Jack Kerouac Center

11/29/2022

It's . Please help us establish the Jack Kerouac Center. Your donation is tax-deductible. DONATE HERE: https://bit.ly/3u74YiW

As the year 2022 draws to a close, many of us in Lowell will remember it as The Year of Jack Kerouac—the 100th anniversary of his birth in March of 1922. The Kerouac Centennial events that kicked off in March and ran through the annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival in October attracted visitors from all over the world whose lives have been touched and blessed by the writings of Jack Kerouac.

The response to the Kerouac Centennial continues to validate the need for a Jack Kerouac Center in Lowell. The good news is that a wonderful opportunity now exists to create such a Center. An artistic rendition has been completed that illustrates the vision of converting the former St. Jean Baptiste Church into a Jack Kerouac Center for the Performing Arts, Museum as well as Education.

There could not be a more appropriate site in Lowell for such a Center. The St. Jean Baptiste Church was the spiritual home for much of Lowell’s Franco-American Catholic community from the late 19th to the late 20th century. It is where Jack Kerouac served as an altar boy, and where his Funeral Mass was held following his death in 1969.

A vision is a great thing; bringing it to fruition is an even greater thing. This is why a Jack Kerouac Foundation has been created to move the vision into a reality. And it is why we are now appealing to you for your support in making it happen. We appreciate any size donation.

The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma has a beautiful center to honor the life and legacy of Woody Guthrie. Salinas, California has done the same thing for its native son, John Steinbeck. Jack Kerouac deserves no less in his hometown of Lowell.

Please help us make it happen.

🎥: Marte Media

11/23/2022

Thank you, The Sun News

LOWELL — At St. Jean Baptiste Parish, in the heart of The Acre neighborhood, author Jack Kerouac served as an altar boy. The church was also the site of his funeral service when he died in 1969. As…

11/12/2022

Thank you, Boston.com

Check out the plans for a Jack Kerouac Museum and Performance Center in Lowell. Read more on Boston.com.

11/10/2022

THE JACK KEROUAC FOUNDATION is offering the public a glimpse of its vision for the former Catholic church it hopes to develop into The Jack Kerouac Center, a performance venue, museum, educational center, and bookstore/café.

In advance of its capital fundraising phase, the foundation has posted site plans, drone-shot images, renderings by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) and other materials at jackkerouaccenter.com. The site also offers visitors a link to make donations and explains the history of the iconic, Lowell-born author and his connection to the former St. Jean Baptiste Parish, a cornerstone of the city’s French-Canadian community.

“We are very energized by the opportunity to work with the Jack Kerouac Foundation to create a home for the museum and performance center that expresses the importance the City of Lowell played in Jack’s life and serves as a catalyst for the city’s vibrant arts scene” said Bryan Irwin, Principal at SCB. “Jack Kerouac was formed by his experiences growing up in the neighborhoods of Lowell and his relationship to the Catholic Church was both complicated and critical to understanding his work. We sought to reflect this in a design that strengthens and enhances the existing edifice and neighborhood while creating a new dialogue—a new way of seeing and interpreting this fabric.”

The former church, built in 1896, was where a young Kerouac served as an altar boy, as well as the site of his funeral in 1969. The church remained consecrated when it was temporarily closed in 1993 with the termination of St. Jean Baptiste Parish but became part of Nuestra Senora del Carmen Parish in 1994 to serve the area’s Latino population before being closed and deconsecrated in 2004. It remained shuttered until TMI Property Management & Development purchased it.

The Kerouac Foundation invited the public to see the building while celebrating Kerouac’s centennial in March, and has met with TMI owner Brian McGowan, as well as SCB, Existing Conditions 3D Laser Scanning, Aberthaw Construction Company, and directors and developers of such centers as the Grammy Museum, the National Steinbeck Center, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Woody Guthrie Center.

"We have put many things into motion this year and feel it’s time to share our detailed vision for the Jack Kerouac Center as we delve into the major fundraising it will take to make it a reality,” said Sylvia Cunha, Executive Director of the Jack Kerouac Foundation. “Once the world of Kerouac fans and the local community see what we’d like to do, we can move down the road to creating a hometown destination for visitors from far and wide.”

“While there are monuments honoring Kerouac in Lowell and other places, “says Jim Sampas, literary executor of the Jack Kerouac Estate, “there is no museum or performance center offering popular access to artistic performances and a wide range of archival materials touching on his life, work, and history as a product of Lowell. Visitors from around the world who come to re-trace his steps here deserve a place where they can see and experience how he was shaped, what he produced, and how he has influenced artists everywhere. What better place than the building where his funeral Mass was conducted and where he served for a time as an altar boy?”

The Jack Kerouac Foundation hopes the center not only serves as a welcoming hub for Kerouac pilgrims, but as a connective thread to the community, where artists of all stripes can perform and exhibit, and young writers of all ages from area schools can learn and share their craft.