617-482-7494 | 34 Warren Ave. Boston MA 02116
A Brief History of Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB)
Now in our 100th year, Community Music Center of Boston (CMCB) provides excellent music education to individuals and groups of diverse backgrounds, ages, and abilities, transforming lives citywide. Founded in 1910, CMCB is the product of two historic settlement schools that worked primarily with immigrant children - the Boston Music School Settlement and the South End Music School, which merged in 1968. We operate a lively, bustling 8,000 square foot instructional facility at the Boston Center for the Arts, in the heart of Boston's South End.
We serve more than 5,000 students each week, both on-site in the Boston Center for the Arts and in nearly 50 community sites each year, including more than 20 Boston Public Schools. In keeping with our settlement school roots, we serve a multicultural student body— particularly those from traditionally underserved urban neighborhoods, in financial need, and individuals with physical, cognitive, emotional or social challenges. We have unwaveringly maintained our original mission to provide music education to those children and adults who would otherwise not have access to such opportunities. Core to our values is the conviction that music education is and should be a formative part of every child's education. We award more than $150,000 —about 6% of our overall budget— every year in scholarships and financial aid.
Over the past 100 years, CMCB has grown to become an accredited, nationally-recognized institution— and, notably, the leading provider of arts education to the Boston Public Schools.
"The Commission commends [CMCB] for its many contributions to the musical life of Boston and for its commitment to student achievement". — Accrediting Commission for Community and Precollegiate Arts Schools, 2008
Recent CMCB milestones include:
- Unconditional accreditation in spring 2008 in our first attempt by ACCPAS, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Precollegiate Arts Schools.
- Fidelity Investments chose CMCB to be the exclusive Boston arts education provider when they launched a four-city FutureStage middle-school outreach program. This program includes CMCB, Fidelity, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, and has allowed us to provide instrumental instruction and music theory in Boston middle schools.
- The Linde Family Foundation has made a major investment in our Schools in Concert program, which provides scholarships for elementary and middle school BPS youth to study privately at CMCB and helps CMCB to offer junior, intermediate and advanced string and wind ensembles.
- Faculty, students, guest artists, press and a 370-seat theater of supporters came together on June 8 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts to honor CMCB Executive Director David Lapin's 25th anniversary. Quarter Note's honorary committee included Mayor Menino, who issued a proclamation in Lapin's honor; Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson; Anita Walker, Executive Director, Massachusetts Cultural Council; Karen Zorn, President, Longy School of Music; Richard Ortner, President, Boston Conservatory; Tony Woodcock, President, New England Conservatory; Roger Brown, President, Berklee College of Music; Josiah Koven-Matasy and Henry Kwan, 2008 Lapin Competition winners; and Jonathan Herman, Executive Director of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts.
- We are pleased to report that over time our outreach (link to schools outreach program page) in the Boston Public Schools— serving more than 4,000 students each week - has demonstrated exceptional growth. Schools Outreach Director Lucy Joan Sollogub describes this growth as "evidence that change is actually happening".
- As we commemorate our 100th anniversary with an ambitious slate of programmatic initiatives, free concerts and special events, we invite you to join our community and help us celebrate music!