Bethann Steiner, Public Affairs Director
Senate Ways & Means Committee approves Mass Cultural Council’s $20M spending request
In March, Mass Cultural Council unveiled the Power of Culture Advocacy Campaign: proposing a mix of state budget spending; bond authorizations; and bills to stabilize, rebuild, and provide COVID-19 relief to the cultural sector. For the coming fiscal year – FY22, which begins on July 1, 2021 – Mass Cultural Council requests a state appropriation of $20M to support the Agency’s annual programs and services.
In April, the state House of Representatives approved a FY22 budget that invested $21,375,000 into the cultural sector through the Agency’s line item, representing the highest amount of funding for Mass Cultural Council in three decades.
Today, the state budgeting process begins in the Massachusetts Senate. The Senate Committee on Ways & Means has released its FY22 spending proposal, and Mass Cultural Council is thrilled to report the Committee has granted our FY22 funding request. The Senate Committee on Ways & Means budget funds arts and culture, through the Agency’s line item, at $20 million in the coming fiscal year.
Senate Members have until 2:00pm this Friday, May 14 to file budget amendments. The Senate will begin its FY22 budget debate the week of May 24. As with the House budget debate, because the Senate Committee adopted Mass Cultural Council’s spending request, we will not seek any amendments during the Senate budget debate. We will monitor the Senate debate and any amendments filed that may be of relevance to the Agency’s line item and the cultural sector.
For weeks, our new Executive Director, Michael J. Bobbitt, has prioritized advocacy, spending hours meeting virtually with 28 State Senators from all over the Commonwealth to build support for the Agency’s FY22 budget request and the Power of Culture Advocacy Campaign. The relationships he is forging and the data he is sharing on Beacon Hill are key to securing robust public investment in the cultural sector.
Mass Cultural Council is deeply appreciative of the record investment proposed today by the Senate Committee on Ways & Means. The Agency enthusiastically thanks Senate President Karen Spilka; Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues; Tourism, Arts & Cultural Development Chair Ed Kennedy; and all the Senate Members who pledged to make the cultural sector a priority in FY22.
Mass Cultural Council is proud and ever-mindful that success in this budget building cycle – securing the requested $20 million in FY22 from both the House and Senate Ways & Means Committees without need of any amendments – is an endorsement of the importance of the cultural sector to the Commonwealth’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agency’s work, and the power of culture.
Action Alert
We have 20 million reasons to say “thank you” to the Massachusetts Senate. Please email your state Senator today and tell them how much you appreciate their support for this FY22 investment into the cultural sector using MASSCreative’s advocacy alert.