The Agassiz Baldwin Community (ABC), a nonprofit corporation providing arts-related community programs throughout Cambridge, recently received a $400,000 Massachusetts Cultural Facilities grant for the construction of the Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center adjacent to its headquarters at 20 Sacramento St. in Cambridge.

This is the largest sum awarded by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund for arts-related capital projects in the commonwealth this year, according to a statement from ABC.

Designed by Cambridge-based architects Prellwitz Chilinski Assoc. Inc., the new Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center will provide art classroom studios and exhibition space to house arts programs for school-age children in Cambridge and studio/exhibition opportunities for practicing artists. The center is scheduled to open in summer 2010.

A total of $1.2 million already has been raised for this project. 

Phase one, including renovations, site work and handicap access to the main building, was completed in 2005, ABC said. The $400,000 completes the funding needed for phase two, construction of the building, and enables ground breaking to take place this September. Phase three includes landscaping, furnishings and site-specific art work, and fund raising is currently underway to secure the final $250,000 needed to complete this final phase