"There is growing evidence that arts education improves student learning and thereby produces better citizens. Throughout the United States, educational institutions -- from local schools to community colleges to research universities -- act as centers for public culture and for instilling in our children the values and knowledge that come only from a study of the humanities and the arts." - David J. Skorton, President of Cornell University

Pittsfield’s nationally acclaimed theater group, the Barrington Stage Company, has an innovative educational youth initiative called the Playwright Mentoring Project (PMP). During this rigorous, half-year program, troubled adolescents learn essential life skills in a supportive environment. Over a 26-week span, participants go through a series of creative exercises and educational sessions that culminate in their own performance pieces. 

Wednesday afternoon, Governor Patrick submitted his budget to the Massachusetts House of Representatives detailing his allocation to the creative community through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).

His proposed FY14 budget for the creative community is disappointing.  I believe we can do better.

This essay was originally published on Cognoscenti, wbur.org’s ideas and opinion page. It was reposted with permission.

"When I was an 18-year-old freshman at Harvard, I spent every waking minute (outside of class) acting in plays and directing them. But I never thought about theater as something I would actually do with my life. I was thinking about a career in politics. Something serious.

Now, 25 years later, I am back at Harvard as the artistic director of the American Repertory Theater. And nothing feels more serious to me than the transformative power of the arts."

Governor Patrick is preparing his FY2014 budget for release at the end of January and he will be deciding how much money to allocate to the creative community through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). From now until July, the Governor, the State Senate and the House of Representatives will be debating how to allocate the estimated $32 billion in state revenue.

What happens when over 500 arts and cultural organizations from around the Commonwealth focus on data collection? We get a whole lot of numbers. More than that, though, we gain a wealth of information and tools to add depth and analysis when we tell our stories about the impact the creative community in our towns and cities.

A guest post from a MASSCreative volunteer, Daniela Jacobson, and her take on recent arts education initiatives around the nation.

In education policy circles, STEM is an acronym that is shorthand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Isn’t it time to add an “A” (for the arts) and create STEAM? 

"It's not art for art's sake. It's an organic part of the community, meant to be interacted with." 
- Mary Altman, public-arts administrator for the city of Minneapolis.

On Tuesday night, I had the pleasure to spend a couple of hours with leaders of the creative community on the South Shore at MASSCreative’s first regional kickoff meeting. Read about it here.

The purpose of the meeting was for me to energize the attendees with our 2012-2013 Platform and Agenda and our grassroots outreach strategy to bring more resources to the creative community and arts education.  I personally got more than I bargained for.

I came back from Brockton brimming with hope and optimism about the potential of our creative community. The energy and talent in the room was impressive.  Thirty leaders attended from across the South Shore.  Among them - John, the Arts Director from the Abington Public Schools; Anne, a painter East Bridgewater; Jose, the founder of Jose Movimentu Shokanti, an art and social change group in Brockton; Elizabeth who is opening up a fiber store in Easton; Carolyn who is coordinating the Easton Shovel Town Cultural District Initiative, and Titi, the communications coordinator at The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton.  All from different disciplines, backgrounds, ages and towns – yet all united around the belief that our work is not only nice, but our work is necessary.  They left the meeting that night with a sense of what is possible – for us to not be back on our heels, but for us to be out there boldly asking for what we need.

We learned about all the great work going on all across the South Shore. We discussed the need for leaders of the creative community to engage in public policy and even more importantly the need to engage our audiences and to have their voice heard.

And yes we got to work.  At the end of the meeting we all sat down and wrote postcards to our local candidates and political leaders encouraging them to endorse the MASSCreative platform.  For some, it was the first time they had dipped their toe into the realm of policy and engaged with their political leaders.

With our statewide kickoff meeting in Worcester and the Brockton meeting under our belt, we have taken the first step to engaging and building our base all across the state.

Please spread the word about MASSCreative’s tour of the state. 

A sense of opportunity abounds.