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Advocacy Action Center
Senate Matches House: Will Increase Massachusetts Cultural Council Funding by $1.6 Million
(5/22/13) The state Senate approved a budget amendment today that will increase funding for the arts, humanities, and sciences through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) by just over $1.6 million.
The Senate FY14 budget will allocate just over $11 million for MCC, a 17 percent increase that roughly matches the figure approved last month by the House of Representatives.
Senate leaders reduced by half an earlier amendment filed by Sen. Dan Wolf of Harwich that would have boosted cultural funding to $12.5 million. That was the goal of a coalition of MCC, MASSCreative, Mass Humanities, and hundreds of arts and cultural advocates across the state. Today’s vote effectively ends debate on cultural funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
"This is a significant step forward for the cultural sector after a decade of budget cuts," said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker. "We are finally moving toward restoring the state funding that is a vital source of support for our nonprofit organizations, communities, schools, and artists. We will keep working to convince our elected leaders on Beacon Hill that restoring this funding is good for our economy, for our communities, and for our children."
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Majority of Senators Support Amendment to Increase MCC Budget
(5/20/13) Thanks to your advocacy efforts, 23 Senators signed on as
cosponsors to Senator Dan Wolf's amendment to restore
MCC funding. That means a majority of the state Senate is now on record supporting a $12.5 million
budget for the arts, humanities, and sciences through MCC. (See the
list of amendment supporters below.)
Senator Wolf’s amendment now moves to the Senate Democratic Caucus tomorrow and to the Senate floor for a vote on Wednesday.
Co-Sponsors of Senator Dan Wolf’s Amendment
Senator Michael Barrett
Senator William Brownsberger
Senator Gale Candaras
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz
Senator Katherine Clark
Senator Cynthia Creem
Senator Sal DiDomenico
Senator Eileen Donoghue
Senator Benjamin Downing
Senator Jamie Eldridge
Senator Barry Finegold
Senator Jennifer Flanagan
Senator Patricia Jehlen
Senator Brian Joyce
Senator Michael Knapik
Senator Joan Lovely
Senator Mark Montigny
Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives
Senator Michael Rodrigues
Senator Michael Rush
Senator Karen Spilka
Senator Jim Timilty
Senator James Welch
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Urge Your State Senator to Restore MCC Funds for Arts & Culture
(5/16/13) Please contact your state Senator today and urge them to sign on to an amendment sponsored by Senator Daniel Wolf of Harwich to restore MCC funding to $12.5 million.
The Wolf Amendment would restore funds not included in a Senate Ways & Means Committee budget plan for FY14 released yesterday. More cosponsors enhances its chances of success when the full state Senate debates the state budget next Wednesday, May 22.
A state allocation of $12.5 million would bring MCC's budget back to pre-recession levels, and allow the agency to restore grants for nonprofit arts, humanities, and science organizations, local cultural councils, education and youth programs, and artists.
Sen. Wolf is the Co-Chair of the Legislature's Cultural Caucus. Amendments are due by 3 p.m. Friday, May 17.
Send an email today through MassCreative's Action Center. MCC's budget line item is 0640-0300.
The House of Representatives approved a $1.5 million increase for MCC in the FY14 budget plan it approved last month. Once it completes its FY14 budget plan, the Senate must reconcile its spending plan with the House before sending it back to the Governor for final approval.
Thank you for your support and your advocacy.
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Senate Ways & Means Budget Proposes Level Funding for MCC
(5/15/13) Today the state Senate Ways & Means Committee released a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year that would provide level funding for the arts, humanities, and sciences through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
The Senate panel recommended $9.6 million for the MCC in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That is roughly flat funding for the agency, and falls $1.4 million short of funding levels proposed by the House of Representatives last month.
MCC and MASSCreative will work with their allies including Senators Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield, and Dan Wolf of Harwich, to file an amendment to increase MCC's budget by $3 million to $12.5 million, restoring damaging cuts made over the past decade to arts and cultural funding.
