My Testimony to The Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development

The Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development
1878, An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Cultural Trust Fund
filed by Senator Stan Rosenberg

Here is a link to the bill's text:< http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st01pdf/ST01878.PDF
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The Massachusetts Cultural Council continues to be one of the most important sources of funding in Franklin County to stimulate economic activity in the arts. Make no mistake about it, artists and artisans are core to the future of how the region transforms and evolves.

As we reassess how we define a healthy economy, we must also reexamine how we place value on the core elements we require for the quality of life that we desire in our cities and towns. How do we adopt practices that develop the skills and expertise that our residents already have? How do we build on the economic activities that enhance a sense of community, that value creative agency and innovation, and that stimulate the interconnected nature of relationships in the towns, counties, the state, and the world?

The Massachusetts Cultural Council is the manifestation of the values the state has for the future. It is a reflection, not only on a commitment to the arts and humanities, but for why the arts and humanities are crucial aspects of our communities. The arts and humanities are about inquiry and exploration, the pursuit of meaning, and the synthesis of the individual with the environment. The objective of funding for the arts and humanities is not unchecked growth, or the generation of profit, but the expansion of successful practices, the exploration of how we can learn to create the world we seek to inhabit, and the generation of value.

The contributions the Massachusetts Cultural Council has made to the Fostering Art and Culture Project has allowed Greenfield Community College to focus on the creative economy with a similar kind of intensity that the health and business sectors receive. The Fostering Art and Culture Project strives to build collaborative, mutually beneficial relationships among parallel creative economy constituents: artists and artisans, local and countywide organizations, and local government. In addition, the Fostering Art and Culture Project seeks to educate across economic sectors about the interconnected nature of the arts, agriculture, and traditional business and industry, and how a community can actively foster a diverse range of economic practices to create the kind of balance that generates an increase in the quality of life.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council’s funding has enabled Fostering Art and Culture to offer business classes for artists and artisans, workshops on marketing, public forums about the connection of the creative economy and business, a summit about the creative economy on local, state, national, and international scales, and the development of marketing plans for the county.

An increase in the standard of living does not equate an increase in the quality of life for people. What increases quality of life is the ability to become active participants in determining one’s future, is the ability to engage in the generation of meaning (or value), and it is the ability to express one’s self creatively. An investment in the Massachusetts Cultural Trust Fund, is an investment into how the citizens of the future will look back in history and see our state, the stories we write, the art we create, the activities we pursue, the innovations we stimulate, and the questions we ask.