artists for humanity AT A GLANCE Founded in 1991, Artists For Humanity’s (AFH) mission is to provide underresourced urban youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in art and design. AFH began with what was then an ambitious and unconventional idea – young people can provide, through their innate talent and vision, contemporary creative services to the business community. In 2004, AFH constructed Boston’s first Platinum LEED-certified facility, the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, which allowed us to grow exponentially as a youth and cultural community resource, a successful enterprise, and a center for economic and environmental sustainability. AFH is now the largest onsite employer of Boston teens, empowering them through experiential arts/entrepreneurship and workforce development opportunities. The following is a snapshot of AFH in 2016: Our Youth Population Percentage from low or very low-income homes: 97% Number of languages spoken: 16 Number of schools attended: 43 Percentage who use their wages to support their families: 40% Percentage from single-parent households: 46% Percentage who live in Boston’s most at-risk neighborhoods: 59% Our Participation Number of paid youth: 276 Wages and commissions paid directly to our youth: $700,000 Percentage of youth for whom this is a first job experience: 83% Number of youth attending AFH’s biweekly introductory sessions: 803 Number of hours youth are mentored in creative entrepreneurship: 53,464 Estimated number of additional hours in tutoring support youth receive: 2,400 Percentage of AFH mentors who are program alumni: 55% Our Outcomes Top reported values learned from the job: Responsibility, patience, hard work Top skill learned: Interacting with others Percentage of youth who self-report improved artistic skills: 89% Number of commissioned client projects: 762 Total sales of art and design services: $1,450,000 Percentage of youth who earn their high school diploma: 100% Percentage of youth accepted to college: 100% Our Audience Number of exhibitions, murals, and public art installations: 112 Number of events hosted at the EpiCenter: 81 Number of event attendees: 17,464 Number of unique visitors to www.afhboston.org: 47,060 Estimated number of viewers of AFH created art: Millions!
SCALING SUCCESS: THE CAMPAIGN FOR ARTISTS FOR HUMANITY Throughout our history, Artists For Humanity (AFH) has taken a series of major deliberate steps to more effectively achieve our mission with an eye toward longer-term sustainability. Chief among these was constructing our facility in 2004; ours became the first building in Boston to achieve Platinum LEED certification. By 2006, AFH completed a $6.8 million capital campaign to own this facility outright. Since moving into the EpiCenter: • AFH has become one of the largest onsite employers of Boston teens, increasing youth employment from 100 to 250+ annually. • Our new studios and expanded workforce facilitated nearly a fivefold increase in our earned income capacity from $313,000 (2004) to $1,400,000 (2016). • Our contributed income nearly more than tripled from $790,000 (2004) to $2,550,000 (2016). • We developed a successful events program that now generates $600,000+ annually in revenue. • Our renewable technologies have saved us over $715,000 in avoided utility costs. But the EpiCenter long ago reached capacity. Each year, AFH maintains a waitlist of an additional 150 prospective youth employees we cannot hire because of space limitations. We must also outsource components of our design commissions due to lack of studio space for fabrication. AFH plans to expand our facility to bring more work and educational experiences to under-resourced populations and to provide for the long-term sustainability of our organization. AFH Expansion – The E+ EpiCenter AFH strategically plans to build a 30,000 sq. ft. addition to the EpiCenter, allowing us to: • Double youth engagement/employment for high school teens. (to 500 teens annually) • Hire more artists and social entrepreneurs to lead programming. • Expand studios to increase production, access to technology and earned studio revenues. • Engage innovation community through maker studios, new gallery, store, cafe and expanded event space. • Develop technology/vocational training program for opportunity youth. • Partner with educational institutions and offer college credits. • Continue to pioneer sustainability by creating an energy positive (E+) EpiCenter that produces more energy than it uses. • Cement our organizational sustainability.
