Achieving the Boston Creates vision

As many of you know, on June 17, we launched the Boston Creates Cultural Plan.

This is a significant milestone in a process that began well over a year ago. With the plan now complete, we've already started on the implementation efforts that will help us integrate arts and culture into the fabric of our city.

At the launch of the plan, Mayor Walsh announced a Percent for Art Program. He also detailed a plan to set-aside housing units for artists in Boston Housing Authority Redevelopments and the inclusion of Arts Innovation Districts in the Imagine Boston 2030 plan. Paul Grogan, president and CEO of The Boston Foundation announced the “Catalyze Creativity” collaborative pooled grant fund for Dance and Theater, seeded by The Boston Foundation with an additional contribution from the Barr Foundation. These are just a few of the many implementation efforts that are getting underway, all of which will help prioritize arts and culture in Boston. For more details on these announcements, I encourage you to read the Mayor’s Medium post: A Culture Shift: Moving the Arts Closer to the Heart of All We Do.

Just last week, we announced applications are now available for the second year of Boston’s Artist-in-Residence Program, helping us to achieve the goal of integrating arts and culture into all aspects of civic life.

In the second cohort, we will select ten artists to help incorporate artistic practices into city departments and community work. The artists will work in collaboration with Boston Centers for Youth & Families (BCYF), through their community centers and citywide initiatives, such as the BCYF Streetworker Program, youth summer programs and leadership development for young women. The deadline to submit applications is Sunday, July 24. I hope you will help us share the word about this program. You can learn more about the program here.

We know that to achieve the goals of the plan, it will take collaboration, a culture shift that unlocks new partnerships, takes down barriers to participation, builds infrastructure to support artists, and aligns resources towards the goal of making Boston a municipal arts leader.

We look forward to working with you to make it happen.