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From all of us at MASSCreative, thank you to our partners, peers, and community for learning, advocating, and connecting with us in 2025. As we close out a challenging year, know that you are part of a growing statewide coalition making Massachusetts more vibrant and equitable one step at a time.

Watch the rest of this video and drive this work forward in the new year: visit mass-creative.org and click “GIVE” (🔗 in bio) to make a one-time or recurring gift today.

Video and editing by Wes DeShano.

What is the MASSCreative Action Network, and why is it important? We asked Bianca Jimenez of Nueva Esperanza (nuevaofholyoke.org) and several other partners about the importance of supporting the Action Network.

This work is entirely funded by sliding-scale annual dues from our grassroots network of 200+ members. Help us unlock more community power in 2026 by securing membership for your business or organization today: watch the full video and join us at mcan-ma.org/join (🔗 in bio).

📹 Video and editing by Wes DeShano.

When we ask creatives and arts leaders what our sector needs to thrive, the #1 thing we always hear is “more money.” But how can arts and culture leaders tap into more non-arts funding sources?

Dr. Erik Holmgren and Carolyn Cole at @masscultural and Dr. Annis Sengupta at @mapcmetroboston are leading a session on this topic at this year's Creative Sector Summit on June 12th.

Their session "The Creative Workaround: Funding Civic Solutions with Non-Arts Dollars" is an opportunity for Summit goers to develop real plans to leverage cross-sector partnerships and resources. Participants will seed grant ideas and receive real-time guidance to pursue new resources.

This session will be available for a hybrid audience! Reserve your in-person or virtual tickets today for the 2026 Creative Sector Summit to attend this session and more. https://www.mass-creative.org/summit #CreativeMA #CreativeSummitMA

TAKE ACTION: Senate Ways and Means proposed $27.35M for @masscultural in FY27 🎉

This is really great news for our sector! But we're not celebrating yet - there are two quick actions we need you to take before this Friday, May 15th to make the FY27 budget even stronger on arts, culture, and creativity.

1. Contact your State Senator and ask them to co-sponsor Senate Budget amendments #59, #87, #234, #255, #288, and #823.

2. Sign our thank you letter to the Senate for their continued support for the cultural sector and creative economy.

Learn more about these amendments, send a quick email to your State Senator, and sign the thank you letter in two minutes or less on our take action page.See the link in our bio. #CreativeMA #MAPoli #PowerOfCulture

What can the creative sector do to support a community that's been impacted by substance use disorder?

The "Community Connections: Co-Creating Arts Experiences that Amplify" session at this year's Summit seeks to answer that question.

Learn from Emma York, Carl Alves, Maia Livramento, and Mark Dressel about how the Zeiterion and other organizations in New Bedford partnered with artists and people with lived experience to create meaningful programming around addiction, incarceration, and recovery.

The 2026 Summit is one month from today! Learn more about this year's sessions and reserve your tickets by visiting the event page linked in our bio. #CreativeMA #CreativeSummitMA

On April 30, Jessie Baxter (C1 Director of New Work & Connectivity) and Raqael Duarte Hunt (C1 Associate Director of Education) both gave testimony at City Hall to advocate for arts funding.

They were joined by more than 150 creatives, teaching artists, arts leaders, and representatives from arts organizations across Boston gathered at Boston City Hall on April 30 to advocate for the restoration of the city’s FY2027 Arts and Culture budget during a nearly four-hour-long City Council budget hearing.

What’s next? Over the next few weeks, Boston’s City Council will continue holding budget hearings and the Ways and Means Committee will develop their version of the budget for the City Council to vote on.

Here are four things every arts supporter can do now to help raise awareness of how these budget cuts will impact Boston’s arts and culture sector:

1. If you live or work in Boston proper, submit written testimony to Boston City Council by May 22. You can use @masscreative’s automated form and include your specific story of impact. This written testimony will be included in the official hearing record.

2. Email the City Council at city.council@boston.gov to share your opposition to these cuts.

3. Join the Arts Activate Boston Coalition’s Fund Boston’s Arts advocacy campaign as an individual creative or an arts organization (or both). Showing elected officials we are organized and we oppose this budget cut, in numbers, matters. Sign up at the link in our bio.

4. Share these calls to action with your community, your networks, your audiences, and board members.

Whether you're a longtime MASSCreative Action Network member or have no idea what membership even looks like, we want to hear from you.

We've created a 5-minute survey to collect feedback as we rethink our membership model to better serve our network and the sector at large.

Take the survey: link in our bio, in stories, or at this address: 2hq380buoqc.typeform.com/mcan2026 📊

The MA House voted 149-9 last Wednesday approving a $63.4 billion FY27 budget that included $27.35M for the Mass Cultural Council, $21M for state aid to public libraries, $19.6M for state aid to regional libraries, $2.05M for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and $3M for District Local Technical Assistance.

