Elections are a great time to talk about the strengths and challenges our cities and towns face and the vision for our community. While candidates spend lots of time talking about jobs, the economy, and education, they rarely talk about arts and culture as part of their vision. During the Boston mayoral election in 2013, MASSCreative launched Create the Vote, a nonpartisan public education campaign to raise awareness and support for the arts among voters and candidates running for public office.

Create the Vote 2016 has come together to engage the candidates for State Senate and House on arts and cultural issues and the role they play in building vibrant, healthy, and equitable communities.

We look forward to engaging the candidates for State Legislature around arts, culture, and creativity and shifting the dialogue about the arts from nice to necessary.