08.12.2026

How’d Arts & Culture Fare on Beacon Hill this Session?

Bethann Steiner, Senior Director of Public Affairs

Budget

With the Massachusetts Legislature’s 2025–2026 session entering its final months, August offers a natural moment to pause, take stock, and ask: How did arts and culture fare on Beacon Hill?

The answer is encouraging – Mass Cultural Council secured significant budget, capital, and policy victories for the Commonwealth’s cultural sector, and there is still more work to do.

While formal sessions of the House and Senate concluded on July 31, the Legislature’s work is not quite finished. The House and Senate will continue meeting informally twice a week through January 5, 2027, to take up non-controversial and local matters. In addition, under new legislative rules, proposals sent to conference committees by July 31 can still be returned to the full Chambers for votes during the remainder of the session. Twelve conference committees are currently working to resolve differences in legislation, including the economic development bond bill known as the Mass Wins Act.

So, while the people’s business continues on Beacon Hill, this is a good time to reflect on Mass Cultural Council’s policy agenda and celebrate what the power of culture helped accomplish during the 2025–2026 legislative session.

We started with four priorities. Here’s how we did.

In January 2025, Mass Cultural Council brought four priorities to the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Legislature:

• A strong annual state budget appropriation for arts and culture
• Continued capital investment in the Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF)
• Expanded eligibility for the Cultural Facilities Fund
• Recognition of the connection between the arts, creativity, and STEM by rebranding STEM to STEAM in state law

More than a year and a half later, the results tell a powerful story about what sustained advocacy, legislative partnership, and public investment can accomplish.

Budget: A Record Investment in Arts & Culture

Each two-year legislative session encompasses two fiscal years, giving the Legislature two opportunities to invest in the Commonwealth’s cultural sector through the annual state budget.

As an independent state agency, Mass Cultural Council is primarily funded through its annual state budget appropriation. That public investment makes it possible for the Agency to support artists, cultural organizations, communities, and creative workers across Massachusetts.

The bottom line: state funding for Mass Cultural Council reached a historic high.

• In FY26, Mass Cultural Council received just under $27 million through the state budget.
• In FY27, the Legislature approved $28.1 million for Mass Cultural Council, the largest state appropriation for arts and culture in the Agency’s history.

This investment is more than a number. It is an investment in the people, places, organizations, and creative activity that make Massachusetts communities vibrant and help drive the Commonwealth’s economy.

Capital Spending: Continues Investment in Cultural Facilities

Arts and culture also benefited from continued state investment through the capital budget.

Unlike the annual operating budget, the Commonwealth’s capital spending plan supports long-term projects and infrastructure through borrowing. For the cultural sector, one of the most important capital programs is the Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF), co-administered by Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment.

We are grateful to the Healey-Driscoll Administration for recognizing the importance of maintaining and strengthening the Commonwealth’s cultural infrastructure.

Both the FY26 and FY27 capital spending plans included $10 million for the Cultural Facilities Fund, supporting two years of CFF grant cycles.

These investments help cultural organizations and municipalities maintain, improve, and modernize the places where Massachusetts residents experience, create, and participate in culture.

Legislation & Policy: Making the Case for Culture

Budget investments are essential, but public policy can create lasting change. This session, Mass Cultural Council worked with legislative champions and partners to advance two bills developed specifically to strengthen the cultural sector.

Expanding Access to the Cultural Facilities Fund

S.2169, filed by Senator Paul Mark, would amend the CFF statute to ensure that primarily cultural municipal and tribal government facilities can apply for grant assistance regardless of the age or size of the building.

Because the Cultural Facilities Fund was created in statute, changing its eligibility requirements requires legislation.

S.2169 received a favorable report from its first committee and is now before the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. But an important opportunity emerged during the session: when Governor Healey filed the Mass Wins Act, her economic development bond bill, the Administration included an amended version of this policy at Mass Cultural Council’s request.

That language was subsequently included in the Senate version of the Mass Wins Act and is now before the conference committee.

If retained in the final bill and signed into law, this change would expand access to the Cultural Facilities Fund and allow primarily cultural municipally owned facilities to apply for assistance regardless of their age or size.

