Young woman performing at Elevated Thought’s gallery. Photo: Gretchen Ertl.
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:
New Equity Plans Launched
In July the Agency’s new equity plans, a Native American & Indigenous People’s Equity Plan and a d/Deaf & Disability Equity Plan, took effect. These plans – endorsed by votes of the governing Council in March 2024 – mark a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to advancing inclusion within the cultural and creative sector. They represent an expansion of the Agency’s equity goals, which began with our 2021-24 Racial Equity Plan, and set the stage for a broader dialogue and actionable steps towards equity within our communities by addressing additional dimensions of identity and experience.
We have begun an educational campaign to provide a framework and resources to encourage accessible and inclusive employment practices. This initiative aims to promote access, equity, and inclusion in our cultural institutions, and to support creative individuals from the Deaf and Disability communities. Please see our first post in the series: Guide to Writing Inclusive and Accessible Job Descriptions.
In FY24 we invested in Open Door Arts’ Arts & Culture Accessibility Self-Assessment, a free, comprehensive tool that helps arts and cultural organizations improve their accessibility. This disability-centered resource provides opportunities for continuous learning, allowing organizations to evaluate accessibility in five key areas:
Organizational Approach
Space
Access Services
Communication
Programming
Organizations then receive customized reports with data-driven insights and step-by-step guidance for creating an Accessibility Plan. Now available to the cultural sector, this tool will be integrated into the Universal Participation (UP) Initiative and promoted through webinars.
In FY25 we are scaling and evolving the Universal Participation (UP) Initiative as part of the d/Deaf & Disability Equity Plan, including a significant investment in Open Door Arts’ Culture Accessibility Resource Hub. Their Hub will serve as a central resource for community of practice -style learning, benefiting the Massachusetts cultural sector and people with disabilities.
Programs
We are poised to launch the Tribal Cultural Council Program this fall, and are excited about this opportunity to deeply engage with and support Tribal Governments. More details to come.
In June we presented on our FY24 grant-making activities to the governing Council. The presentation includes information about the demographic make-up of our grantees from FY23-24. FY23 was exceptional in terms of volume (7,000 grants awarded) due to the Cultural Sector Recover grants, but despite the large decrease in grants awarded, the demographic percent make-up was relatively stable from FY23-24.
Internal
We have developed an acknowledgement receipt of the Agency’s d/Deaf & Disability Equity Plan for future contracted employees. By having contractors acknowledge their understanding and commitment, we reinforce the importance of these values and foster a more inclusive workplace culture.
In August four staff members (Michael J. Bobbitt, Charles G. Baldwin, Cheyenne Cohn-Postell, and Christian Kelly) attended the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) conference in Seattle. This conference, renowned as the premier learning opportunity for promoting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in arts and culture, provided valuable professional development to strengthen our internal capacity to advance our equity work. The attending staff has shared their reflections on the LEAD conference.
