Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director
My Farewell to Massachusetts’ Cultural Sector
As we move into the holiday season—a time when the world slows down just long enough for us to take stock—I’ve found myself holding two truths at once: profound gratitude and an ache that feels a little like heartbreak. It is bittersweet to write this final message to you, the creative heartbeat of Massachusetts, as I prepare to step into my life’s next chapter with OPERA America.
Transitions, much like the winter solstice, are moments of both stillness and turning. The shortest day becomes the long arc back toward light. And in this moment of turning, I want to speak plainly, lovingly, and urgently about what I’ve learned—and what we must carry forward.
What I’ve Learned: Change Doesn’t Come—We Build It
Across my time at Mass Cultural Council, I have written often about the dangers of disinvestment, the myth that creativity is a luxury, the necessity of advancement, and the power of advocacy. The through-line of all those reflections is simple:
Nothing in our sector will change until we change it.
Not with hope alone.
Not with nostalgia.
And not by doing what we’ve always done.
The status quo is not neutral—it is harmful. “Business as usual” will lead us exactly where it has led us: underfunded systems, minimal cultural policy, exhausted broke artists, fragile institutions, and cultural assets that remain undervalued despite their enormous public good.
But here is the good news:
We are creators. Change is literally our medium.
And we can sculpt a different future if we are willing to do the hard work—together.
This next era will require boldness. It will require a new social contract between artists and the state, between culture and other sectors, between our communities and the systems that shape their well being. It will require new behaviors and skills, shared accountability, and a refusal to settle for “that’s how it’s always been.” It will require the rejection of a “starving artist” as gospel.
Massachusetts is capable of this. Period.
From My Heart: A Loving and Bittersweet Goodbye
Leaving this agency—the staff, the Council, the artists, cultural workers, elected officials, and community partners who have walked beside me—is not easy. It feels like closing a beloved show after a long, meaningful run. The curtain falls, the lights dim, but the resonance of what we created together remains.
Thank you for trusting me.
Thank you for challenging me.
Thank you for building with me.
Massachusetts has taught me that creativity is not just a sector—it is a force field. A public good. A generator of joy, connection, identity, healing, and economic vitality. To have led this work has been one of the great honors of my life.
In truth, Massachusetts has only scratched the surface of what this sector can do. Our cultural sector is an underutilized asset—one with the power to strengthen and differentiate the Commonwealth’s top growth industries and sharpen our statewide competitive edge. From life sciences to education to technology to tourism, creativity is the connective tissue that fuels innovation, talent attraction, community vitality, and economic competitiveness. The Commonwealth becomes stronger when its creatives thrive, are included, and are empowered.
We ignore this at our collective peril. Massachusetts will discover its next competitive edge not by sidelining creativity, but by unleashing it.
A Call to Action—Unique to Each of You
This moment of transition is not an ending. It is a baton pass. And so, from a place of deep love, profound respect, clear-eyed hop, and abiding care, I want to offer each of you a final request—one I hope you’ll carry into the New Year and beyond.
To Artists, Creators, and Culture Bearers:
Commit to business acumen and arts advocacy.
Your creativity is a superpower. Pair it with strategy and your votes and voices become unstoppable.
To Cultural Organizations and Artistic Leaders:
Innovate like your future depends on it—because it does.
Refuse to cling to models that no longer serve your bottom lines, your missions, or your communities.
To Government Officials and Policymakers:
Culture is infrastructure.
Legislate the conditions for the sector to thrive, not just to barely survive. Fund it, protect it, and embed it into every statewide strategy—from housing to health to transportation to education.
To Partners in Health, Housing, Education, Business, Tourism, and Other Sectors:
See the cultural sector not as decoration but as a driver.
If you want thriving communities, you want artists at the table.
To Educators and Art Schools:
Teach sustainability and civic power alongside technique.
Talent without these tools is a system failure, not an artistic one.
To Advocates, Volunteers, and Supporters:
Your voices change policy.
Keep showing up. Keep pushing. Keep imagining boldly.
Bring your colleagues with you.
Hold each other accountable.
To the Mass Cultural Council Staff:
You are the agency’s greatest asset.
Hold fast to bold ideas, insist on equity, and keep building systems that outlast all of us.
To the Governing Council:
Lead.
Lead with curiosity, courage, and the public trust you hold.
You steward an ecosystem that shapes the cultural identity of an entire Commonwealth.
Your leadership of this state’s agency can inspire change across the nation…and the world.
The Future Is Not Inevitable—But It Is Ours to Shape
As we move through this season of reflection and begin a new year, I invite you to commit—truly commit—to transformative change. We can make Massachusetts the most culturally vibrant, economically powerful, artist-centered state in the nation. But only if we choose it. Only if we are willing to adopt new behaviors, revise old systems, and imagine ourselves into a better future.
The light returns because the earth turns.
Our cultural future returns because we do.
Thank you, Massachusetts.
For your trust.
Your creativity.
Your fire.
Your belief that we can build something better.
I leave with love, with hope, and with absolute faith in your ability to create the future this sector deserves.
Onward—toward the brighter season we shape together.
With gratitude and resolve,
Michael