How Does Your City or Town Compare in Cultural Investment?
Municipal Elections are This Fall-Now is the Time to Ask Candidates to Support Local Cultural Investment
Does your town or city support arts and culture? Using Department of Revenue sources, the Boston Globe reported (on August 13, 2007) on local spending for the arts, sciences, humanities and recreation. Reported as a percentage of the total municipal budget from FY 2006, the state wide average is 2% and ranges from a high of 8.2% to 0.0%.
The following are the top ten communities supporting the arts as a percentage of total budget:
- Brewster - 8.2%
- Chilmark - 7.5%
- Dennis - 6.9%
- Orleans - 6.7%
- Sterling - 6.5%
- Wenham - 6.0%
- Rowe - 5.9%
- Gay Head - 5.6%
- Wellfleet - 5.5%
- Adams - 5.2%
Six of these towns are on Cape Cod, including Gay Head and Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard.
See the complete list of cities and towns
The state average is 2%. Here are a few of the other cities and towns above the state average:
Amherst 4.7%
Boston 2.1%
Cambridge 3.8%
Framingham 2.3%
Natick 2.5%
Northampton 2.1%
Quincy 2.4%
Provincetown 2.0%
Salem 2.5%
Springfield 2.2%
Watertown 2.6%
Please keep in mind that these percentages include funding for recreation and are, therefore, only a guide to local government investment in the arts. Municipal elections are coming this fall - it is not too soon to begin asking candidates to support increased cultural funding at the local level.
