St. Louis Building Arts Foundation: Mission Statement

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Mission Statement

The St. Louis Building Arts Foundation promotes public awareness of the crucial role of architecture, construction, and urban design in the history and future of greater St. Louis. The Foundation's work engages not only the field of architectural history but pressing civic issues. It aims to shape the built environment today by preserving and promoting the finest traditions in the building arts. The Foundation will accomplish these goals through a variety of activities including its proposed National Architectural Arts Center, ongoing preservation and acquisition of architectural artifacts and documents, public and trade education, regular and special publications and events. Some of these activities are ongoing while others are in their early stages.

Not only will the Foundation will create an unparalleled museum featuring not only exhibitions and educational programs about St. Louis's rich architectural history, but also it will offer practical training in the allied arts of construction, restoration, architectural and urban design, home repair, and community development. Partnering with local industry, construction trades, universities, neighborhood groups, and government agencies, the Foundation aims to bring together vastly different segments of the metropolitan community who share a common concern for the health of St. Louis's urban landscape.

The Foundation strives to enhance current architectural discourse in St. Louis by asking questions like these:

How will we maintain aging and increasingly costly facilities built in an era of more concentrated population and broad tax bases?

What are the corresponding fiscal and environmental costs of our continued spread onto once-agricultural land at the edges of the metropolitan region?

How do we shape a metropolitan economy that offers meaningful employment and training opportunities to St. Louisans from all backgrounds, living in all sectors of the region?

It is in response to these and other concerns that the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation aims to provide a site for learning, training, enjoyment, and discussion. Taking as a basic presumption the idea that St. Louis's architecture is a valuable cultural and economic resource, the Foundation devotes itself to activities that draw on that resource for the betterment of the community.

The Foundation is a federally-recognized 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.

Last updated on May 5, 2005