BOSTON, July 28, 2015—Today, 106 Massachusetts legislators sent a letter to House and Senate leadership requesting support for an override of Governor Charlie Baker’s veto to restore $2.3 million in funding in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. MASSCreative Executive Director Matt Wilson issued the following statement in response:
“The arts and cultural community is encouraged by the broad show of support from the Legislature to restore investment in the Commonwealth’s arts and cultural sector. This strong bipartisan coalition of a majority of the Legislature is consistent with the broad base of support of 103 representatives and 20 senators who supported amendments to increase funding of the Massachusetts Cultural Council during budget deliberations in April and May.
MASSCreative encourages the leadership in the House and Senate to pass this override so the arts, cultural and creative community can do their work to build more vibrant, healthy and equitable communities across the Commonwealth. The restored money would provide increases to all MCC arts and cultural grantees and local cultural councils, provide new grants for the Commonwealth’s 29 cultural districts and provide funding for festivals.
We were extremely disappointed in Gov. Baker’s short-sighted decision to veto the Legislature’s increased investment in the Massachusetts Cultural Council. We have built momentum over the past three years by increasing the state’s investment in the arts by 26 percent from $9.5 million to $12 million. Even with the legislature’s generous increase, however, the state is still investing nearly half of what it allocated for the arts, cultural and creative community more than 25 years ago. We remain grateful to state lawmakers and legislative leaders who recognized and understood the vital need to increase investment and who are calling for restoration of this money.”
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Founded in 2012, MASSCreative works with creative leaders and entrepreneurs, working artists, arts educators, and arts and cultural supporters to empower creative organizations and the public with a powerful voice to advocate for the resources and support necessary to build vibrant and connected communities. More than 300 arts and cultural organizations from around the state are members of MASSCreative.