The provision no longer includes tribal government-owned cultural facilities, which were removed from the language during the process. Mass Cultural Council will continue to advocate for an inclusive approach to cultural infrastructure investment.

From STEM to STEAM

H.561, filed by Representative Mindy Domb, would formally recognize STEAM, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, in the Massachusetts General Laws.

The bill received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Education and remains under review by the House Committee on Ways and Means.

During House budget debates, Representative Domb also offered the proposal as an amendment to both a supplemental budget and the House budget. While the amendments ultimately were not adopted, they demonstrated significant legislative support, garnering 51 House co-sponsors.

Mass Cultural Council will continue working with Representative Domb, legislators, and partners, including members of the new STEAM Subcommittee of the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, to advance this important recognition of the role arts and creativity play in innovation, education, and problem-solving.

Mass Wins Act: Culture at the Table for Economic Development

Perhaps one of the most significant developments of the session is the way arts, culture, and creativity have been incorporated into the Commonwealth’s economic development conversation.

The Mass Wins Act is now before a conference committee, and several provisions under consideration could provide meaningful new opportunities for communities, cultural organizations, creative workers, and local economies.

Mass Cultural Council has testified and advocated in support of several provisions, including:

A new microgrant program for culture, entertainment, and nightlife

Senate line-item 0640-03096 would authorize $1 million for a new microgrant program administered by Mass Cultural Council to support entertainment and nightlife.

The program would support individuals, businesses, and organizations involved in public art, performance, and cultural and community programming that activates downtowns, commercial areas, cultural districts, gathering places, and nightlife destinations.

The proposal emerged from the Senate’s “Fun Agenda,” and Mass Cultural Council welcomes the opportunity to put the power of culture to work in communities and help make these investments a reality.

Investing in downtown vitality

House and Senate line-item 7002-8085 would establish a new downtown vitality capital grant program administered by the Executive Office of Economic Development.

The program would support economic development initiatives including the activation and improvement of downtowns, Main Streets, business districts, town centers, commercial corridors, cultural districts, and other walkable mixed-use areas.

As a longtime partner in the Downtown Vitality Advocacy Coalition, and the state agency responsible for administering the Massachusetts Cultural Districts Initiative, Mass Cultural Council supports this authorization and its potential to strengthen the Commonwealth’s vibrant network of state-designated cultural districts.

Strengthening arts, culture, and the creative economy

House and Senate line-item 7002-8086 would create a new capital grant program administered by EOED in partnership with MassDevelopment, Mass Cultural Council, and other state agencies.

The proposed program would support projects that enhance arts, culture, and the creative economy, including public-realm and streetscape improvements, historic district rehabilitation, cultural wayfinding and signage, public gathering and performance spaces, and permanent public art installations.

Mass Cultural Council’s statutory role, expertise, and relationships across the Commonwealth’s cultural sector position the Agency to help ensure that these investments reach the communities and organizations they are intended to serve.

The Work Continues

There is still unfinished business on Beacon Hill. The Mass Wins Act remains in conference, and other proposals, including our STEM to STEAM legislation, continue to have pathways forward.

But as we look back at the 2025–2026 legislative session, one thing is clear:

The power of culture was not only heard on Beacon Hill. It was reflected in the Commonwealth’s investments and policies.

From a historic $28.1 million state appropriation for Mass Cultural Council, to continued $10 million annual investments in the Cultural Facilities Fund, to new opportunities to connect culture with economic development, downtown vitality, nightlife, and the creative economy, this session demonstrated the value of sustained public investment in arts and culture.

We are deeply grateful to Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, the Massachusetts Legislature, and the many legislative champions who advocated for the cultural sector throughout this session. We are equally grateful for the partnership of organizations including MASSCreative and Mass Humanities, whose advocacy and storytelling help demonstrate every day why arts, culture, creativity, and the humanities matter to the Commonwealth.

The legislative session may be winding down, but the work continues.

Mass Cultural Council will keep advocating for the people, organizations, and communities that make Massachusetts a place where creativity thrives, and where the power of culture continues to strengthen our economy, our communities, and our Commonwealth.

Budget