Drama forms over naming Arts Academy for Walsh
There’s drama brewing over the Boston Arts Academy’s choice to name its brand-new building’s theater after Marty Walsh — a move that the pro-Walsh contingent in charge of the school is pushing but several speakers say is tone deaf.
Will Barrett, a teacher at BAA, said he doesn’t like that the “focal point” of a heavily minority arts school would be a theater named after a “white male who’s not synonymous with the arts.”
That was the theme of several comments during a Boston Arts Academy public hearing Tuesday night on Zoom, where people argued over whether the soon-to-beopen new Fenway school building’s main auditorium should be called “The Honorable Martin J. Walsh Theater” after the current Labor secretary and former Boston mayor.
Another BAA teacher, Ling-Se Chesnakas, said that Walsh’s assistance in providing funding for the school was just “his duty as the mayor.” Chesnakas said that at the non-arts BPS school she used to teach at, “I purchased the majority of art supplies out of my own pocket” — which isn’t what a true advocate for the arts would have allowed to happen, she said.
And Stephanie Rodriguez Ruiz of the BAA family council said parents’ and students’ voices had been left out.
“We are also important stakeholders whose voices should be heard in the process,” she said.
The anti-Walsh buzz around this decision had been in the air for the past week or so, and BAA Principal Anne Clark and President and CEO Denella Clark opened the meeting by spending several minutes extolling the virtues of the two-term mayor.
“Although Marty like me may not be an artist, we are advocates — we believe in the arts,” Denella Clark said, noting the large sums of money that Walsh helped them raise.
Rosemary Onofri, a BAA teacher, said of Walsh, “He is the reason why BAA is getting this building.”
The building itself would be named after Elma Lewis, a legendary Black arts advocate in Boston who in the 1980s received the Presidential Medal for the Arts.
The full slate of names will have to pass through at least two future meetings, including a final act before the school committee in May, when it will be up for a vote.
Some people in the public comment section gave the slate of names, including the theater after Walsh, a round of applause — including several electeds of color, including U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and state Reps. Liz Miranda and Russell Holmes.
“What a great list of folks,” said state Rep. Russell Holmes, saying he’s particularly happy about the honoring of Elma Lewis, but also referencing the two former mayors positively.