Advocates are encouraged to contact their Senator as soon as possible and urge them to cosponsor an amendment that restores MCC funding to $12.5 million in FY14. The addition of cosponsors will demonstrate that arts and cultural funding has widespread support in the Senate, and that restoring arts and cultural funding should be a priority. Find contact information for your State Senator.
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House Reverses Cut to Arts, Humanities & Sciences
Proposal Boosts MCC Budget by $1.6 Million
(4/23/13) The state House of Representatives reversed a
proposed cut to arts and cultural funding today by voting to increase
MCC’s budget by $1.6 million in the coming fiscal year.
Today’s vote was a victory for advocates of state support for
the arts, humanities, and sciences. It would set state cultural
funding through MCC at just over $11 million for fiscal year 2014,
a significant step toward restoring funds that were lost through
budget cuts over the past decade.
Over the past two weeks
more than 100 state Representatives signed onto an amendment to
restore MCC funding. Rep. Cory Atkins of Concord, House Chair
of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development,
authored the amendment and led the effort to enlist cosponsors
for it. The strong statewide support for this effort reflected
vigorous advocacy from a coalition led by MASSCreative in coordination
with MCC, Mass Humanities, and many others.
MCC Executive Director Anita Walker thanked Chairwoman Atkins
for her leadership, along with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and
Ways & Means Chairman Brian Dempsey for their support of MCC
funding.
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Majority of Reps Support Amendment to Increase
MCC Budget in the House
Thanks to your advocacy efforts, 98 House members signed on as
cosponsors to Representative Cory Atkins' amendment # 548 to restore
MCC funding received. That means a solid majority of the House
of Representatives is now on record supporting a $12.5 million
budget for the arts, humanities, and sciences through MCC. The
list includes several House Committee Chairs, Democrats and Republicans,
and legislators from every corner of the Commonwealth. (See the
list of amendment supporters is below, along with a similar amendment
filed by Representative Gloria Fox that will likely be consolidated
with # 548.)
More than 1,600 of you sent a message to your representative
through MASSCreative's
Action Center telling them that the $1.5 million cut in the
MCC's budget is unacceptable.
The House debate on amendments is scheduled to start Tuesday, April 23.
Amendment #548 to H.3400 sponsored
by Representative Atkins of Concord
Cosponsors include
Representative Andrews of Orange
Representative Arciero of Westford
Representative Ashe of Longmeadow
Representative Ayers of Quincy
Representative Balser of Newton
Representative Basile of Boston
Representative Beaton of Shrewsbury
Representative Benson of Lunenburg
Representative Binienda of Worcester
Representative Boldyga of Southwick
Representative Brady of Brockton
Representative Brodeur of Melrose
Representative Cabral of New Bedford
Representative Calter of Kingston
Representative Canavan of Brockton
Representative Cantwell of Marshfield
Representative Cariddi of North Adams
Representative Chan of Quincy
Representative Conroy of Wayland
Representative Coppinger of Boston
Representative Cronin of Easton
Representative Cusack of Braintree
Representative Cutler of Duxbury
Representative Decker of Cambridge
Representative Devers of Lawrence
Representative DiNatale of Fitchburg
Representative Donato of Medford
Representative Dwyer of Woburn
Representative Dykema of Holliston
Representative Ehrlich of Marblehead
Representative Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield
Representative Fennell of Lynn
Representative Fernandes of Milford
Representative Ferrante of Gloucester
Representative Finn of West Springfield
Representative Forry of Boston
Representative Fox of Boston
Representative Fresolo of Worcester
Representative Galvin of Canton
Representative Garballey of Arlington
Representative Garlick of Needham
Representative Garry of Dracut
Representative Gobi of Spencer
Representative Gordon of Bedford
Representative Gregoire of Marlborough
Representative Harrington of Groton
Representative Hecht of Watertown
Representative Heroux of Attleboro
Representative Hill of Ipswich
Representative Honan of Boston
Representative Hunt of Sandwich
Representative Kaufman of Lexington
Representative Keefe of Worcester
Representative Keenan of Salem
Representative Khan of Newton
Representative Kocot of Northampton
Representative Lewis of Winchester
Representative Linsky of Natick
Representative Madden of Nantucket
Representative Malia of Boston
