Let's build a vibrant Massachusetts: Join MASSCreative today! 

Together, we’ve made 2015 a great year for arts advocacy. This year, we elevated arts and culture in the state elections, successfully fought for a $2.3 million increase for public funding, and continued to work to ensure that all of our youth have access to quality arts education in and out of school.

Please consider joining MASSCreative as a member organization or an individual advocate.

Thanks to the support and advocacy of MASSCreative’s 365 member organizations, the creative community is building its political voice and making an even greater impact. Our campaigns have helped increased the Commonwealth’s investment in the creative community by more than $33 million, which is a 67 percent increase in funding for the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Cultural Facilities Fund since 2012.

We need your help again in 2016 to continue our work to build more vibrant communities across the Commonwealth. Your support as an organizational or individual member makes our work possible.

 
JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF

Percent for Art: On hold until January 

Last month, we sent out an advocacy update, calling on the grassroots arts community to take action and urge the Massachusetts Legislature to overturn the Governor’s veto on the Percent for Art Program that would dedicate millions of future dollars towards public art all across the Commonwealth.

Unfortunately, overturning the Governor’s veto on the MA Percent for Art Program did not make it on the docket before the end of the formal legislative session last month.

The good news is that in January the Legislature will have another opportunity to take up the veto and we're meeting with key players at the State House to develop a plan.

Stay tuned for future actions to bring more resources and support to the creative community and help move the narrative about the arts from nice to necessary. 

Photo: Peter Perieira

Creative community elevated arts & culture this Election season

This election season, MASSCreative partnered with arts and cultural organizations in seven cities to engage the candidates running for mayor and city council about arts and culture and the role they play in building healthy communities.  

Thanks to the on-the-ground work of our partner organizations, Create the Vote campaigns in Fitchburg, Gloucester, Haverhill, Medford, New Bedford, Springfield, and Worcester brought unprecedented attention to arts in culture during this election season. Arts and culture is now an integral piece of the electoral discussion in these cities.

Read our Op-Eds co-signed with partners from Fitchburg Art Museum, Gloucester Stage, Medford Arts Council, and New Bedford Open Studios calling on our next mayors to lead on the arts:

Sentinel & Enterprise

Gloucester Times

Medford Transcript

New Bedford Standard Times

Shaping the future of Arts Education

Arts education resonates with so many of us. It fosters innovation, creativity, and can literally be a life-changing experience. Yet, while many students in the Commonwealth have access to quality arts education, many youth are still being left out. That's why MASSCreative and Arts|Learning have partnered with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Arts at the Boston Public Schools to make sure that every Massachusetts student has access to quality arts education in and out of school. Supported in part by Americans for the Arts’ State Policy Pilot Program, the program aims to establish arts education as integral to every school district’s curriculum.  

 

Arts & Cultural leaders prepare to bring advocacy to the field

This fall, MASSCreative launched our Leadership Council, bringing together more than 40 leaders from across the Commonwealth  to help MASSCreative build the strongest statewide grassroots arts and cultural advocacy network in the country. The Leadership Council consists of thought and advocacy leaders from all regions of the Commonwealth who not only engage their networks in action, but understand the potential of building a broad based movement for arts, culture, and creativity. As regional leaders and connections, the Council works to win bold campaigns for the larger arts and cultural community.

This group of passionate and talented leaders came together for its first official gathering on November 10 for the Leadership Council Retreat at the Walker Center in Auburndale. The day was full of thoughtful discussions and workshops about how to strengthen the arts and cultural sector’s ability to advocate for the resources and support necessary to build a more vibrant, healthy, and equitable Massachusetts.

 

Online movement makes waves across Massachusetts 

Thanks to support from you all – the statewide arts community – we proved once again that arts matter in Massachusetts. 

On October 23, we held the second annual Arts Matter Day and dominated social media as more than 400 arts and cultural organizations and hundreds more supporters celebrated on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, reaching more than 2 million people. And of course, our hashtag, #ArtsMatterDay, was trending. Check out our Storify for all the online action from the day – you may even spot your own post!