About Behnisch Architekten www.behnisch.com
Behnisch Architekten enjoys a global reputation for high-quality architecture that integrates environmental responsibility, creativity, and public purpose. From offices in Stuttgart and Munich, Germany, as well as Boston, Massachusetts, the firm produces a rich variety of buildings mainly in Europe and North America. The four partners and staff share a vision to push the boundaries of high performance, 21st-century architecture that respects user needs, ecological resources, and local cultures. Since the firm was founded in 1989 by Stefan Behnisch, it has won national and international accolades for its award-winning design and cross-disciplinary approach. The firm provides services ranging from building, interior, product and landscape design to programming, space and layout planning, feasibility studies, project management and general planning, including cost consulting and on-site management. Originally formed as a branch office of Günter Behnisch’s firm, Behnisch & Partner, Behnisch Architekten became independent in 1991. From the beginning, Behnisch has prioritized the social dimension of architecture and the quality of the urban environment. Its projects respond to the material and spiritual needs of people. In 25 years, the firm has created a diverse portfolio of projects that is attuned to the culture and climate of place and demonstrates new ways for occupants to inhabit their surroundings. Behnisch has been a devoted advocate of sustainable design for nearly four decades. The Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen, Netherlands, completed in 1998, set a new precedent for innovative, sustainable architecture. In 2004, Behnisch Architekten gained international acclaim for the Genzyme Center in Cambridge, MA – a groundbreaking building that demonstrated how sustainable design can also be good design. The firm’s portfolio includes diverse commercial, cultural, and institutional projects in numerous countries. Recent and current projects include the award-winning John and Frances Angelos Law Center at the University of Baltimore, in Baltimore, MD, named a Top Ten Green Project for 2014 by the American Institute of Architects; the Harvard University Allston Science Complex in Boston, MA; the City of Santa Monica Parking Structure #6 in Santa Monica, CA; the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Administrative Building and Salle de Conférence in Geneva, Switzerland; the Unilever headquarters and Marco Polo residential tower in Hamburg, Germany; the Adidas Headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany; and the Ergolding Secondary School in Ergolding, Germany.
AN Electricity POSITIVE (E+) EPICENTER Buildings in the United States produce more greenhouse-causing emissions than either transportation or industry, and they consume over 70% of the electricity generated. In 2015, 15 million new buildings will be constructed in the United States, releasing carbon into the atmosphere and drawing on the grid. Artists For Humanity sees huge opportunity to make positive change by developing an expanded EpiCenter that counteracts those impacts by producing more energy than it uses. When building the existing EpiCenter, AFH saw green design as inherent to our role as leaders in youth development and to our mission to create sustainable futures. We knew that young people looked to us for a model on living responsibly; we saw the inception of the green building movement; and we knew we would achieve operating savings and a quick return on our investment. We met our goals and more, becoming the first building in Boston to achieve LEED Platinum certification and being named a Top Ten Green Building in the Nation by the American Institute of Architects. What does it mean to be green? The AFH EpiCenter uses energy and water more efficiently; recycles materials that would otherwise be wasted or disposed of; makes full use of natural light conditions; and has healthier indoor air quality. Our building also makes financial sense, saving the organization over $60,000 a year. Over the past decade, tremendous public and private movement has developed in Boston to encourage and reward sustainability. Innovations like Greenovate Boston, the creation of a cabinet level position for sustainability, developers joining together within the Green Ribbon Commission, and the leadership of academic institutions in research and development have contributed to Boston’s designation as the fifth most sustainable city by the Green Cities Index. The developing frontier for sustainable construction is Energy Positive. With improvements in technology and more accessible design innovations, buildings that produce more power than they consume will become the new standard. Currently there are just four Energy Positive certified commercial buildings of similar size in the nation, with another six on the horizon. Artists For Humanity looks to join this list as the first to achieve certification in New England. With partners in government, industry, and academia we are up to the challenge. Working with our architects and engineers, we shall strike a balance between known effective practices and emerging concepts. As we did with the EpiCenter – constructed on a very-limited budget – we shall prove responsible construction can be built within a responsible budget. AFH’S success toward achieving Energy Positive will be dependent on the value of the solar power incentives that are being finalized by the Massachusetts legislature, donations of technology, and dedicated donors who encourage the role we can play in educating our city to issues of climate change and sustainable design. At the very least, we will be Electricity Positive, generating all the electricity needed to power our expanded facility and its various operations.
