Creative sector positions itself amidst funding battles

BOSTON (SHNS) - As high-flying aerial silk acrobats swung across the Great Hall, spoken word artists recited slam poetry, and a neo-soul performance before the Grand Staircase brought an audience to their feet, creatives made their presence known in the State House on Wednesday.

They were showcasing their skills to advocate for priority bills to fund more public arts programs, make culture and humanities grants more accessible to people with disabilities, protect and develop new creative production and exhibition spaces, and increase spending towards the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Investing in the creative sector is critical under a federal administration looking to slash the arts, they argued.

"There's no surprise that a government that kidnaps people, innocent people, off the street, takes people and treats them the way they're being treated today, will be interested in reducing and eliminating funding for the humanities. That is not a surprise. They do not want people to see between the lines," said Executive Director of MassHumanities Brian Boyles.

Earlier in advocacy day program, Boyles had said, "Humanities are how we seek out the truth today. About ourselves. About our ancestors. About our towns and our cities and our states and our country and world. History cannot tell you what will happen next. Literature cannot write the answer for you. Philosophy can't answer your biggest questions. But it can teach you how to read between the lines."

Boyles wasn't the only speaker who spoke about "dark days" related to President Donald Trump's administration, who Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development Chairman Sean Garballey said, "does not care about the cuts that they make, about the harm that they do to our cities and towns... to our arts sector."

The National Endowment of the Humanities canceled most of its grant programs earlier this month and began putting its staff on administrative leave, and grant recipients were told the agency would be "repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the president's agenda," according to the New York Times.

Trump in March also slashed funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides grants to museums and libraries across the U.S., with his executive order directing that the agency "be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law," POLITICO reported.

The funding cuts are part of the Trump administration's larger efforts to downsize the federal government, which he has said is guilty of fraud and wasting taxpayer money.

“President Trump was given a clear mandate by the American people, and his Executive Order delivers on that by reducing federal bureaucracy,” a Trump administration official told POLITICO about the IMLS cuts. “This restructure is a necessary step to fulfill that order and ensure hard-earned tax dollars are not diverted to discriminatory DEI initiatives or divisive, anti-American programming in our cultural institutions.”

Worried about federal cuts affecting grants available at home, the creative sector institutions are backing state policies this session that they hope will continue investing in the arts as an economic driver for Massachusetts.

MASSCreative is backing a bill to create a statewide public art program, through which .05% of the funds that go to construction or renovation projects of any state-owned building or property would go into a fund to create and maintain public art. The bill (H 3592 / S 2332) includes a $300,000 cap per project. It would create a commission to approve the art projects, and give priority to applications from Massachusetts artists. 

The arts advocacy organization is also supporting a bill  (H 224 / S 160) to create a grant program for arts, culture, humanities and interpretative science organizations to have access to additional resources to make their programs and facilities more accessible to people with disabilities.

It would be funded through the Executive Office of Health and Human Services budget, which would be tasked with establishing a commission to determine grant criteria and administer the fund. The commission would be made up of a majority of individuals with disabilities and advocates.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council wants a technical change  (S 2169) to be made to the Cultural Facilities Fund statute that allows them to give grants to municipal, nonprofit and tribal cultural facilities — but restricts recipients to be a certain size or age to be eligible for a CFF grant. The agency wants the flexibility to give a grant to any public cultural facility, regardless of size or age.

The council is also requesting an increase in their budget to $28 million, up from $25.9 million. The governor and House have both recommended a slight increase in their funding, by 0.58%, to just over $26 million.

"The creative and cultural sector knows how to engage and to show up when it is important. There's nothing more important than advocacy at this moment," said Cultural Center director Michael Bobbit.