Newton's Director Of Cultural Affairs Linda Plaut Has Died

NEWTON, MA — Linda Plaut grew up in Brooklyn New York, where when you wanted to have some company, you just went outside and sat on the stoop in front of the building and waited for people to pass by and have someone to hang out with. When she moved to Newton in 1973, she sat on her stoop, but no one came.

"I learned you have to get off the stoop," she said later at a Nomad Story Slam telling folks the story of how she came to work in the Newton Festival of Arts.

She got off her stoop and marched herself to City Hall, and took a job coordinating the parade for the bicentenial and stayed on. She directed many of the city’s arts programs and helped get the Newton Cultural Center off the ground.

Plaut was deeply involved in running everything from Newton’s Harvest Fair, SpringFest to the Newton Youth Players theatre program. She was behind the Time for Partners classes, Fourth of July festivities, NewtonSERVES, the Newton Spelling Bee, Holiday Window Painting which annually decorated Newton storefronts, the Public Piano project, dance recitals, cultural fairs and festivals in City Hall.

Newton residents near and far took to social media to remember her over the weekend, upon hearing the news that the director of the Mayor’s Office For Cultural Affairs, died Sunday, Feb. 17, after an illness.

Many described Plaut as kind, as a woman with a heart of gold, as always in good spirits and described as an enthusiastic advocate for all things arts, culture and community.

"Linda Plaut made things happen. She said 'yes.' She figured out a way. Linda believed in the power of story, in fueling the audacity of youth, and in working around obstacles, always with a smile. Newton will miss her, and our family will miss her," Julie Fox posted to the Newton Festival of the Arts Facebook page.

"I learned you had to say yes ... you have to open up your heart and say yes to anybody else who wants to work with you, because they have a lot of talent," she said during the Nomad Story Slam.

She is survived by her two children, two grandchildren and three brothers.

Photo Courtesy Newton Festival of the Arts