Fenway Alliance records

The Fenway Alliance was founded in January 1977 as The Boston Plan, a cooperative Fenway area organization focused on shared problems related to security, parking, transportation, and urban blight. The eight founding institutions of The Boston Plan were Boston State College, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston University, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Forsyth Dental Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, Northeastern University, and Wentworth Institute. The Boston Plan was modeled off of University Circle Inc., a similar organization in Cleveland, Ohio’s university district. By May 1979, the organization had added four additional members--the Cotting School for Handicapped Children, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Wheelock College, and Greater Boston YMCA-- and renamed itself the Boston-Fenway Program. The Boston-Fenway Program worked to address concerns the member organizations had about the neighborhood throughout the 1980s. At times, the Boston-Fenway Program included Fenway residents and community organizations in its planning and advocacy efforts, but the large member institutions were often disconnected from local residents and this tension was repeatedly raised in the press.

Between 1997 and 1998, the organization changed its name from the Boston-Fenway Program to the Fenway Alliance. Throughout the 1990s, a major focus of the organization was the clean-up and restoration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Muddy River Park and Parklands section of the Emerald Necklace. The goal of this project was to clean up the Muddy River and Fens area and improve flood control and water quality. The Fenway Alliance also began to promote and advocate cultural programs in the Fenway area and additional cultural and educational organizations continued to join the organization. The Fenway Alliance was responsible for the official designation of the neighborhood as the Fenway Cultural District by the Massachusetts Cultural Council in 2012.

As of 2024, 21 member institutions make up the Fenway Alliance, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. It promotes neighborhood revitalization and community development through arts and culture for under-served neighborhood youth and families. The Fenway Alliance’s cultural programs include Opening Our Doors, the largest one-day program of free cultural events in Boston.