afh MAKER STUDIOs The AFH Maker studios bring the future of design and engineering to the individual scale. We will support the 21st Century learning required for in-demand high-tech manufacturing jobs; foster community and collaboration; and provide the framework for the genesis of new ideas and industries. AFH youth and our community members will access maker space technologies, increasing their community collaboration, active learning and advanced skills development in creativity, media, technology, critical-thinking, problemsolving, and STEM concepts. While the Makers movement gains traction nationally, access remains limited in Greater Boston. Throughout our history, Artists For Humanity has been a Maker space, providing opportunities for professional and emerging artists to mentor youth in media, design and 3D design/sculptural arts and avail of high-tech equipment for personal projects during non-studio hours. Today, as we expand our EpiCenter, AFH will build on this spirit of creation, innovation and inclusion by expanding our maker studios and opening them to the greater community. AFH’s expanded Maker studios will welcome all – from the start-up entrepreneur who needs the resources to develop a prototype, to the tinker who has moved from the suburbs to the city and lost his basement shop, to the recent art-school graduate who wants to stay in Boston to develop her craft, to the neighbor who is taking up a new hobby. AFH is developing the space for people to create and make things right here in the Innovation District. Experiential learning will be at the core of AFH’s Maker studios. These spaces will be a featured component of our after-school and summer program, and they will serve as the basis for our pre-apprenticeship vocational training program for higher-risk youth. Moreover, experiential learning is extremely effective for youth struggle with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. When youth encounter STEM concepts through the experimentation inherent in making, they experience eye-opening Eureka! moments that get them excited to learn. This inspires them to practice their craft and achieve mastery; it also inspires them to re-dedicate themselves to more traditional learning. And let’s not forget that making stuff is fun! In a Maker space equipped with cutting-edge technologies, young people can do miraculous, seemingly impossible things, things they enjoy. Once young people realize that they are capable of far more than they envisioned, they begin to plan a brighter, more prosperous future for themselves. The AFH Maker studios will be designed to maximize opportunities for collaboration, and the cross-pollination of ideas, methods, and perspectives in a social atmosphere. They will feature bright, open and flexible spaces, equipped with cutting edge technologies (CNC machines, video production and editing, advanced 3D printers) and industrial machinery (welders, full woodshop). AFH program alumni will be certified to staff the operations and lead classes geared for a wide range of ages, experiences and interests of members. There will be opportunities for youth and community members to earn industry-specific certifications through studio partnerships with industry associations and institutes of higher learning. AFH will offer tiered membership levels, ranging from $125 to $475/month, with one-day passes available at $25/each, for our maker studios. This will allow low-income artists, high school and college students, and recent graduates to avail of the space, alongside community members. AFH will host classes for a wide range of ages, experiences and interests of members. From discussions with P&G/Gillette and State Street, AFH will add an opportunity for corporate partners to purchase bulk memberships for their employees to build their creativity and support their professional development. We expect a vibrant, collaborative space that will optimize AFH’s facility during off-peak hours, while creating a reliable revenue stream.
PARTNERING TO STRENGTHEN THE EMPLOYMENT-TO-EDUCATION-TOEMPLOYMENT CONTINUUM Artist For Humanity is a leader in college readiness and youth workforce development programming. We stand to strengthen these roles in an expanded EpiCenter, where we can better bridge the education to employment continuum. A central part of AFH’s expansion plan includes deepening our synergistic partnerships with local colleges and universities. This would connect our youth to some of the best local educational resources, open pathways to college success, and offer the opportunity to earn college credits as part of their ongoing work at AFH. AFH is in discussion with several potential educational partners who share our commitment to youth, arts and enterprise. Babson College, Northeastern University, Lesley University/Arts Institute of Boston, Emerson College, and Montserrat College of Art and Design have expressed interest in an Innovation District presence, internship opportunities, and access to markers space within the EpiCenter. Similarly, onsite vocational partners in fast-growing creative or green industries like HVAC/plumbing, welding or environmental sciences would provide studio learning or training in marketable career paths for opportunity youth who need immediate work experience to steer them toward productive career pathways. Within our larger facility, AFH will work with industry partners and trade associations/labor unions to develop training programs and industry-specific certifications to connect youth with in-demand careers that do not require a college degree. AFH has shared our plans with several trades professionals and leaders in vocational training. Lyle Hamm, the Director of the New England Carpenters Training Fund, is very excited about our pre-apprenticeship program; he has introduced Joe Byrne of the Carpenter’s Union and trainers from his apprenticeship program to our work. Hamm believes AFH youth would be excellent for union jobs because they are: already working; creative and entrepreneurial; and experienced in collaborating with a diverse group of people in terms of age, race and cultures. Mayor Walsh is another advocate and sees our program as synergistic with the City’s Building Pathways program; he connected us to Brian Doherty of the Massachusetts Building Trades Association who, like Hamm, is excited to help launch this program. Finally, John Cannistraro of J.C. Cannistraro LLC is helping to underwrite AFH’s new Maker Studios where he will establish a mentoring center for AFH youth to apprentice in HVAC/plumbing and metalwork and to promote their interest in skilled labor careers. This coincides with his partnership in the Building Pathways program and Wentworth Institute of Technology, as well as AFH’s vision for integrated arts and STEM programming.
