Jack Kerouac Foundation

Thank you for everything, Jack. ♥️

Happy Birthday, Jack. Your writing changed so many lives. Forever on the road.
📷: Mario Jorrin - Westport Public Library in 1960

“It was in Centraville I was born, in Pawtucketville saw Doctor Sax. Across the wide basin to the hill – on Lupine Road, March 1922, at five o’clock in the afternoon of a red-all-over suppertime, as drowsily beers were tapped in Moody and Lakeview saloons and the river rushed with her cargoes of ice over reddened slick rocks, and on the shore the reeds swayed among mattresses and cast-off boots of Time, and lzily pieces of snow dropped plunk from bagging branches of black thorny oil pine in their thaw, and beneath the wet snows of the hillside receiving the sun’s lost rays the melts of winter mixed with roars of Merrimac – I was born. Bloody rooftop. Strange deed. All eyes I came hearing the river’s red; I remember that afternoon, I perceived it through beads hanging in a door and through lace curtains and glass of a universal sad lost redness of mortal damnation… the snow was melting. The snake was coiled in the hill not my heart.”
― Jack Kerouac, Dr. Sax

Big reveal in the Spring. We will share details as soon as things are set.

Special offer from Rare Bird Lit and Sal Paradise Press.

Our publishing partner, Rare Bird Lit just let us know that you can pick up our two Sal Paradise Press releases at a discount with code Kerouac20. Please note that a portion of the proceeds goes to help establish the Jack Kerouac Center. Get your copies at rarebirdlit.com

Truth And Beautiful Meaningful Lies is a collection of Jack's quotes (so if you enjoy this page you can search for quotes by theme in this release).

Desolation Peak is a collection of unpublished material written while Jack was employed as a fire watcher atop Desolation Peak in the North Cascades.

Thank you, Quest Nine, for sharing your talent for Jack❤️

And so it begins....thanks Quest Nine, State Senator Ed Kennedy and Like Lowell for pushing for this mural to happen. Also notice the big building just beyond this brick structure that we are hoping will be the Jack Kerouac Center. Read more about it at jackkerouaccenter.com

Thank you, The Sun News

‘Epicenter of creative voices’: Jack Kerouac museum project finds architecture firm, drafts renderings 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…

Thank you, Boston.com

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

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.

Thank you, State Senator Ed Kennedy for helping us establish the Kerouac Museum and Performing Arts Center