
MASSCreative tours Advocacy Gatherings across the state
Throughout May and June, MASSCreative met with supporters in five areas across Massachusetts — Springfield, Worcester, Duxbury, New Bedford and Newburyport – to boost the advocacy capacity of the arts and cultural sector. Through guided discussion, we gauged the challenges to build a strong arts environment in each city, and learned about exciting opportunities to work together as advocates.
Additionally, our team led workshops to help participants build their advocacy toolkits. Executive Director Matt Wilson encouraged participants to reflect on their personal story and see storytelling as a way to gain support for the work they’re doing; Senior Campaign Organizer Tracie Konopinski led attendees through the process of running a successful campaign, such as a Create The Vote campaign; Program Associate Drew Esposito trained attendees on creating social media successful social media strategy using their online platforms to elevate not just themselves, but their whole community.
We also collected participants’ opinions about the draft version of our Policy Platform. Overall, our supporters are passionate about pursuing goals related to arts funding and arts education, including advocating for higher Massachusetts Cultural Council funding and using Titles I, II and IV to fund public arts education.
We will roll out our official platform and hold more advocacy gatherings across the Commonwealth in the fall — we hope to see you there!