OUR STORY

In 1990, Maure Aronson saw a need in Boston. What was then known as world music was nowhere to be found. As a recent immigrant from South Africa, Maure missed the music he grew up listening to. With that insight and not a lot of planning, he recruited a nonprofit board of directors, raised a little money, and launched World Music with three concerts featuring South African artists. Maure’s hunch was right: there was an eager audience for live, culturally diverse music. World Music filled a void and grew steadily to include music and dance from all corners of the globe.

In 2001, we began presenting contemporary dance under the name CRASHarts. A year later, we adopted the name World Music/CRASHarts (WMCA) to reflect our multidisciplinary focus. We also added indie rock, jazz, and all manner of contemporary, often edgy, international music and dance.

While our basic human hunger for music and dance has not changed since our founding, nearly everything else has. As the internet transformed the way we access music and expanded the breadth of options available, the term world music became limiting and no longer reflected the expansive programming we offer. To address this, we embarked on a comprehensive market research and rebranding initiative in 2018.

The research confirmed that we meet an existing and growing need for artistic excellence that reflects our global, interconnected culture. Indeed, people surveyed desired experiences that bring people together and forge shared understanding more than ever before.

By putting the spotlight on what we value most—the transformative power of live performance to enrich and shape our lives—we believe our new name reflects our place in today’s world and will resonate for years to come.