BOSTON, September 4, 2014—Continuing its series of sit down meetings with candidates for governor of Massachusetts, members of the Create the Vote coalition met with gubernatorial candidate Jeff McCormick at MASSCreative in Boston to talk about McCormick’s views on the arts and cultural community and the role it would play in his administration.

The Coalition—a collaboration of Massachusetts arts, cultural, and creative institutions convened by MASSCreative—met with McCormick June 25. Representatives from [Stage Source, Ballet Theatre of Boston, Boston University Arts Initiative, and Boston Gay Men’s Chorus] met with McCormick to talk about his vision for the arts in the Commonwealth.

McCormick said that creativity, innovation, and creative thinking were valuable skills for business and finance. He said that the next governor needed to rally support for the arts and cultural sector by thinking of it as an investment.

He said that creating more jobs, making housing more affordable, and improving transportation were all inter-related and that arts was an important component of economic improvement. He added that he is a huge proponent of early childhood education and that the arts should be a part of that.

He said that much of the talk in education reform around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) should be reframed as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). Students need to be creative and know how to solve problems, McCormick said, and the arts are critical to developing those skills.