Create The Vote
Connecting the creative community and candidates during election season.
Since 2013, Create the Vote campaigns have engaged voters and candidates for office about the vital role that arts, culture, and creative expression play in building inclusive, connected, and more equitable communities. We have proven through our past engagement that our unified voices work. It is crucial that policymakers understand our vision for a well-resourced and equitable creative sector so that we can continue to move forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Elected officials know who votes. If voter turnout in your community is well below other neighborhoods, elected officials will pay less attention, make fewer appearances, and fewer appeals to your neighborhoods. This is also true for communities of people who cross neighborhood lines, like BIPOC people, LGBTQIA+ people, union members, immigrants, and members of the arts, cultural, and creative communities. Who votes has a powerful impact on public policy and government, and that includes decisions about the use of public dollars - including public support for the creative workforce, cultural organizations, and creative businesses.
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Local, State, and Federal elected officials will lead our state toward a more inclusive, just, and connected Commonwealth and the arts and cultural sector will be central to those efforts. We care about investments in arts and culture by the next administration. But we also care about democracy and making sure as many people as possible participate.
Voting is the cornerstone of a democracy, but far too few people vote. For the past three decades, voters have been disproportionately of higher income, older, or more partisan in their interests. Parallel to voter participation gaps are widening gaps in wealth, reduced opportunities for youth, and frustration with the polarization in politics. Much of this gap is due to communities—including communities of artists— left uninformed about elections.
Can you imagine how our world could be different if everyone participated? We can.
That’s why the CTV Coalition made the deliberate decision in 2020 to explicitly engage in pro-democracy work by asking people to take the CTV pledge to vote, participate in the Census, volunteer to be a poll worker or Census taker, publicizing civic engagement efforts taking place elsewhere in the sector and explaining the state’s new Safe Elections law and how to vote by mail to artists and other creative workers, and hosting webinars on all of these topics.
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We educate candidates running for elected office about the impact that arts, culture and creativity has on our economy, on developing youth, on the health and well-being of residents, and how much greater this impact could be with more intentional leadership and investment. We do this in several ways:
We meet with candidates to share our stories.
We develop policy recommendations that will support a stronger and more equitable arts and cultural sector for all residents in the Commonwealth.
We provide platforms for all candidates to share their vision for a more creative Massachusetts, including candidate questionnaires, town halls, and forums.
We organize arts advocates to build support for arts and cultural policy with community members and voters.
We also educate voters who care about arts and culture about the importance of letting candidates know that arts matter to you and that you will make your decision about who to support, in part, by what the candidate pledges to do for the arts, cultural, and creative communities once they take office.
As a nonpartisan coalition, we do not endorse candidates, nor do we contribute to campaigns or provide in-kind support.
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Because Create the Vote coalition campaigns have made a difference in communities around the state since 2013. In Boston, the Chief of Arts and Culture is a cabinet level position, created after the 2013 Create the Vote campaign identified the need, and secured a pledge from then-candidate Marty Walsh to fill the position. Since then, arts and culture funding in the city of Boston has increased 37 percent thanks to the advocacy of Create the Vote, and the city of Boston has launched numerous initiatives to support artists, arts organizations, youth, and public art.
Create the Vote campaigns in Medford and Medfield were instrumental in persuading municipal officials to provide matching funds for their local cultural councils. In New Bedford, Create the Vote spearheaded the successful effort to establish a dedicated arts fund using revenue from the city’s lodging tax. The fund required the support of New Bedford’s mayor and city council, along with Gov. Charlie Baker’s approval of a home-rule petition. During the 2014 gubernatorial race, Create the Vote hosted six candidates at the first-ever Gubernatorial Forum on Arts, Culture, and Creativity, drawing more than 500 people to Worcester’s Hanover Theatre to hear candidates explain their vision for our creative economy.
Join the Create the Vote Coalition
The Create the Vote Coalition is made up of artists, creative workers, cultural nonprofits, creative businesses and arts supporters who work together during campaign season. We are always eager for more coalition members to join the campaign. Sign up below and we will reach out with updates, coalition meetings and opportuntieis for to to evelate the creative sector in your community.
We ask for your mailing address so we can organize coalition members by district.