The MASSCreative Action Network sent out a call to action asking advocates to contact their state representatives and urge them to co-sponsor amendments #261 for the Board of Library Commissioners, #543 updating “STEM” to ‘STEAM” in state law, and #710 to fund the MA Poet Laureate’s stipend. Those amendments were not adopted in the final House Budget.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee is releasing their FY27 proposal tomorrow and you can expect to receive more updates from the MASSCreative Action Network about next steps.

Thank you for advocating for a stronger FY27 House Budget! You can read more about what’s happening with the FY27 budget and see the list of House amendment co-sponsors on our blog (🔗in bio). #CreativeMA #PowerOfCulture #MAPoli

MASSCreative is proud to participate in #FallOfFreedom, a nationwide cultural movement uniting artists,
institutions, and communities in celebration of creative expression and solidarity.

Join the next activation today, as artists across the country organize exhibitions, performances,
screenings, gatherings, and public actions. A second nationwide wave will follow on October 2nd–3rd.

Follow @FallOfFreedom to learn more.

MASSCreative is proud to participate in #FallOfFreedom, a nationwide cultural movement uniting artists,
institutions, and communities in celebration of creative expression and solidarity.

Join the next activation today, as artists across the country organize exhibitions, performances,
screenings, gatherings, and public actions. A second nationwide wave will follow on October 2nd–3rd.

Follow @FallOfFreedom to learn more.

MASSCreative is proud to participate in #FallOfFreedom, a nationwide cultural movement uniting artists,
institutions, and communities in celebration of creative expression and solidarity.

Join the next activation today, as artists across the country organize exhibitions, performances,
screenings, gatherings, and public actions. A second nationwide wave will follow on October 2nd–3rd.

Follow @FallOfFreedom to learn more.

There's a lot of love in Boston City Hall today...

160+ artists and creatives showed up for the City Council budget hearing to reject the proposed 27% ~ or $1 million ~ cut to arts and culture in FY27. So many advocates showed up that city workers needed to create an overflow space. People clapped, snapped, and cheered after listening to others' testimony in a moving show of support for the creative workers who make the City of Boston exemplary.

Looming budget cuts isn't just a Boston story. Disproportionate budget cuts to arts and culture when the economy takes a turn isn't just a Boston story, either. Today, artists in Boston, organized by the Arts Activate Boston coalition, have shown all of us that budget cuts are not inevitable and not acceptable. #CreativeMA #Bospoli

There's a lot of love in Boston City Hall today...

160+ artists and creatives showed up for the City Council budget hearing to reject the proposed 27% ~ or $1 million ~ cut to arts and culture in FY27. So many advocates showed up that city workers needed to create an overflow space. People clapped, snapped, and cheered after listening to others' testimony in a moving show of support for the creative workers who make the City of Boston exemplary.

Looming budget cuts isn't just a Boston story. Disproportionate budget cuts to arts and culture when the economy takes a turn isn't just a Boston story, either. Today, artists in Boston, organized by the Arts Activate Boston coalition, have shown all of us that budget cuts are not inevitable and not acceptable. #CreativeMA #Bospoli

There's a lot of love in Boston City Hall today...

160+ artists and creatives showed up for the City Council budget hearing to reject the proposed 27% ~ or $1 million ~ cut to arts and culture in FY27. So many advocates showed up that city workers needed to create an overflow space. People clapped, snapped, and cheered after listening to others' testimony in a moving show of support for the creative workers who make the City of Boston exemplary.

Looming budget cuts isn't just a Boston story. Disproportionate budget cuts to arts and culture when the economy takes a turn isn't just a Boston story, either. Today, artists in Boston, organized by the Arts Activate Boston coalition, have shown all of us that budget cuts are not inevitable and not acceptable. #CreativeMA #Bospoli

BOSTON ACTION ALERT: Mayor Wu proposed cutting next year's arts budget by 27%. Stand up for arts funding at the City Council hearing tomorrow, 4/30 at 2pm at City Hall in the Iannella Chamber.

Learn more and register here to have your voice heard: https://moacbudgethearing.eventbrite.com #Bospoli

Today's the last day to get discounted tickets to this year's Creative Sector Summit!

If you're interested in participating in sessions that will challenge and inspire you to think about...

🎤How queer art can bridge the urban and rural divide
🎤Organizing campaigns to create sustainable funding streams for arts and culture in your city or town
🎤Working with local government to stabilize artist workspaces...

then we want to see you at the Zeiterion in New Bedford on June 12th! Get your tickets before 5 PM by visiting: https://www.mass-creative.org/summit or going to the link in our bio.

#CreativeMA #CreativeSummitMA