Bridging Communities through Creative Placemaking Located at the intersection of A and West Second Streets, the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter sits in the swirling center of Boston’s Fort Point Arts District and the recently designated Innovation District. AFH’s plan for expanding the EpiCenter coincides with our neighborhood’s strategy to create an innovation eco-system where work, live and play converge; and it is rooted in the neighborhood’s economic life force: creative industries. The expanded EpiCenter will become a stronger community beacon for those in search of diverse culture, urban art, gifts, communal maker space, a private events venue, or green design inspiration, featuring:
• Maker Studios open for community use. • A Full-time Gallery for rotating exhibitions, artist exchanges, and profiles of new and emerging Boston artists.
• A Retail Store, featuring locally made everything from youth-created art, furniture, • • • •
apparel, and providing urban teens with retail operations and management opportunities. Pop up Shop to profile emerging creative businesses and further contribute to the neighborhood’s innovation ecosystem. Award-winning private event space perfect for any occasion. Flexible space for corporate meetings, team building activities, or brainstorming sessions. Green building tours and renewable technology showrooms to introduce architects, urban planners and the broader community to innovations in environmental responsibility.
Communal art-making, idea-sharing and tours of the E+ EpiCenter will introduce community members to Boston’s emerging teen artists/designers/technologists; facilitate stimulating intergenerational interactions; and create a stronger pipeline for hometown teens to successfully fill the jobs being created in the Innovation District. The expanded EpiCenter also dovetails with the strategies for creative placemaking by:
• Creating opportunities for people of all income levels and backgrounds to thrive in place.
• Supporting economic diversity in the community, providing multiple points of entry and interaction.
• Creating a place where people go and linger. • Creating interesting places that capitalize on distinctiveness. • Contributing to a mIx of uses and people that makes places more diverse, more interesting and more active, thus making spontaneous interaction more likely. • Fostering connections among people and across cultures. • Always presenting itself to the public and encouraging pedestrian activity. • Convincing people that a place can have a different and better future.
EXPansion timELinE 2010 •
November – Completed Strategic Plan for Facility Expansion
2012 •
July – Completed zoning investigations, massing study and renewable energy feasibility
•
November – Completed architectural concept design study
2013 • • •
July – Received land gift, valued at $1,000,000, from Procter & Gamble September – Completed pro forma for expansion with five-year projections November – Completed case statement
2014 • • •
February – Entered ”quiet” phase of capital campaign July – Selected Behnisch Architekten as design team November – Formed Capital Campaign Steering Committee
2015 • •
April – Capital Campaign reaches 1/3 of goal June – Complete Schematic Design
2016 • • •
March – Complete community approvals October – Capital Campaign reached 67% of goal ($20 million) December – Finalize designs; Approve Construction Documents
•
December – Secure full project financing.
2017 •
July – Break ground
2018 • • •
July – Complete construction of 30,000 SQ.FT building; occupancy July – Capital Campaign reaches 100% of goal ($32 million) September – Phase 1, Program expansion complete
2019 •
July – Phase 2, Program Expansion
GroWth anD businEss PLan mEtriCs Growing youth employment Within an expanded facility, Artists For Humanity will be able to increase the annual number of jobs we offer high school youth to work in our creative studios. We will also introduce vocational training for opportunity youth, supported by onsite partners, the construction industry and government job training initiatives. AFH projects that that by 2019, we will employ more than 500 youth annually and invest $1.8 million in youth wages and commissions. This increase in youth wages will be offset by a concomitant increase in earned income, as our larger youth workforce meets the growing demand for AFH’s creative products and services.
