Developing A 2025-2026 Statewide Legislative Agenda with the Creative Community

Shows Emily Ruddock presenting at the Fort Point Creative Conversations convening on November 8, 2024 at the Artists for Humanity building.

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In January 2025, the MASSCreative Action Network celebrated the filing of three bills that make up the 2025 - 2026 Creative Sector Legislative Agenda. The content of the bills and policy priorities are a direct result of the feedback we received from artists, cultural organizations, creative businesses, and changemakers. 

As a statewide advocacy and policy organization, the MASSCreative Action Network fights for state-level legislative priorities that advance a stronger and inclusive creative sector that everyone in the Commonwealth can access and benefit from. To identify which priorities we should focus on, the MASSCreative Action Network follows a community-driven process that centers the individuals and organizations closest to the problem to identify the solution. 

In partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and local partners across the Commonwealth, MASSCreative Action Network held a series of Creative Conversations in late 2024 to hear from folks throughout the creative community on what they needed to be successful and what opportunities we should advocate for the Commonwealth to support through funding, programs, and regulatory change. 

THE PROCESS

Thanks to our partnerships with local co-hosts, we held eight in-person and three virtual community meetings across Massachusetts. The goal was to ensure that voices and perspectives from across the Commonwealth were included in the conversation. 

Locations of in-person Creative Conversation events in 2024.

Additionally, because we knew that not everyone could attend these meetings, we offered an online survey that anyone could fill out to share their feedback.

445 individuals attended a Creative Conversation event and over 162 individuals completed the online survey. 

We want to thank our local partners who co-hosted these conversations and encouraged their communities to participate in the meetings: Artists for Humanity, Assets for Artists, Boston Center for the Arts, Creative Collective, Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition (FRACC), Fine Arts Work Center, LaunchSpace, Lynn Museum & Arts Center, Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Mosaic Lowell, Network for Arts Administrators of Color, New Bedford Creative, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Springfield Creative City Collective, and Western Avenue Studios.

Our conversations included updates on the progress of the 2023- 2024 Creative Sector Legislative Agenda, including the successful inclusion of the Downtown Vitality Fund in the 2024 Economic Development Bond Bill. We asked participants to share their levels of support for each of the remaining bills and share what other areas of policy change we should pursue together. 

We then worked with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to analyze the input we received.

THE FINDINGS

We are pleased to share that advocacy energy in the creative community is strong! Artists, cultural leaders and changemakers are ready to stand up for the policies and funding necessary to ensure everyone in the Commonwealth can access the benefits that arts, culture and creativity provide. 

Through the Creative Conversations and survey, participants were asked if they would support each piece of legislation in the next legislative session. Respondents indicated overwhelming support for all pieces of legislation, as shown in TABLE 1. Notably, the Accessibility in the Creative Economy (ACE) Act had the most favorable support, with over 95% of respondents indicating that they would support this legislation in the next legislative session. 93.5% of respondents supported the Creative Space Preservation Act. 93.4% supported the Program for Local Art and Community Engagement (PLACE) Act. The Cultural Equity in Tourism Act had the greatest scrutiny from respondents, with nearly 6% indicating they would not support this bill in the next legislative session.

TABLE 1: RENEWED SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE SECTOR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

In the Creative Conversations and survey, participants were asked to prioritize the bills for the next legislative session. Based on weighted ranking from the data shown in TABLE 2, the Creative Sector Legislative Agenda policies are prioritized in the following order: 

1. Creative Space Preservation Act

2. Program for Local Art and Community Engagement (PLACE) Act

3. Accessibility in the Creative Economy (ACE) Act

4. Downtown Vitality Act

5. Cultural Equity in Tourism Grant

TABLE 2: PRIORITIZING CREATIVE SECTOR LEGISLATIVE AGENDA BILLS

We also held discussions on the challenges that members of the creative sector face right now. As always, the need for more funding from all sources - government, private philanthropy, and earned revenue - was a top need.

Additionally, conversations focused on:

Affordability:

In line with lack of funding was a lack of affordable housing, studio spaces, and organizational support. For a number of individual artists, the lack of affordable options for skill maintenance was an issue. A respondent also articulated a lack of affordable childcare. Beyond housing studio space and live-work spaces, a number of artists found the lack of affordable performance venues and gallery spaces a challenge to sharing their practice and work.

Housing:

Respondents talked about affordable housing - residential as well as live-work space. One artist described 10-year waitlists for live-work spaces that still remain unaffordable. Additionally, housing was a concern for senior artists.

Operations:

Operational concerns were around the ability to afford to pay staff livable wages, time for collaboration, receiving technical assistance, and the need for audience development. Some respondents also commented on the state’s lack of staffing and approval processes. Beyond that respondents found simply finding employees difficult.

Industry & Regional Culture:

A number of responses could be described as challenges with industry and regional culture. From wanting more mentorship and peer relationships but finding it difficult to engage with the community, to finding that many folks in the state – from the state government to the community – don't see or believe in the value of art. There were several comments about regional culture distrusting and not welcoming regional outsiders and antagonistic to racialized artists.

