***Thank you for joining 600 other arts leaders and supporters
for Arts Matter Advocacy Day on March 28, 2017***

Arts Matter Advocacy Day at the Paramount Center and the MA State House last Tuesday was an inspiration! The energy was infectious, and the advocacy, effective.  

Over 600 (we had expected 300!) arts and cultural leaders and supporters and young people gathered for a day of networking with old friends and meeting new ones. We honed our advocacy and storytelling skills and traveled through the Boston Common in an ‘Arts Matter March’ to the State House to meet with legislators on arts and cultural issues.

Arts advocates met in offices of half the legislature, telling stories of impact and showing that arts matter in Massachusetts.

Take a look at the Storify for a recap of the day via pics, posts, and musings. And check out the front-page coverage in The Boston Globe and radio coverage from WBUR and WGBH.

Here’s what you can do to keep up the momentum of the day:

• Share Your Feedback!
  • If you met with your legislator, but didn’t get to hand in your meeting report form, you can do so here. This will help us develop our legislators from arts supporters into arts champions.
  • You can also provide feedback on the event here. This will help us make the next Arts Matter Advocacy Day even more successful.
• Use Your Arts Voice!
  • If you met with your legislator or a staffer, thank them and follow up with them on their support for public arts funding, arts education, and creative placemaking. You can find the contact information for your State Senator here and your State Representative here.
  • Keep the conversation going by inviting your legislators to arts and cultural events in your neighborhood.
  • Look out for MASSCreative emails next week and in May asking you to send a note to your Representative and Senator during the budget amendment process.
• Share the Conversation!
  • Follow MASSCreative on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and continue to share information with your legislators about the importance of public arts funding, arts education, and creative placemaking. Use the hashtag #ArtsMatter and tag your legislator.

Missed the day, but want to feel like you were there?

• Watch the Morning Program Online!
  • HowlRoundTV set up a livestream of the event. (Live Captioning is also provided.)
• Check out our Materials!
  • Check out our fact sheets on public arts funding, arts education, and creative placemaking to learn more about the policy asks we made to legislators.
• Be Active on Social Media!
  • Follow MASSCreative on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and ask your legislators for their support for public arts funding, arts education, and creative placemaking. Use the hashtag #ArtsMatter and tag your legislator.
    
    Sample Tweet: Sen. @adamghinds, please support $16M for @masscultural, support for arts education, and 1% for creative placemaking. #ArtsMatter