Introduction
Arts and culture are vital components of a city’s overall health and education — and catalysts for improving social welfare and economic development. I’ve worked consistently over many years to expand access to the arts for artists and for residents of underserved neighborhoods by incorporating it into community development. For example, one of the Charter Public Schools I co-founded, Codman Academy, won the Commonwealth Award, the state’s highest honor in arts and culture, for our pioneering partnership with the Huntington Theatre Company. The new $16 million Gold LEED certified wing of the new Codman Square Health and Education Center includes a theatre – a first for Dorchester and perhaps the only theater in a community health center in the world. These are two high-impact examples of my track record and commitment to the arts for every Boston resident. As Mayor, I will complement our extraordinary artistic institutions and treasures with a creative, dynamic, municipal arts program.
Leadership & Resources
In early June, I committed to a Cabinet-level Commissioner for the Arts & Cultural Affairs. In addition to locating an exceptional leader for this new post, First Night founder and community celebration artist extraordinaire Clara Wainwright will serve as an Honorary Commissioner for Arts & Cultural Affairs.
My restructuring of the Office of Arts, Tourism & Special Events will also result in a new Creative Industries Office within a revamped Development Authority to drive economic development related to the arts, culture and creative economies.
Investing in a Development Officer for the arts and related economies will be critical to developing sustainable strategies that draw upon diverse funding streams and leverage powerful pro bono and in-kind resources that are often overlooked. Tapping Boston businesses that are part of the national A Billion+Change campaign to leverage skilled volunteers for community needs is one good way to do this. Additionally, I’ll create a Municipal Arts Fund, supported in part by requiring 1% of the cost of publicly-funded construction projects to be added to the Fund; leveraging the PILOT (Payments in Lieu of Taxes) system; and inviting voluntary contributions via key payment mechanisms such as property and auto excise taxes.
I want to make other near-term structural improvements as well. Let’s streamline complex permit processes to make it easier to have cultural events. I will launch BostonArts.Gov, a citywide kiosk of arts & culture events and public art, with daily interactive messages that reinforce the depth and breadth of Boston’s artistic and cultural history, traditions, assets, and innovations.
Arts Education & Youth
The most important thing I will do as Mayor will be to improve the quality of education, with arts as an integral component. We know that training in the arts improves young people’s abilities to solve problems and work in teams, necessary skills for stable communities and the new economy.
Codman Academy Charter Public School won its Commonwealth Award for creating an “expeditionary learning” extension of our campus at the Huntington Theatre Company. The curriculum incorporates the Theatre’s repertoire into the students’ reading and writing courses. When violence against youth spiked eight years ago, the partnership created an annual summer Shakespeare production, which continues to this day. This summer and last, our students performed on the Calderwood stage at the Boston Center for the Arts through the Huntington Theatre program.
Additionally, we’ll link arts education to other curricula. For example, Professor Ellen Winner’s research demonstrated that theatre education increases literacy skills. We’ll partner with Arts & Culture institutions and the creative community on 11th & 12th grade career academies to introduce students to a range of related careers: musician, digital arts, studio recording, museum exhibit management, set design, and stage manager. My administration will look to successful nonprofit models like Artists for Humanity and BUILD for best practices for engaging high school students through high quality apprenticeships and micro-enterprise development. We also will elevate and improve career-readiness programming within the Boston Centers for Youth & Families and develop opportunities for adult learners via pathways to the creative economy.
The Creative Economy
One of my first actions will be to locate a Creative Industries Office within a revamped Development Authority, including a business accelerator for innovative creative economy ventures. In addition to locating a year-round retail co-op for artisans in Downtown Crossing as one anchor to that district’s revitalization, we will support a network of pop-up stores, seasonal markets, and enhanced Open Studios.
I’ll engage and leverage support for Main Streets and other business district leaders to enlist both the established and emerging independent creative community in mutually beneficial ways. As I’ve said many times, every community should be some form of an “innovation district.” Integrating the creative community into overall community and economic development plans is critical, starting with my proposal for a new East Boston Innovation District. It’s also crucial to transform Boston into a 24-hour city supportive of the lifestyle and work patterns of a 21st century urban creative community.
My new Creative Industries Office will work with other City departments to integrate the arts into my overall economic development plan for Boston. An important component will be adapting the HandMade in America model into our economic development, community revitalization, and civic health plans; to provide the infrastructure, training and wrap-around services needed by micro-artists and crafts people, often single moms, to make the leap from limited home-based production to scaled and profitable enterprises. Also, my proposed East Boston Innovation District could include affordable housing and shared workspace for artists.
