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Advocacy Tools
Impact of State Cultural Funding
Through the Massachusetts
Cultural Council (MCC), the Commonwealth has fueled the strong
growth of the cultural economy, one of the only growing sectors
of the economy, according to the New England Council, the region's
chamber of commerce.
There are 45,300 Massachusetts jobs in the non-profit
cultural economy and a regional workforce of 245,000 in what the
New England Council calls the "creative
economy" - the combination of non-profit and for-profit
cultural jobs.
In addition, MCC funding programs provide and support
education, social service, community development and economic development.
In July, 2002, the MCC budget was cut by 62
percent - from an annual budget of $19.1 million to $7.3
million.
State cultural funding impacts:
Economic Development
Cultural Tourism
Community Revitalization
Education
Social Services
Statewide & Local Control
Economic
Development
- 45,300 Massachusetts jobs
in the non-profit cultural economy.
- 245,000 jobs in the creative
economy - 3.5 percent of the New England workforce, more than
software or health care.
- Statewide economic impact
of $2.56 billion annually (New England Foundation for the
Arts study, 1996)
Cultural
Tourism
- Cultural tourism draws nearly
$7 billion in annual spending in New England.
- In tourism surveys of the
top five reasons people visit Massachusetts, cultural offerings
rank second. The cultural resources of the Commonwealth draw people
from all over the world.
- Cultural tourists rank highest
in per capita spending while visiting Massachusetts.
Community Revitalization
- Cultural development has revitalized
many cities, towns and neighborhoods, including North Adams, Lowell,
New Bedford and Worcester. In New Bedford, non-profit cultural
organizations generated $19 million in economic activity
- including organizations' taxes and expenditures and audience
spending.
- Artists are entrepreneurs
in the reclamation of neighborhoods, such as the Fort Point section
of Boston and downtown Pittsfield.
- The combination of arts events
and cultural institutions draw people into areas creating the
opportunity for additional economic activity such as restaurants,
hotels, gift shops and bookstores.
Education
- Arts education is essential
to developing critical and perceptive thinking.
- MCC funding provides education
through artists in the classrooms, teacher training, after school
programs and enrichment opportunities for disadvantaged children.
- State funding supports education
- MCC money contributes to nearly every town and school creating
learning opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
- Through MCC grant requirements,
most MCC grants to major cultural institution create educational
programs that reach thousands of students each year.
Social
Services
- MCC funds programs that serve
youth-at-risk, creating opportunity for constructive alternatives
to drugs, crime and gangs. For example, the Angkor Dance Troupe
of Lowell teaches traditional dance to the children of Cambodian
immigrants and has been cited as a significant force in reducing
gang violence in Lowell. Shakespeare & Company in Lenox uses
MCC funds to provide creative opportunities for adjudicated youth.
Statewide & Local
Control
- Every dollar of MCC funding
leverages an additional $1 to $4 in matching money from
the private sector.
- Through the Local Cultural
Council Program, MCC funding has an impact in all 351 cities and
towns.
- Local
Cultural Councils, led by 2,700 volunteers, vote how to reallocate
MCC dollars to create and support local cultural programs that
most benefit their town.
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