Bethann Steiner, Senior Director of Public Affairs
HWM matches Governor’s $27.35M Recommendation for Mass Cultural Council
The annual state budget building process has kicked into high gear in the West Wing of the State House this week, which is where you’ll find the offices of the House of Representatives.
Today the House’s budget committee, House Ways & Means (HWM), released H. 5500 – its $63.3 billion FY27 spending plan to fund state government operations in the coming fiscal year. Overall, the HWM budget represents a 3.6% increase in spending, including a record high appropriation for arts and culture.
Mass Cultural Council, your independent state arts agency, is primarily funded by an annual appropriation in the state budget. Last month members of our governing Council and senior leadership staff team testified before the Joint Committee on Way & Means in favor of the Governor’s $27.35 million funding recommendation for the Agency.
We learned today that our request has been granted – H. 5500 funds Mass Cultural Council at $27,048,072 – matching the Governor’s recommendation. This proposal is a 5% increase to the Agency’s operating budget, which will fund Mass Cultural Council’s programs and services throughout FY27. It represents the highest operating budget ever for the Agency.
Mass Cultural Council is deeply grateful to the Leadership of the House of Representatives, especially Speaker Ron Mariano, Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, and Tourism, Arts & Cultural Development Chair Sean Garballey for their robust investment in arts and culture in this spending plan. The Agency also acknowledges with sincere thanks the support and partnership it enjoys with House Members representing Districts across the Commonwealth. Securing this level of investment in a difficult budget year requires support and approval of a majority of the Chamber.
Our partners in this work, Mass Humanities and MASSCreative, should also be mentioned as stalwart champions of advocacy on behalf of the cultural sector.
Next Steps
State Representatives will file amendments to the HWM budget this week and spend next week preparing for the upcoming budget debate by reviewing and co-sponsoring priority amendments.
The House Budget Debate is scheduled to take place during the week of April 27, 2026. Once the House debate concludes, the FY27 budget will advance to the state Senate, who will host its own budget debate in May.
Fiscal Year 2027 starts on July 1, 2026.