As the Executive Director at ArtsEmerson, I’m thrilled to continue the partnership with MASSCreative to host Creativity Connects: MASSCreative Arts Advocacy Day at the Emerson Paramount Center. And I’m excited that I’ll be with everyone on March 26 as your emcee for the gathering.

Arts Advocacy Day fits right into ArtsEmerson’s mission to engage all communities through stories that reveal and deepen our connection to each other. By cultivating diversity in the arts and in the audience, we ignite public conversation around our most vexing societal challenges as a catalyst for overcoming them.

That’s why I want to personally invite you to join me on March 26 for MASSCreative’s Arts Advocacy Day. 

Please join me at Creativity Connects: MASSCreative Arts Advocacy Day on March 26 at the Paramount Center in Boston.

Back in 2017, when my colleagues at ArtsEmerson first sat down to talk about the partnership with MASSCreative, we all agreed that the attendees at Arts Advocacy Day would need to represent the full diversity of the broad arts community in Massachusetts, including those who have made significant contributions to the field but have felt unwelcomed at the arts/culture table.

At ArtsEmerson, we believe in the power of art to ignite our vision of a thriving world--one where all of its residents are seen and heard and life is better, richer, and fuller for everyone.

Right now, the Culture Wars have been revived in Washington and for the third year in a row, there’s talk of dismantling the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. We face the additional challenge of making a case that everyone has a right to creatively express themselves, see their culture reflected in their communities, and access the benefits of creative and cultural experiences.

Yet, if there was ever a place to use the labs of democracy to ensure arts and culture is respected, valued, and expected – it’s at home in Massachusetts. More than ever, we need to come together to share creative experiences with our neighbors and our local elected officials that spark transformation at the personal, community, and civic levels.

I look forward to being in the Emerson Paramount Center with you and MASSCreative on March 26 for Arts Advocacy Day. By inviting the glorious cultural diversity of our region into our theater, let’s create an environment where these shared experiences create opportunities for connection across our differences.

RSVP for Arts Advocacy Day here.

Onward and upward, 
David C. Howse
Executive Director, ArtsEmerson