Power of Culture Blog
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Acting Executive Director David Slatery's essay for Mass Humanities' “People’s Guide to the Revolution”
Testifying on Beacon Hill in Support of STEAM
Bethann Steiner, Senior Public Affairs Director
Updated – April 29, 2026: This week the state House of Representatives held its FY27 budget debate. Mass Cultural Council worked with Rep. Mindy Domb to draft and file a budget amendment that sought to add the text of this legislation to the House budget as an outside section. We are very thankful that 38 House Members added their names as co-sponsors to this amendment, #543, however, it was not adopted during the debate. We will continue to work with Rep. Domb to identify ways to advance our effort to rebrand STEM to STEAM through the legislative process this session.
Updated – March 19, 2026: Yesterday the Massachusetts House of Representatives debated a FY26 supplemental budget, and the text of H. 561 was filed an as amendment to the bill by Rep. Mindy Domb. In total, 13 state Representatives listed their names in support of this proposal as cosponsors of the amendment. While the amendment was not adopted during the debate, Mass Cultural Council wishes to thank Rep. Domb for her continued leadership on this matter and will continue to work to identify potential avenues to advance the STEM to STEAM proposal through the legislative process this session.
Updated – November 18, 2025: Great news! H. 561 received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Education and advanced to a secondary committee, the House Committee on Ways & Means, for additional consideration. Mass Cultural Council will continue its advocacy on this matter and provide updates as they are available.
Yesterday at the State House, Mass Cultural Council, represented by Senior Director of Public Affairs Bethann Steiner, testified before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education in support of H. 561, An Act advancing Massachusetts from STEM to STEAM.
This legislation, filed by State Representative Mindy Domb (D- Amherst), makes a simple yet powerful change to the Mass General Laws by updating all existing references of “STEM” (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to “STEAM” – just by adding the “A” for arts and creativity in those existing references within state law.
Enacting this bill has no cost to the Commonwealth. However, it sends a clear message that Massachusetts values creativity alongside science, technology, engineering, and math as essential skills for student success and workforce readiness. More information about this proposal is available online.
Mass Cultural Council is grateful to Rep. Domb for leading this conversation in the State House, as well as to the co-sponsors of this bill: Representatives Arena-DeRosa, Blais, Higgins, Hong, Kerans, LeBoeuf, Sena, Turco, Vaughn, and Howard, and Senators Brady, Comerford, and Eldridge for their support, as well as partners, like MASSCreative and MassART, who reached out to the Committee to register their support for H. 561 today.
ADVOCACY ACTION ALERT: Those in support of H. 561 who wish to submit written testimony by email have until September 23, 2025 to do so, as outlined by the hearing docket.
Under the Rules, the Education Committee is due to act on this bill by November 15, 2025. Mass Cultural Council is hopeful the panel will release H. 561 with a favorable recommendation so it advances to the next step in the legislative review process.