Past PRIORITY Wins
Learn about past advocacy wins for the creative and cultural sector.
Since its founding in 2013, MASSCreative has worked with advocates across the Commonwealth to build a stronger, more equitable and inclusive creative sector. From local and state elections to increased public funding for creative and cultural work, our organizing efforts have shifted how Massachusetts values our community:
Public Funding
The most significant investment in the creative sector is the Commonwealth’s annual investment in the Mass Cultural Council through the budget process. Thanks to our network of advocates and our annual state budget advocacy we’ve increase the Mass Cultural Council’s budget line by 244.7%
Youth and Arts
As part of Arts for All Coalition, MASSCreative worked with teachers, parents and students to ensure arts education accountability metrics were part of Massachusetts’ implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This includes collecting data on student participation in arts education courses by grade and by arts discipline, publishing the data collected in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) School Report Card website, and working with DESE to produce updated curriculm frameworks for each arts course for every grade level. Arts for All Coalition partners included Arts | Learning, EdVestors, BPS Arts Expansion, Mass Cultural Council, Massachusetts Art Education Association, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Creative Spaces
MASSCreative lead the grassroots advocacy campaign to secure Boston’s Percent for Arts program which devotes funding to public art equal to 1% of the City’s annual capital borrowing budget. During his campaign for Mayor, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh identified a muncipal percent for public art initiatve as a top priority. Once in office, Mayor Walsh made good on his promise while MASSCreative and our adovcay partners ensured the public support for the program was there.
COVID-19 Relief and Recovery
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic officially arrived in Massachusettsm when former Governor Baker declared a state of emergency ordering the closure of public spaces and mobilizing healthcare resources to care for communities ravaged by the pandemic’s spread. Like many sectors, the creative community sustained a massive economic shock in the wake of the pandemic. Thousands of artists and inpendent workers lost jobs and gigs, cultural nonprofits cancelled programs and furloughed staff, and creative small business owners saw revenues disappear. Throughout, MASSCreative lead adocacy and case-making campaigns to ensure the creative economy was a top priority for lawmakers when developing reopening plans and allocating reocovery funding.
Thanks to the network of stakeholders, advocates and partners, MASSCreative successfully secured $71M for creative sector support. This included $10M in Nonprofit Organizational Relief Funds and $61M in Creative Sector Recovery Funds both equitabilty distrubted by the Mass Cultural Council.
Recent developments at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) are deeply troubling as hundreds of grants for local projects have been cancelled, and massive staff reductions raise serious doubtsthat the agency can meet its statutory mandates.
We need advocates to ask Congress to sustain and protect both funding and staffing for the National Endowment for the Arts.
On Friday, May 2, 2025, the National Endowment for the Arts sent notices to recipients cancelling or withdrawing previously awarded grants. The Connecticut Arts Alliance, Cultural Alliance of Maine, and MASSCreative are working in partnership to collect data to help our elected officials and the general public understand the impact these cuts will have on communities in New England.
If you received a letter withdrawing or cancelling your NEA grant, please take this brief impact survey.
Join a coalition of artists, creatives, arts supporters, and change-makers to educate candidates and voters on the importance of a strong and inclusive creative community in Boston.
On November 15, 2024, the MASSCreative Action Network (MCAN) hosted an election debrief with community organizing and policy experts to learn how 2024 federal and state-level election results will impact the creative sector in Massachusetts. Watch the recording here.
Help get the vote out and play your part for a stronger democracy.
Check out our 2024 Create the Vote General Election Guides to see who is running for US Congress, State Senate, and State House of Representatives in Massachusetts.
Understanding the public hearing process and how you can participate will make you a more effective advocate. We have outlines and guides to get you started.
Ami Bennitt, Annis Sengupta, and Jim Grace discussed the artists displacement crisis we are experiencing in Massachusetts and what we can do about it.
Read for updates about federal-level arts advocacy and the outcome of the State Senate's FY26 Budget.
On May 2nd, the Trump Administration proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in their FY26 Budget.
The Advocacy 301: Do’s and Don’ts training is designed to help nonprofit leaders understand how they can legally engage in advocacy and lobbying.
Meet Rep. Sean Garballey, the 2025-2026 House Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.
The Advocacy 201 training prepares you to organize your communities, lead effective advocacy meetings with your elected officials, and leverage your public platforms.
Meet Sen. Paul Mark, the 2025-2026 Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.
Everyone can be an advocate! The Advocacy 101 training will equip you with the foundational skills you need to advocate for the issues that matter the most to you.
Kendra Patterson and Jessica Troe from the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center led a presentation on the state's annual budgeting process and where you can direct your advocacy.
Maintaining and increasing public investment in the creative community requires constant and broad grassroots activism throughout the annual budget process.
On Monday, January 27th, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to all federal agencies ordering the immediate freeze of all federal grants, loans, and other financial assistance funds.
Organizers from the Berkshire/Columbia Counties Pay Equity Coalition discussed their work to bridge wage disparities for entry—and mid-level employees at cultural organizations in Berkshire and Columbia Counties.
Staff from the Massachusetts Health Connector discussed open enrollment and navigating Massachusetts' health insurance marketplace.
Joyce Linehan and Erin O’Brien led a conversation about how public and cultural policies are written, how we create momentum to advance legislation, and how policies impact creative communities.
Advocates testify in support of the ACE Act: H.224/S.160
2025 Somerville mayoral candidates participate in a Somerville Mayoral Forum on Arts & Culture.
2025 Boston mayoral candidates participate in a Boston Mayoral Forum on Arts & Culture.
In July 2025, the House Committee on Federal Funding, Policy and Accountability held an oversight hearing on the impacts of federal funding cuts to cultural organizations.
Emily Ruddock, MASSCreative’s executive director, shares updates about some of our grassroots organizing and legislative achievements in 2024 and a glimpse of what we are preparing for 2025.
On Friday, November 22, 2024, MASSCreative welcomed 11 individuals into the 2024-2025 Advocacy & Organizing Fellowship during an in-person orientation at the Worcester Public Library.