Boston’s creative economy has deep roots in our renowned museums and performing arts organizations, while also giving rise to some of the area’s most exciting new players. One of the unfortunate consequences of the Seaport’s Innovation District was the displacement of many vibrant artists and emerging arts organizations. Ensuring Boston’s reputation as a dynamic world-class cultural destination includes working closely with our traditional artistic and cultural institutions to maintain their continuing appeal to residents and visitors; and creating conditions that retain emerging players with great promise. My Administration will do that.
Public Art, Design & Our Heritage
Cities that are a pleasure in which to live, work and visit tend to include clean, easy-to-navigate public spaces that stimulate the senses visually, aurally and kinesthetically. Our commitment to appealing design and public art should range from first impressions formed at the airport and other transit stations, and extend throughout Boston’s downtown, waterfronts and neighborhoods. To make that happen, we need less red tape and more vision.
We need to re-activate some of our less-vibrant public areas so people want to spend time there, or even enjoy just passing through. For example, the Boston Sculptors Gallery has installed 22 sculptures on the Christian Science Plaza that have re-engaged the community and brought new visitors to this unique downtown space.
Just as important, there are myriad outdoor nooks, walls, vacant lots, bridges and green spaces that can be enlivened by artists. Ideas for transforming such spaces can emerge from community conversations, competitions, and crowdsourcing.
There are also opportunities to re-envision both the form and function of some government properties. For example, I will look into relocating services currently in the northwest side of City Hall and adapting that space and the adjacent plaza to house a City of Boston Museum.
Arts & Community Building
As a young community organizer in the 1970s, I experienced firsthand the crime, racial tension and economic struggles of those times. But I also saw how the arts brought people together and built community. Two great examples were Summerthing, which began as a way to keep the peace during a time of great unrest, and First Night, created by local artists to inspire people to experience Boston in a positive way. That’s why it made so much sense to me to incorporate arts and culture into our work at the Codman Square Health Center. I’ve been directly involved in countless initiatives that have brought people together around critical social issues and in celebration of Boston’s rich diversity and historical assets. The Peace Tile Project, Boston Arts Millennium, Childhoods Interrupted by War, the Dorchester Artist Spirit and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra are just some examples.
I have traveled to other communities, from Philadelphia to Belfast, to learn how others have leveraged the arts, culture and the creative community to tackle social problems and build community capacity. I have also participated in health and cultural missions to Ireland, Vietnam and South Africa to share our culture and connect with immigrant communities here in Boston.
Organizations like Medicine Wheel Productions have shown how major interactive art experiences can be a source of healing and can help us feel part of something bigger. We also need to create small contemplative art experiences that are accessible to anyone. Under my Administration, Boston’s new Commissioner for Arts & Cultural Affairs will develop a stream of initiatives designed to address social issues and to help process real-time developments like the Boston Marathon bombing and the Trayvon Martin verdict. This work will happen in concert with a cross-section of organizational and individual stakeholders from outside City government and, like all aspects of our evolving priorities for the arts, will be supported by inter-departmental City leadership.
I’ve spent my entire career working within communities and across sectors to build shared visions, leverage financial and social capital, and engage people from all walks of life to build sustainable solutions for community success, often against steep odds. My administration will use this same assets-oriented approach as we work with communities to use the arts to build social capital, drive economic prosperity and develop unique identities as “arts and culture centers” with local, citywide and visitor appeal. And in addition to elevating our many established traditions, festivals and parades, the Arts & Cultural Affairs Commissioner will coordinate with Boston’s new Chief Service Officer to integrate Arts & Culture into emerging traditions that unify people through service and reflection, such as MLK Day and the September 11th National Day of Service & Remembrance.
The Mango Man
One of Codman Square Health Center’s first arts initiatives in the 1980s was a youth art contest co-sponsored with the Codman Square Neighborhood Council. The winning picture was painted by a twelve year old girl in foster care. Despite all the challenges she faced in her young life and that Codman Square was experiencing as a community, this child saw life, beauty and togetherness. “The Mango Man” picture became an instant symbol of hope; a reminder that people are more likely to succeed in whatever circumstances they find themselves when they have a sense of identity and self-worth, which art can bestow. Over the years, we shared many copies of this wonderful work of art, including with visitors from around the world who spent time in Codman Square learning about our community building work. In the late 90s, a neighbor reproduced the picture onto ceramic tiles, as part of our Peace Tile Project. The picture never gets old, and is a continuing inspiration.
