The Theater Offensive has launched a $20 million campaign to build the Boylston Black Box. TTO began the quiet phase of the capital campaign in early 2021 and has now raised $11.5M toward our updated $20M goal. Our campaign success to date is thanks in part to major gifts from two high-profile national donors. MacKenzie Scott’s 2021 gift of $3M was, at the time, the largest single gift in TTO’s history. In June 2022, the Mellon Foundation invited a proposal for $5M - $3M in programmatic/operating funds from the Arts and Culture program and $2M in capital funds from the Humanities in Place program. This gift is one of only two gifts of $5M or more that Mellon has ever invested in Eastern Massachusetts, and the first in 20 years. 

In early 2019, Scape North America, in conjunction with then-Mayor Marty Walsh’s office, offered TTO the opportunity to make the dream of a permanent home a reality by offering space in their new development in the Fenway.

This major capital project, TTO’s first, will establish a creative hub for thought-provoking programs — a permanent home for queer and trans artists and youth who have long sought a place to truly belong in the center of Boston, including:

  • Family, educational and youth-centered artistic and leadership programs

  • Community-led artistic experiences

  • People-powered civic engagements 

The Boylston Black Box will include…

  • Over 13,000 square feet of total space

  • 150-seat Black Box Theater

  • Flexible multipurpose spaces for rehearsal, workshops, educational programming, and community gathering

  • Dedicated administrative space for TTO’s growing team

  • Welcoming lobby and transitional spaces activated by QTPOC visual art exhibitions

 
 

The TTO programming you love will thrive in this permanent, purpose-built home celebrating queer and trans people of color. The venue will honor the site’s historical importance to the Boston LGBTQ community, providing much needed space and resources at a subsidized rental rate to historically marginalized communities seeking affordable facilities for their programs and services.