Strengthening community connections AFH’s expanded EpiCenter will make more creative places open to the public, with communal Maker Studios, gallery, retail store, and event space. Access to our Maker Studios and scheduled classes will facilitate collaboration and innovation. Expanded and flexible events space will allow for multiple, concurrent community meetings, events and presentations. Sustainable building and guided art tours will introduce new audiences to Artists For Humanity, green design and the creative process.
GroWth anD businEss PLan mEtriCs (Cont’D) Cementing Organizational Sustainability A larger facility will allow AFH to earn 71% of our annual operating costs. Expanded product development/manufacturing capacity – and an expanded youth workforce – will allow AFH to complete larger and higher-margin commissions. Growth of our Innovation District and increased visitors to the EpiCenter will open new opportunities. And our energy positive building will save hundreds of thousand of dollars annually in avoided energy costs. Working with advisors in a variety of industries, AFH has projected income and expenses for our operations in an expanded facility. Our capital campaign will fund building, operating, and innovation reserves to build our capacity and secure Artists For Humanity for future generations.
CaPitaL CamPaiGn buDGEt AFH’s capital campaign is designed to encourage leadership gifts and pledges payable over 1 to 3-years, and requires approximately 140 donors to reach the $28 million goal by 2018. The following table summarizes one way to achieve campaign success and includes opportunities for donors at a multitude of levels:
buiLDinG funD Property Acquisition
$1,000,000
Architectural & Energy Consulting Fees Engineering Fees Legal Fees Other Soft Costs
$1,200,000 $830,000 $500,000 $570,000
Total Soft Costs
$3,100,000
Construction Equipment & studio buildout Financing & NMTC Fees
$16,500,000 $2,000,000 $1,400,000
TOTAL BUILDING FUND
$24,000,000
TOTAL BUILDING FUND
$24,000,000
ProGram innoVation & oPPortunity funD Innovation Fund (Pre-Apprenticeship Training) Operational Reserves Facilities Reserves
$1,000,000 $1,000,000 $1,000,000
Campaign & Development Expenses
$1,000,000
TOTAL INNOVATION & OPPORTUNITY FUND
TOTAL CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
$4,000,000
$28,000,000
NAMING OPPORTUNITIES AND DONOR RECOGNITION Artists For Humanity’s capital campaign offers a rare opportunity to make a lasting leadership gift that will transform the lives of Boston teens. AFH is committed to prominently recognizing donors via a variety of naming opportunities, providing a broad choice to donors for associating their name with this signature new facility and our pioneering programs. Early donors will be acknowledged during the construction phase.
Building - $10,000,000
Naming rights to the expanded Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, where creativity, youth development and workforce readiness intersect in Boston’s Innovation District.
Maker/3D Design Studios with Vocational Program - RESERVED
AFH’s Maker/3D Design Studios will feature advanced technologies (CNC machines, 3D printers), and industrial machinery (welders, full woodshop), and will be designed to maximize opportunities for membership and cross-pollination of ideas in a social atmosphere. Within the Makers Studios, AFH will launch a vocational program designed for out-of-school youth in the technology and/or the trades, which will include a branded certificate awarded upon successful completion of curriculum.
Painting Studio - $2,500,000
AFH’s Painting Studio is our largest studio and the first point of entry for teens working in our after-school and summer programs. The Painting Studio is also a popular venue for special events.
Design Studio - $2,500,000
AFH’s Design Studio is where 21st Century Skills coalesce through project-based and technological learning in media, graphic design, digital advertising, online commerce and communication.
Gallery - RESERVED
AFH’s new gallery will host rotating exhibits of youth and emerging artists, and provide artist exchange opportunities.
$1,000,000 • • • • •
Photography Studio Video Arts Studio Web Design Studio Screenprinting Studio Kitchen
$250,000 • •
Stairwells Elevators
$500,000 • • • •
Photography Darkroom Video Screening Room Library Gift Shop
Donor Wall - $100,000