DOTART PROVIDES A FUN, SAFE, AND WELCOMING COMMUNITY FOR OUR CHILDREN TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES CREATIVELY.

Children, youth and adults learn to use line, color, shape, design, texture and form. Our experienced teachers and volunteers provide children an introduction to (and even mastery of) a visual vocabulary to express what is often beyond words.

Here, individuals can learn to use their imagination to explore new possibilities, be courageous on the canvas, and to take risks with their creative impulses. Perhaps most importantly, they learn to be delightfully surprised by the unexpected:

“If something doesn't go your way, make it into something new, that drip can become something else. What begins as a horse can become a butterfly.”

DOTART BRINGS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD TOGETHER.

When a community witnesses large-scale public art made by its children, there's a sense of pride and ownership. We teach children to be expressive citizens and that what they have to say matters.

All residents of Boston should have equal access to the visual arts and creative learning opportunities.

As Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood, Dorchester encompasses a rich diversity of over 100,000 residents, 17% of whom were school-aged children in 2015, in comparison to only 11% of children in Boston as a whole.

According to the 2010 Census, Dorchester is 37.3% Black, 28% White, 13.8% Hispanic, 11.6% Asian and 10.2% composed of Native Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and other ethnic identities.

Dorchester residents continue to face some of the highest rates of poverty and social inequities in the city. The median household income in Dorchester in 2015 was $47,200, lower than the Boston median of $55,777.

We are passionate about closing the opportunity gap and increasing the representation of art made in Dorchester by local residents.

For more information on the demographic economy and related trends for our Dorchester, MA community, please read this information note produced by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), Research Division (June 2017).

DOTART CURATES & IMPLEMENTS INNOVATIVE POP-UPS.

DotArt collaborates with residents, neighborhood associations, local universities and schools, non-profit organizations and local businesses to organize special, limited-time themed site visits, classes, lectures and community celebrations.