Mass Cultural Council Testimony to the Joint Committee on Ways & Means
Fiscal Year 2026 H1 Budget Recommendations
Good afternoon, Chair Ferrante and Chair Oliveria, and through you to the Members.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, here in beautiful Gloucester City Hall, with these historic, beautiful, and awe-inspiring murals before us.
For the record, my name is Michael J. Bobbitt, I am the Executive of Mass Cultural Council, your independent state arts agency.
I am joined by Bethann Steiner, our Senior Director of Public Affairs.
We are honored to be here to speak on behalf of Massachusetts’ creative and cultural sector and to outline our funding request for Fiscal Year 2026.
First, I want to express my sincere gratitude for the partnership and support that this Committee has consistently demonstrated towards our sector and our work.
Mass Cultural Council is eager to continue our collaboration with you to implement strategic policies and investments that will strengthen the cultural sector and contribute to the economic growth and competitiveness of our state.
FY26 Funding Request
Mass Cultural Council is requesting a $28 million appropriation in FY26, with a new, dedicated and funded $15,000 earmark contained within our line-item to support the Governor’s new state Poet Laureate position, as we are working with her Administration to implement this new program, which was established last month through Executive Order.
This figure, which matches our FY25 request and is $1.15 million higher than our current $26.85 million appropriation, will allow us to make additional investments in grants supporting creative individuals, youth arts, and operating support for cultural organizations.
It would also strengthen our Local Cultural Council, Tribal Cultural Council, and Cultural District Initiatives.
Additionally, this funding would enable Mass Cultural Council to continue advancing our equity goals by expanding engagement with underrepresented communities and addressing systemic inequities across the sector.
A $28 million appropriation would be the largest in our Agency’s history and would advance key goals outlined in both the Commonwealth’s Economic Development Plan and Mass Cultural Council’s Strategic Plan.
Economic and Cultural Impact
First, the good news:
- Massachusetts is a recognized national leader in tourism, arts, and culture.
- Our sector is a significant economic driver, contributing $28.6 billion in economic impact—4.1% of the state’s economy, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- That economic activity supports more than 133,000 jobs statewide.
- According to this federal data, our sector supports more economic activity than construction and transportation in Massachusetts.
- Furthermore, Massachusetts was recently ranked the third most arts-vibrant state in the nation for the second consecutive year by SMU DataArts, the National Center for Arts Research.
Yet, despite this success, Mass Cultural Council finds we contend with substantial and growing unmet need for financial support every fiscal year.
Every grant program we administer has become more competitive, with record-breaking levels of applications received, meaning we are saying no to more of your constituents than ever before, across all programs.
Not because they are ineligible, but because the Agency has limited resources available.
This makes sense.
From Great Barrington to Gloucester, the Massachusetts cultural sector is as vibrant as it is vast.
New data that are set to release next week – the 2024 Cultural Asset Inventory – data shows that Massachusetts is home to 15,063 cultural organizations and 112,190 creative individual generators – defined as people who make a majority of their income from their creative practice.
These folks represent 3% of the state’s workforce. And Mass Cultural Council is proud to bolster their efforts.
However, due to these mounting numbers of declined grant applications, and our greater understanding of the size of our sector, this year we implemented some new rules for our grantmaking.
In Fiscal Year 2025, for the first time, Mass Cultural Council informed cultural organizations that they would be eligible to only receive one form of operating support.
This change allowed us to spread our public dollars farther and make more grants to more cultural organizations than ever before.
In fact, in FY25 we awarded unrestricted operating funds to 129 cultural organizations who had never received such support from the Agency before, through our new Operating Grants for Organizations program.
I am thrilled to expand our grantmaking and invest in these new recipients.
And I hope the Committee agrees that it is our duty to invest in as many eligible recipients as possible.
Strategic Approach
Even with continued robust investments made by this Committee to Mass Cultural, we know we will never be able to say yes to every eligible grant application.
As such, our work is guided by a dual strategy: making equitable public investments with the public dollars we have on hand, while advocating for policies that integrate the creative sector into broader economic and social initiatives.
Creativity is central to problem-solving, and arts and culture have a profound impact on healing, community enrichment, economic growth, accessibility, and individual empowerment.
Mass Cultural Council is dedicated to ensuring that the creative sector remains a priority across government and economic development efforts.
My hope is that by working in this fashion, together, the Commonwealth will embrace policies and initiatives that will embrace arts, culture, and creativity as necessary economic development tools and invest in the sector accordingly.
Federal Funds
Before I end, I wanted to update the Committee on our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (the NEA).
As the state arts agency, each year we receive a small grant from the NEA which is used to further Mass Cultural Council’s financial support for Poetry Out Loud Massachusetts, arts in education, arts in underserved communities, and folk/traditional arts.
In Fiscal Year 2025, our partnership grant from the NEA totaled a little over $1.2 million.
I am grateful that even with the turbulence in Washington, DC these days, we have received all these funds and as such our grant awards have not been affected.
However, Mass Cultural Council is a national leader among state arts agencies for its commitment to equity, access, and inclusion.
We have developed, and our governing Council has approved, a racial equity plan, as well as two further plans outlining our goals as we work to support the arts in Native American and Indigenous People’s communities and with the d/Deaf and Disabled community.
Regardless of decisions made in the White House, Mass Cultural Council is not looking to change direction when it comes to this scope of work.
As such, we may be unable to receive NEA funds if the current federal Administration imposes rules on limiting or prohibiting DEI initiatives, as it has done with other NEA programs.
$1.2 million is not a major part of our annual spending plan, it is only about 3 to 4% of our total annual resources.
But, if we do lose those federal funds which supplement our grant making dollars, it will affect the size and number of our grant awards we make to Massachusetts cultural organizations next year.
Poet Laureate
Lastly, I wanted to take a moment to explain our request regarding the Official Poet Laureate of Massachusetts.
Again, Mass Cultural Council is requesting the Committee to provide dedicated funds for this position through a new, funded $15,000 earmark in our line-item.
These funds will support an honorarium for the Poet Laureate.
It is our strong position that artists should be paid for their work, their time, and their creative expertise.
We are thrilled to partner with the Healey-Driscoll Administration on matters that impact the cultural sector.
And as such, we enthusiastically helped the Governor’s team draft the Executive Order that established this new position.
I am serving as the chair of the Nominating Committee that will review the applications for this position and make a recommendation to the Governor.
And, with our partners at Mass Humanities, Mass Cultural Council staff have thoughtfully developed guidelines and an application to support this process.
Due to timing the Administration was unable to include funding for the Poet Laureate in H 1.
However, they have indicated in our conversations that they will support our efforts to secure it through the Committee and budget process.
As such, I am hopeful you will agree that the state’s official Poet Laureate should receive an honorarium for their appearances, travel, and writing time.
Mass Cultural Council suggests $15,000 and hopes this will be included in the FY26 budget.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I hope it is apparent that Mass Cultural Council is proud to lead this vibrant sector.
I urge your support for a $28 million appropriation in the FY26 budget.
This investment will help sustain and expand the critical work being done across the Commonwealth to foster creativity, economic vitality, and community well-being.
We are ready to partner with you to ensure that Massachusetts remains a national leader in arts and culture.
And to further establish that those working and leading our sector are dynamic economic revenue generators, thought partners, and creative problem solvers willing, ready, and able to partner with other sectors in innovative new ventures.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I welcome any questions you may have and am happy to provide additional information as needed.
