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Equity Progress Report (June – Aug ’26)

Dawn Heinen, Digital Communications Manager

A regular report on our equity work

photo of a woman with shoulder length bleach blonde hair, a black sleeveless top and black opera gloves holding a strip of player piano music in her mouth. She uses a Paper-strip Music Box of sorts to pull down the on strip of music to create sound.
Victoria Shen (Evicshen) – sound artist, experimental music performer, and instrument-maker – performing at the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture Non-Event. Photo: Annielly Camargo.

Since 2021, with the launch of our first-ever Racial Equity Plan (and subsequent equity plans), Mass Cultural Council has been working on internal and external steps we can take to support and encourage an anti-racist, equitable, and inclusive cultural sector in the Commonwealth. As part of our equity work, the Agency has committed to sharing our progress on this work regularly:

EQUITY PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

Disability Advisory Committee
We held the final Disability Advisory Committee meeting on May 28, 2026. At the meeting, the committee reviewed and discussed:

  • Recap of prior meetings and recommendations.
  • Draft approach to access rubric for feedback.
  • Draft approach to UP Designation for feedback.

A copy of the presentation can be provided upon request. We thank our committee members for their two years of service and all their thoughtful guidance and insight.

Native American and Indigenous People’s Advisory Committee
We held a meeting of the Native American and Indigenous People’s Advisory Committee on May 22, 2026. The committee is one year into the
planned 2-year duration. The meeting provided an opportunity for conversation about the Agency’s programs and identification processes as
they relate to Native and Indigenous individuals and communities, as well as a review of progress on the equity plan to date.

SECTOR EDUCATION, SERVICES & ACHIEVEMENT

Access Office Hours were held to offer organizational counsel and effective practice for grantees:

  • June 10: Access Plan Q&A with Open Door Arts

INTERNAL

  • Mass Cultural Council is partnering with Open Door Arts on the Arts & Culture Accessibility Hub to strengthen accessibility across the sector. As part of this work and to meet expectations of the National Endowment for the Arts and the d/Deaf and Disability and Deaf Equity Plan, we have formed an internal working group to complete the agency’s Arts and Culture Self-Assessment Survey. The 300+ question assessment reviews our approach, spaces, technology, communications, and programs, and then produces scored reports highlighting strengths and areas for improvement. The assessment has been completed, and staff are working together to review the report to identify key themes and recommendations regarding our internal and external accessibility priorities.
  • Public Affairs is working with our web developer to finalize updates to www.massculturalcouncil.org to meet WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. After that, we’ll pivot to making our ArtSake blog compliant. We also had a digital audit done to guide us in improving our social media and email accessibility. Those recommendations will be incorporated in the coming months.
  • Public Affairs is also working with photography partners to document events and activities hosted by Tribal Cultural Councils, ensuring a wide range of creative expression from our diverse communities is equitably represented across our materials and digital spaces.
  • Following a series of in-person grant celebration events located throughout the state, we held a final virtual grant celebration event at
    the recommendation of the Disability Advisory Committee. This event featured American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation and
    Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) captioning. We had 91 people attend this event, and the recording is available to
    watch on our YouTube channel.
  • At the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) Conference Aug 10-15, 2026 in Philadelphia, we are proud to share
    that Charles G. Baldwin also received a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) Award. As a recipient of this year’s LEAD Award for Excellence in Accessibility Leadership, Charles is recognized for a lifetime of achievement in arts and accessibility.

 

Track on-going progress using our equity journey map


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