to collaborate on the festival to ensure the art was authentic to the people’s voice. The goal? To tell the stories of the unheard voices of Smoketown.
Murals that were selected for the festival were chosen based on artistic merit as well as how they honored the legacy of the community. Approximately half the artists were local to Louisville, and the other half were nationally and internationally renowned artists.
PROMOTING ARTS IN HEALTH
When the Cultural Plan was complete, one of the most pressing questions was, “What parts of our community don’t have access to the arts? And how can we make that better?”
According to Boone, one of those overlooked places was senior living facilities.
Boone initiated partnerships with senior living facilities to ensure that age isn’t a barrier to art. Immediately after these partnerships formed, quality of life at the facilities improved.
“Music is an incredible part of the lives of our seniors,” Boone says. “Musicians play music with them, sing with them, make art with them.”
On the other end of the age spectrum, the Fund worked with the Novak Pediatric Center to infuse art and creativity into the construction of its new building. The Fund also partners with Norton Healthcare.
“When people are in medical facilities, they don’t feel well. They’re anxious, they’re under stress,” Boone says. “We don’t do the programming ourselves. We connect creative organizations and artists with the places that need them. We think of ourselves as a matchmaker, in a sense.”
SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE NEXT ACT
When she steps down as President and CEO in June, Boone wants to ensure that the organization is stronger than when she joined. To accomplish this, she’ll help lead the 2021 Growth Plans and Leadership Transition.
“I am proud of the work the Fund for the Arts has accomplished and am thankful for the talents of our artists, generosity of our donors, power of our cross-sector partnerships, and commitment of our community to ensure that the arts and culture sector remains strong and vibrant,” Boone says. “Together, we continue to recognize the unique role of the arts to inspire, challenge, and connect, and the power of the arts to build our community.”
The Louisville arts community wishes her the very best in her next chapter!