Representative Mannal of Barnstable
Representative Mark of Peru
Representative McMurtry of Dedham
Representative Michlewitz of Boston
Representative Murphy of Lowell
Representative Murphy of Weymouth
Representative Nangle of Lowell
Representative Naughton of Clinton
Representative O'Day of West Boylston
Representative Peake of Provincetown
Representative Pignatelli of Lenox
Representative Provost of Somerville
Representative Puppolo of Springfield
Representative Rogers of Cambridge
Representative Rosa of Leominster
Representative Roy of Franklin
Representative Rushing of Boston
Representative Sannicandro of Ashland
Representative Schmid of Westport
Representative Scibak of South Hadley
Representative Sciortino of Medford
Representative Silvia of Fall River
Representative Smizik of Brookline
Representative Stanley of Waltham
Representative Sullivan of Fall River
Representative Timilty of Milton
Representative Toomey of Cambridge
Representative Turner of Dennis
Representative Vega of Holyoke
Representative Vieira of Falmouth
Representative Walsh of Boston
Representative Walsh of Framingham
Representative Walsh of Lynn
Representative Wong of Saugus
Representative Zlotnik of Gardner
Amendment #487 to H.3400 sponsored by Representative
Gloria Fox of Boston Cosponsored by
Representative Devers of Lawrence, Forry of Boston, Gordon of
Bedford, Mannal of Barnstable and Parisella of Beverly
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Urge Your State Representative to Restore MCC Funds for Arts & Culture
(4/11/13) Please
contact your state Representative today and urge them to sign
on to an amendment sponsored by Representative Cory Atkins of
Concord to restore MCC funding to $12.5 million.
The Atkins Amendment would reverse a cut of $1.5 million to arts and cultural funding through MCC that was included in a House Ways & Means Committee budget plan for FY14 released yesterday. More cosponsors enhances its chances of success when the full state House of Representative debates the state budget beginning the week of April 22.
A state allocation of $12.5 million would bring MCC’s budget back to pre-recession levels, and allow the agency to restore grants for nonprofit arts, humanities, and science organizations, local cultural councils, and education and youth programs.
Rep. Atkins is the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development. Amendments are due by close of business this Friday, April 12.
Send an email
today through MassCreative's Action Center.
The House budget is one key step in the annual state budget process. The Senate will release its own budget recommendations in May. The two chambers must then agree on a budget before sending it back to the Governor for final approval before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Thank you for your support and your advocacy.
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House Committee Proposes $1.5 Million Cut
to Arts, Humanities & Sciences in FY14 Budget for MCC
(4/10/13) The House Committee on Ways and Means released a state
budget proposal for the coming fiscal year today that recommends
$8.1 million for the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
This would represent a significant budget cut of nearly $1.5
million—or 15 percent—that would force cuts to grants that support
thousands of public programs in the arts, sciences, and humanities
across Massachusetts. The cuts proposed by the Ways & Means
Committee are on top of a one-percent, mid-year cut to MCC’s state
appropriation that the Legislature approved earlier this year,
and reduced support from the National Endowment for the Arts in
the coming year.
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Governor's Budget Calls for $9.6 Million for Arts & Culture through MCC
(1/23/13)Governor Deval Patrick released a proposed state budget for the coming fiscal year that would invest $9.6 million in the arts, humanities, and sciences through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
The Governor's fiscal year 2014 recommendation for the MCC represents level funding for the agency and its constituencies. But the proposal makes one important change: Since the start of the state’s latest fiscal crisis, $3 million has come to MCC from an off-budget account. The Governor’s proposal restores that amount through the state’s General Fund, through which all key government services are funded.
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Learn more about your state elected officials
Who are they? What are their priorities? How can arts and
culture help them achieve their public policy goals?
Contact MCC's Greg
Liakos or Ann Petruccelli to share your stories of how arts and culture are making
your community a better place, or to request information or assistance.
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