Today, in its endorsement of City Councilor John Connolly for mayor of Boston, the Boston Globe placed the arts on par with other pressing issues facing the city, including education and economic development:

City Councilor John Connolly, 40, is fundamentally a reformer. He frames issues in terms of desired outcomes — a simpler, fairer school assignment plan; an end to the student achievement gap; greater entrepreneurship in neighborhoods; a more innovative arts scene — and then seeks to deploy city resources in new ways.

This is exactly where the arts and culture should be in Boston, and that has been at the heart of the Create the Vote campaign. First, Create the Vote has worked to raise awareness of what the arts, cultural, and creative communities already bring to the city. But we have been working hard to show what the possibilities could be with some strategic planning that integrates arts and cultural planning with other city priorities like education, economic development, public safety, housing, and transportation.

The Boston Globe clearly gets it. 

Columnist Yvonne Abraham wrote a terrific piece back in August encouraging the mayoral candidates to “open the door to arts in Boston.” In September, on the day of the Create the Vote Boston Mayoral Candidate Forum on Arts, Culture, and Creativity, it published a front page piece on the arts community’s growing political clout. Earlier this month, the Globe editorialized on the need for a more streamlined events permitting process in the city so that the arts could flourish. Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic Sebastian Smee wrote a terrific piece on the need for public art. Two weeks ago, Globe arts and culture reporter Geoff Edgers interviewed the heads of three major museums in the city to get their take on how a mayoral administration that places arts as a priority could benefit the city. And the Globe covered our public meeting last month with mayoral candidate Marty Walsh.

We intend to continue our work after voters select Boston’s next mayor. We hope that the Boston Globe, and the rest of the city’s media, keep up its coverage of these issues. The good news is that both finalists for mayor of Boston have pledged to be champions of the arts. They have promised to hire a cabinet-level arts czar to their administration. They have committed to increase funding for arts and cultural initiatives. And they have said they will create a strategic plan for the arts, cultural, and creative communities that is integrated with other city priorities like education, economic development, public safety, transportation, and housing.

Please join us in ensuring that these promises are kept by pledging to be an arts voter! When you go to the polls on November 5, make the arts, culture, and creativity a priority when you cast your vote.