While the school year was winding down for most parents last June, it was actually winding up for West Boylston parents Jim Brissette, Mitch Sanders, Sarah O’Connor and Bryan Fancy, whose summer days were filled with a challenge: saving the arts in West Boylston for the 2007- 2008 school year.

Last spring, West Boylston, along with Berlin, Boylston, Shrewsbury, and other Central Mass. small towns, voted on a Proposition 2 ½ override. West Boylston needed an additional $450,000 to meet the 2007-2008 school budget. The town voted the override down, passing only level funding for this school year.

The defeat resulted in a slashing of several arts and music programs. West Boylston Superintendent Thomas Kane said that the administration and the School Committee had to make painful decisions.

“You have to cut electives first when you are faced with budget concerns,” he said.

Well before the budget crisis occurred, Jim Brissette went to the superintendent to discuss his vision of starting an Arts Foundation, primarily to invigorate the district’s arts programs. 

After the cuts, Sarah O’Connor, Bryan Fancy, and Mitch Sanders, all alumni of West Boylston schools, were compelled to meet with Kane to discuss a way that they could reinstate the arts.

“It’s important to do this,” explains O’Connor, an artist and mother of two artistic daughters, “I have great memories of going to school here. I want my daughters to have the same positive experience as I did.”

“Kids need to have an outlet from everyday school work. For most kids, there is one thing that gets them through the day whether it’s gym or art. Some kids won’t have the chance to experience art if it’s not in school,” says O’Connor.

The superintendent brought the four concerned parents together. The group developed the West Boylston Arts Foundation establishing executive officers with Brissette as President, Sanders as Vice-President, O’Connor as Secretary, and Fancy as Treasurer. The group has their certification for 501-3C non-profit status.

Kane has been extremely supportive of the Foundation’s mission, attending most WBAF meetings and meeting the officers separately. Other supporters include the schools’ principals and some parents, high school students, and even alumni.

 “We’d love to have more people involved,” O’Connor said. “We need more input, more ideas.”

The group’s first project was to send out a town-wide mailing, requesting donations to address the immediate need of saving what music and art programs they could for the school year. The letter was sent in June with a July 20 deadline, asking the community for $100,000, a figure given to them by the School Department.

Parents were already facing an $100 increase in bus fees, $150 high school parking fee, a $175 per season sports fee, a possible sports field charge by the Parks Commission and a cry for help from the town library, who needs $14,370.00 from the town budget (not from private funds) to remain accredited. This plea also follows a Community Preservation Act vote to increase taxes last April as well as fundraising for a September 2008 Bicentennial Celebration.

Still, the West Boylston Arts Foundation watched the fundraising thermometer set up at the town’s bandstand climb to almost $20,000. While WBAF met only 20 percent of its goal, the donations offer hope to make a difference for this school year.

“I am very happy about how much we are able to do with $20,000,” says Brissette, two weeks before the school year started. “We have done a lot in the short term.”

Since there was already a little art left in the schools, the group decided that they would try to help the band first. Funds from parents, grandparents, and alumni have helped to reinstate band for the middle school only.

“With a limited amount of money, we addressed the band, the thing that was impacted the most,” says Brissette.

With elementary school music cut, the WBAF is exploring ways for the fifth graders to continue playing the instruments that they learned last year. They are also creatively seeking ways for the fourth and fifth graders to share limited music resources.

“Our group effort is to do the best we can to address what was lost during the school day,” says Fancy. “Maybe we can’t help the fourth grade with the instrument program now, but we don’t forget them. We are trying to benefit everyone with the limited funds that we have.”

Kane feels the support the WBAF has provided will give credibility to the organization. “Parents will see where the money is coming and going,” he says.

The Foundation’s next step is to work on fundraising and visibility.

“We would like to have an events calendar,” says Brissette, “Some events would be for fundraising, and some would be just to increase visibility.”

The group has discussed having student musicians and singers greet families at open houses and other events.

Heather Feland, a West Boylston parent and Executive Director of the Worcester Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, agrees. She has volunteered to head the grant writing for WBAF and has met with Kane to discuss ways to collaborate with the 2008 Bicentennial Committee to offer student-driven visual and performing arts programming at the celebration.

“This would be an opportunity to show that the art curriculum in schools can impact the community at large. It’s really exciting to talk about how the bicentennial can have such a revitalizing impact to the community at large,” says Feland.

The WBAF has also discussed having an arts festival as part of the bicentennial celebration.

The group hopes to work with the PTA’s Enrichment Committee to bring more artistic offerings to the school, exploring ways to invite visiting artists to West Boylston schools. Ultimately, they would like to provide after-school enrichment classes in the arts, as well as scholarships, in addition to field trips to museum and music and drama performances.

Corporate donations are also being sought by Vice-President Sanders, who will draw upon his business experience as owner of a Worcester bio-tech firm.

“The West Boylston Arts Foundation is a catalyst to get the community more engaged. If you care about West Boylston and love what the community is, come out and support it in whatever way you feel comfortable,” encourages Feland, “We are a small town with so many wonderful gifts. If we don’t start celebrating them, we are going to lose them.”

For more information on the West Boylston Arts Foundation, visit www.wbaf.org. The West Boylston Arts Foundation (WBAF) has filed for tax exempt status and donations will be tax deductible. Please make your check payable to WBAF, P.O. Box 132 , West Boylston, MA 01583 Carrie Wattu is a freelance writer who lives in West Boylston with her family.