Accessibility:

There were a few comments about accessibility. Some were about the inaccessible language and process of state and private funding programs. Others were about spaces being inaccessible to audiences as well as artists, with language barriers or mobility constraints.

Location Needs & Geographic Constraints:

There were a few respondents that touched on the challenges posed by their location. From being new to areas to concerns over how to support themselves, afford living and operating, or generating audiences in rural communities. Additionally, the mismatch of being able to locate appropriate, safe, and affordable work and performance spaces – including loud music rehearsal space.

Personnel & Collaborators:

There were challenges with personnel both for arts organizations but also for individual artists. Organizations have a challenge finding staff and paying them a livable wage; for many that makes it hard to market and develop audiences, especially if the organization is small or new. For individuals the personnel look like collaborators, artists guilds, mentors.

Transportation:

A few comments named safe, accessible transportation as a concern.

Governance:

Government and governance play a challenge to some respondents, from finding state and federal policies regarding procurement, non-profit oversight, and reporting debilitating to individual arts and organizations. Some looked to local inequities in decision making and funding difficult for marginalized residents. One respondent found the state’s lack of support for graduate programs in the arts at the state colleges a challenge.

Education:

Some respondents questioned the lack of support for arts education, noting the decreased presence and funding of arts education in public schools and colleges. More broadly, a respondent wants residents to understand the arts as tools and pathways to educational attainment.

Exposure:

For individual artists and organizations, audience development and exposure was a challenge. Some respondents wanted more galleries and venues to showcase and sell their art, while others want more avenues to make their work available to other artists.

WHAT’S NEXT

Based on the feedback we received, the Creative Sector Legislative Agenda for the 2025-2026 session includes three bills, two budget requests, and two bond funding requests:

LEGISLATION:

The Creative Space Act: An Act to grow and maintain space in cities and towns for the creative economy

We are once again working with Rep. Cahill and Sen. Miranda to address the need for more creative workspace and exhibition space.

The ACE Act: An Act improving accessibility in the creative economy

Rep. Donahue and Sen. Mark refiled this bill to create a fund to support the implementation of programmatic and physical changes to make cultural spaces and creative small businesses more accessible to people with disabilities.  

The PLACE Act: An Act establishing a program for local art and community engagement

We are partnering with Rep. Keefe, Rep. Ultrino, Sen. Robyn Kennedy, and Sen. Mark to add Massachusetts to the list of states that leverage state capital building funding to increase public art. 

STATE BUDGET:

Massachusetts adopts an annual budget to spend state revenues. We have prioritized two budget line items for increased funding:

Mass Cultural Council - the state arts agency is charged with distributing public dollars to support arts and culture across the Commonwealth. MASSCreative continues to work on our long-term goal of securing $35 million, or $5 per resident, for the agency. While we know that long term goal will take serval years, we are committed to working with our partners in the Legislature for incremental increases annually. We are requesting $28 million for the Mass Cultural Council in FY26.

Massachusetts Tourism Trust Fund - in Massachusetts, cultural organizations, artistic programs and creative industries attract visitors from across the country and the globe. While tourism is a key economic sector in Massachusetts, the states investment in tourism marketing through the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism and Regional Tourism Councils lags peer states. We are joining tourism advocates to urge the state to increase the Tourism Trust Fund’s budget to $17 million in FY26, which will support state and regional marketing efforts.

BOND FUNDING:

In addition to the state budget, the Commonwealth invests in projects and programs by raising money through the sale of bonds. Once these dollars are raised, decisions are made about which programs will be funded. The Creative Sector Legislative Agenda will advocate for the funding of two efforts:

Cultural Facilities Funding (CFF) - The CFF, a capital grant program that invests in the state of good repair of Massachusetts cultural facilities and infrastructure, is funded annually in the Commonwealth’s capital spending plan. Traditionally, $10 million is authorized per year to support a new grant round. We are advocating for a new $10 million authorization in the FY26 capital spending plan to support a CFF grant round in the next fiscal year.

Downtown Vitality Fund - to support downtown management efforts including Cultural Districts, Business Improvement Districts, and Main Street Associations. 

MASSCreative is committed to work with members of the Masachusetts creative community to advocate for these priorities over the next two years. We hope you will join us in these efforts. Here are three things you can do today:

1. Share your support for the Creative Sector Legislative Agenda with your legislators and ask them to co-sponsor these bills. Visit our Take Action page for more details.

2. Mark your calendars and Save the Date: April 28th - May 2nd, 2025 is Creative Sector Advocacy Week. Consider hosting or attending an advocacy week event near you or join us at the State House on April 30th for Creative Sector Day. 

3. Attend our monthly Artivist Town Halls. These hour-long sessions will give you insight into advocacy efforts across Massachusetts, provide you updates on federal and state actions, and connect you to advocates across the Commonwealth. 

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