Dear Mayor, Town Manager, and City Council, and Chamber of Commerce,

Thank you for your leadership and thoughtful response to the COVID-19 pandemic in our City. Just as Governor Baker has appointed a Reopening Advisory Board, we're sure you're thinking about additional guidelines about how best to reopen the City's economy based on health and safety metrics. 

We write today to ask that you consult leaders of the creative and cultural sector as you develop a reopening framework. We stand in support of a strong reopening strategy and are ready to offer our talents expertise.

The creative and cultural sector is a necessary component to bringing our economy back on line. Governors and Mayors in Utah, Texas, Ohio, and Virginia understood this importance by including and consulting the arts and cultural sector in their reopening strategy.

As part of the gathering economy, arts and cultural organizations are especially concerned with caring for the communities we have worked hard to create and serve. In an effort to promote public health and protect our communities, many arts and cultural organizations closed their spaces and cancelled public events prior to the state of emergency declaration on March 10. 

Like restaurants, retail stores, movie theaters and sports venues, necessary public health closures have impacted arts and cultural organizations across the Commonwealth. The Mass Cultural Council recently reported more than $264 million in lost revenue from nonprofit arts and cultural organizations across the Commonwealth since the pandemic began. Here in our City, arts and culture also play a vital role in driving the economy, enhancing education, and building vibrant, connected communities. 

While we are still in the surge of COVID-19, arts and cultural organizations are committed to promoting public health guidelines and developing alternative means of delivering services to communities across the Commonwealth. We recognize that our collective economic and communal recovery will take time and requires thoughtful planning. As small business owners and community leaders the creative sector can greatly contribute to a local plan that addresses our economic and public health needs now and through recovery. 

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to working with your administration towards a strong recovery from this crisis.