Mass. House reverses Cultural Council cuts, Senate to act next

This month, the state Senate is expected to pass its version of the state budget for fiscal year 2014 and advocates for arts spending, a key component of creative placemaking, are hoping to increase spending for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The MCC budget was originally cut by 15 percent by the House Ways and Means Committee,

Key resource in creative placemaking threatened by budget cuts

A key resource for Gateway City revitalization efforts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, would be significantly weakened by the state budget proposal released last week by the House Committee on Ways and Means. The MCC reports that the House budget allocates only $8.1 million for the agency during the next fiscal year: This would represent a

MASSCreative Lobbying for increase in MCC budget

MASSCreative, the new organization formed to advocate on behalf of funding for the arts in Massachusetts, isn’t wasting any time. Fresh off an inaugural tour of the state, they’ve started to lobby hard for an increase in the Massachusetts Cultural Council budget (a key resource for Gateway City creative placemaking efforts as detailed in our

Creative Placemaking Strategy Forum

MassINC recently hosted a webinar exploring strategies to advance creative placemaking policy in Massachusetts. You can view the webinar, which features MassINC Research Director Ben Forman, Mayor Morse of Holyoke, and MASSCreative Executive Director Matt Wilson here. To read MassINC’s latest report “Building Vibrancy: Creative Placemaking Strategies for Gateway City Growth and Renewal” click here.

Building Vibrancy

Creative Placemaking Strategies for Gateway City Growth and Renewal

The struggle Gateway Cities have endured in recent years obscures their untapped potential in an economy that increasingly puts a premium on attractive, authentic, and livable communities. This has not been lost on a new generation of artists and cultural entrepreneurs, who are finding inspired ways to reinvent our Gateway Cities through creative placemaking. At

Creative placemaking one weekend at a time

The Lowell Folk Festival kicks off tonight drawing more than 100,000 visitors into the city. By bringing together diverse groups of residents and showing off Lowell at its best, one weekend at a time, over a number of years, the Folk Festival has slowly added to the city’s vibrancy. A poll MassINC conducted last fall

Creative placemaking in downtown Fitchburg

Through collaboration with the Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg State University, and the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission, the Gateway City of Fitchburg has received a $75,000 grant for its Main Street Art Project from the National Endowment for the Arts. The project will work to revitalize the local economy and improve the quality of life by

The challenge of working across communities

MassINC Vice President for Programming and Public Affairs Marj Malpiede recently spoke with ArtPlace America, a collaboration of major foundations, federal agencies, and the National Endowment for the Arts, about what she’s learned from MassINC’s creative placemaking work so far. Malpiede spoke of the challenges of working with the many moving pieces that make up a multi-community effort,

Do voters care about creative placemaking?

Creative placemaking is highly collaborative work requiring active public/private partnerships to marshal the resources, will, and energy to change a street, neighborhood, or city.  State and local governments need to work with artists, entrepreneurs, and community and business leaders to advance successful projects.  Creative placemaking requires broad community support, especially from the voters who not
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