Member Spotlight: The Drama Studio of Springfield

The Drama Studio is one of a handful of youth theatres in the United States that offers quality, range, and depth in its acting training programs. For Springfield-area youth, the Studio's conservatory program offers an unusual opportunity for training that prepares its graduates (all of whom are college bound) to enroll in university theatre programs. In recent years, Harvard University has accepted two Drama Studio graduates, and Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts have each accepted three.

 Our chance to boost arts funding

The State House is in the final stages of signing off on the state budget – including state public funding for the creative community – before it hits the governor’s desk by the end of the month. It’s now up to the six legislators on the Conference Committee (Chairwoman Spilka (D-Ashland), Chairman Dempsey (D- Haverhill), Sen. DiDomenico (D- Everett), Sen. deMacedo (R- Plymouth), Rep. Kulik (D-Worthington), and Rep. Smola (R-Warren) to find common ground between the House budget for the Massachusetts Cultural Council of $12 million and the Senate budget of $14 million.

We need to send our legislators some love for standing up for the creative community and make sure they’re rallying around the Senate’s version of the budget, funding the MCC at $14 million.

Send a thank you to your senator and your representative, and ask them to encourage the Conference Committee to support the Senate's budget funding the Massachusetts Cultural Council at $14 million.

 Shaping Boston's Cultural Plan

When the creative community convenes, big ideas are born. And last week, all the players in the Boston arts and cultural scene joined the City Department of Arts and Culture to take part in the Cultural Planning Process at the #BostonCreates Town Hall at English High School in Jamaica Plain.

Boston Chief of Arts & Culture Julie Burros and her department teammates first walked the crowd through the roll-out of the Cultural Plan over 15 months and its data-collection goals and community engagement opportunities along the way. Equipped with the context of the Plan, the audience broke up into smaller groups that better suited discussion. In these smaller groups, introductions and icebreakers gave way to constructive dialogue that placed Boston’s creative landscape under a microscope, and inspired thoughtful solutions to some of the problems that the city faces. Each group was able to produce 3 main topical categories with which the cultural planning team could begin implementation in the coming months.

Wrapping up the event, the #BostonCreates team left us some next steps: sign up to get involved in neighborhood teams and look out for a survey that seeks input from the Boston arts and cultural community. Our voices will be critical in shaping the Cultural Plan.

 Governor Wants to Hear about Arts, Culture, and the Economy

On June 25^th, Governor Charlie Baker’s Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash will be holding six input and listening sessions across the state to provide businesses, organizations, and residents an opportunity to help shape the Commonwealth’s economic development future.

Let’s make sure arts, culture, and creativity is part of this discussion.

“From the Gateway Cities to the suburbs and from Boston to the rural areas of the Commonwealth, these sessions provide an opportunity for the arts, cultural and creative community to tell their stories about how its work brings economic activity, jobs, and vibrancy to our neighborhoods,”  said Matt Wilson, Executive Director of MASSCreative.