A quarterly report on our anti-racism work
In 2021, Mass Cultural Council launched a three-year Racial Equity Plan outlining some of the internal and external steps we will take to support and encourage an anti-racist cultural sector in the Commonwealth. As part of the plan, the Agency has committed to sharing our progress on this work each quarter:
June-August 2022 Racial Equity and Access Work Highlights
What’s Next – Disability Equity Planning
- Training – developing an ongoing Disability/Access curriculum for staff and a high-level Disability/Access training resource list for the Council
- Engaging with stakeholders from the communities we are seeking to serve and recruiting an internal task force to develop a Disability Equity Action Plan that aligns with the Racial Equity Action Plan.
Internal
- In alignment of the goals of the Racial Equity Plan, and other requirements the Director of People and Culture conducted a good faith, reasonable self-evaluation of Mass Cultural Council’s pay practices and completed the Pay Equity Act Assessment ahead of schedule.
Diversity Highlights From FY22 Programs
Panel demographics
- Fifty-eight percent (58%) of FY22 Cultural Facilities Fund panelists self-identified as a person of color.
- Sixty-one percent (61%) of reviewers in the FY22 Artist Fellowship for Drawing & Printmaking, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Painting cycle self-identified as BIPOC.
New applicants – according to data collected from the Agency’s FY22 Data Presentation
- Seventy-two percent (72%) of applicants to the AAPI Pandemic Recovery Program in FY22 were new.
- Thirty-eight percent (38%) of applicants to the Festivals Program in FY22 were new.
- Thirty-one percent (31%) of applicants to both cycles of the FY22 Artist Fellowships were new.
Outreach Efforts
Public Affairs regularly sends “Nice to Connect with You – Please Stay in Touch” emails to new constituents who:
- Connected with BIPOC Outreach Coordinators:
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- 131 emails
- 55.7% open rate
- Submitted public comment on ARPA spending:
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- 382 emails
- 59.1% open rate
- Completed the most recent COVID Impact Survey
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- 108 emails
- 54.3% open rate
Track on-going progress using our racial equity journey map.