The Create The Vote Coalition is a nonpartisan network of artists, creative workers, cultural organizations and arts groups working together in collaboration and shared advocacy. We raise awareness among voters and candidates for office about the vital role that arts, culture and creative expression play in building inclusive, connected, and more equitable communities. We envision a Commonwealth where arts, culture, and creativity are accessible to and representative of all residents. 

Create the Vote MA 2022 Coalition Policy Priorities
for the Next Governor and Lt. Governor

The Create the Vote Coalition and its partners encourage the next Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts to enact policies and actions that: 

• Build just and inclusive communities powered by arts and culture
• Increase investment in the arts and culture sector
• Keep artists in their communities
• Develop youth as the next generation of community leaders in Massachusetts through arts and culture 

Commitment Statement

We, the coalition, acknowledge and honor the history of purposefully oppressive systems in this country, the Commonwealth, and particularly the arts and cultural sector.  It is imperative to name who we need to center in order to properly bring this sector - and Commonwealth - into the world we hope to collaboratively create. We center Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and North African, and all people of color. We center our LGBTQIA+ community, and particularly trans* and gender non-conforming people. We center disabled and neurodivergent communities. We center poor and working class communities. We center immigrant communities. We center rural communities and communities with drastically limited support. We center oppressed religious and spiritual communities. We center all communities whose voices have been historically ignored in our sector and our government. 

Throughout this document, we recognize that it is through the interlinking of these lenses that we arrive at these conclusions, and recognize this is only the beginning of the rectification needed. 

Build just and inclusive communities powered by arts and culture

• Enact a new Executive Order that builds upon No. 592: Advancing Workforce Diversity, Inclusion, Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination, and Affirmative Action by directing the implementation of anti-racist and anti-oppressive cultural competency policies and trainings throughout the Executive branch and its agencies.

Increase investment in the arts and culture sector including creative workers, nonprofit organizations, and independent for-profit businesses

• Attain $30 million ($4.30 per capita) annual investment in the Mass Cultural Council by the end of the Governor’s first term.
• Direct the Office of Economic Development to invest in training programs and other support systems (health insurance navigation, legal aid, targeted financing, language access, immigration status resources, etc.) to assist independent artists, gig workers, and arts businesses and nonprofits seeking to become more financially sustainable.
  • Dedicate staff or develop new collaborations to streamline the visibility of existing state and private programs.
• Increase the Cultural Facilities Fund to $20M annually. 
• Increase MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Fund to $1.5M to further support the creative economy that spurs economic growth in Gateway Cities.
• Increase investment in rural areas to integrate artists and cultural organizations and build vibrant creative communities. 

Keep artists, creatives, and their families in their communities

• Invest in initiatives that support artists’ community driven work and ease financial challenges through piloting innovative partnerships (“Artists At Work” model, “Guaranteed Income” strategies, etc.)
• Create a program to embed artists in the Executive branch and state agencies to tackle state challenges with creative problem solving.
• Develop a plan to increase low and moderate income housing in Massachusetts and require every new housing project to have configurable, community spaces that can be used for the creation, performance, and exhibition of art and culture. Include artists in the planning of these development projects.
• Incentivize the creation of more artist live/work spaces through increased investments and loan programs with Mass Development and the Department of Housing and Community Development. 
• Increase the availability of affordable childcare and elder care, particularly outside of traditional work hours.
• Support new legislation that protects and establishes spaces for art creation and presentation with an equitable focus.

Develop youth as the next generation of community leaders in Massachusetts through arts and culture 

• Ensure access to in-school, quality and culturally competent arts education for all students.
  • Provide additional state resources for the expansion of culturally competent arts education teaching guides, professional development, and site visits, especially school districts in rural and Gateway Cities.
  • Expand the adoption of Mass Core graduation requirements in school districts in order to ensure an increased number of high school students can receive one year of arts education. 
• Include Creative Youth Development organizations and practitioners in initiatives, task-forces, and programs that support youth in the Commonwealth. This includes workforce development programs, community cohesion, and wellness programs. Establish and fund programs that strengthen the pipeline of creative work from K-12 throughout early career. Recognize the important role of arts education in workforce development and create on-ramps for arts-based state-designated pathways in secondary schools.

Ballot Question Endorsement

The Create the Vote Coalition supports the Fair Share Amendment, which will appear as a question on the ballot this November. The Fair Share Amendment will increase state revenues for quality public education and affordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation.

Printable policy platform
(Printable PDF download)

Large print policy platform
(Printable PDF download)

Platform Endorsements