Next Thursday’s Snazzy Jazzy Arty Party promises to be Dot Art’s  biggest fundraising event yet, according to organizers. It will certainly be the one with the most Cape Cod flair ever.

In past years the swanky soiree was held in private homes in places like Melville Park. This year supporters will be reveling at Dot’s  First Parish Church on Thursday, June 21, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

“This new location is the perfect venue,” says Dot Art’s recently hired Executive Director Liz Carney. “The historic building’s own renaissance and re-furbishing are symbolic of Dot Art’s rebirth as well.”


Along with its new director, who hails from the Savin Hill Carney clan, Dot Art, which is known on grant applications as the Dorchester Community Center for the Visual Arts,  has eight new board members. 
Carney noted that both  new and old board members will hold a strategic planning session this Saturday to discuss the vision and mission of Dot Art which is to offer visual art education opportunities to residents of Dorchester and the surrounding neighborhoods.

The board will be going on a retreat led by Esther Kaplan, former head of the Mayor’s Office of Arts Tourism and Special Events.
Next week’s gala  will support Dot Art’s resultant new initiatives as well as the ongoing classes in its Baker Classroom in Lower Mills. This summer they will  offer classes for children age 3-6  and 7-11. 
The new energy at the organization is also catalyzing collaborations with other arts groups in Dorchester such as  the Boston City Singers, Write on the Dot and First Parish Church itself. Dot Art hopes to be involved in spreading the news about the artisans of North Bennet Street School who are restoring the Meeting House Hill  landmark, which houses the oldest congregation in the city of Boston.


At the fundraiser, many Dorchester related works of art will be auctioned off, including a piece by Sister Corita Kent, who created the famous gas tank rainbow, the world largest copyrighted work of art.  Also up for bids are pieces by Liz and her renowned water-colorist mother Madelyn, Savin Hill’s Jim Hobin, Ashmont Hill’s Pat Burson, and many other locals.

In addition to the Matt Pitt jazz trio, gala-goers will enjoy the sounds of Dorchester natives Chris Middleton (pianist, vocalist and composer)  and Grace and the Carnivore (a trio that happens to be  comprised of Carney’s niece and nephews). Both acts received the Fidelity Future Stage Young Composers Award when they played at the Boston Pops.

This year, most of the food comes courtesy of restaurants in Provincetown and Cape Cod. P-Town’s Lobster Pot will provide its Boston Chowderfest-winning chowder, Wired Pup, its coffee, Cape Tip Seafood, the raw bar, and Saki, its maki rolls.

The Cape Cod connection comes via Carney, who maintains Four Eleven Studio, an art gallery with a historic Provincetown address. For nearly fifty years, 411 Commercial Street in  P-Town has been a studio and residence for many artists in the outer Cape community.

Dorchester pols will also be helping the effort. With both Uphams Corner and Cedar Grove/Lower Mills applying for funds as a designated cultural district, local art-lovers will be interested in remarks by Boston City Councilor Frank Baker, who  chairs the Committee on Arts, Film, Humanities, and Tourism. State Representative Marty Walsh will again wield the gavel as he runs the live auction.

Tickets are $60 and may be purchased at dotart.org or at the door.  Call 617-905-7432 or email snazzy@dotart.org for more information.