2023-09-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development
2023-09-18 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development
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SPEAKER1 - And if they're in the actual district, which includes the wonderful tenants, the Emirates that have the grant dates. And I'll be presiding over today's hearing on behalf of Sutton Mark, Brooke Chair, myself, to the members of the committee, and what welcome you all to today's hearing. Of the joint committee on journalism, arts, and cultural development. So hopefully, you're in the right place. Today, we will hear testimony on bills related to arts, in the creative414 economy, historical landmarks, and cultural spaces. Thank you to everyone who's come, especially with this weather outside, first, I'd like to start by acknowledging my house colleagues who work here, my vice chair, Michael Kisherik, from Right. It's welcome. The representative from just, that's me, Christopher Walms with Lawson Longer. Tommy, you're so welcome. And the ranking minority member who represented down a wall from Sotis Waldorf saying, Mark, would you like to introduce Senate.
SPEAKER2 - Yes. Thank you, chair, and and congratulations on your first chairing of this committee, of this session. I'm sure it'll go very well, and it will be an amazing job. Paul Mark, state senator for the Berkshire, Hampton, Franklin, and Hampshire district, which is 57 Cities and Towns in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampton counties in Western Massachusetts. And I am joined today by the senate vice chair, Senator Jake Olivera, also of Western Massachusetts, who braved the ring.
SPEAKER1 - Okay.
Frame. We will also encourage you to submit written testimony to the committee. Instructions for doing so are on hearing webpage on malegislature.gov. But if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. Lastly, if you were here to testify in person, but did not pre register online. Please fill out a registration sheet, which is located on the desk right outside. And pass it to a member or a staff or the court officer, Derek's right here for it. If there is time remaining, which I expect there would be, At the end of this hearing, we hope to give you an533 opportunity to testify. So we will get started. And I would like to first call Senator Robin Kennedy, who I believe is in person, but I'm not sure if she's here. Is she here? Nope. Okay. So we'll wait for her. Is Representative Mary Keith on the line? K. Well, we're competing. I don't know if people know this. We're competing with, like, I don't know, must be, like, 10 different hearings. And the big 1 is higher education. And so many of us who have students and faculty members and institutions in our district, which are many bus, are really sort of torn. I don't think I see representative of Williams. I think you're wrong. Okay. So we're gonna go with, Mattoon Monroe from on an act to protect Native American heritage.
K. Al Wilson, are you in person?
Thank you.
Please, Senator Miranda. Is representing Darnie here?
SPEAKER3 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - I think I said, oh, Wilson, here we'll come back to folks. We're gonna move on to a panel, hopefully, in person. To preserve space for the creative economy and an act establishing a program for local art and community engagement. The panelists are Emily Redup. Alice Salguuta, and628
And please accept, if you need to have 3 minutes, and then we'll open it fresh.
EMILY RIDIK - MASS CREATIVE - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you very much, and good morning Chair Mark, Chair Domb, and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of these two Bills. I'm joined this morning by Annis Sengupta, Metropolitan Area of Planning Council, and Doneeca Thurston, an executive director of Lynn Museum and Lyn Arts. For the record, my name is Emily Rudik. I'm an executive director of Mass Creative, a statewide advocacy group made up of nearly 400 creative businesses and cultural nonprofits, as well as 15,000 individual artists, creative workers, cultural leaders, and supporters who believe Massachusetts is a stronger, more inclusive, and more vibrant678 place, thanks to the creative sector. The Creative Space Preservation Act683 and the Place Act are two of the five Bills included in the Creative Sector687 agenda this session. Based on feedback we've received from members of the creative community in every region of the Commonwealth on what our sector needs to thrive. I'm delighted to share why we believe this is the700 moment for the legislature to support these two Bills.
The Creative Space Preservation Act will begin to address of growing prices that many artists and cultural groups face, the lack of space to create, rehearse, and showcase their work. At the same time, that we are having a statewide conversation about the need for affordable housing and communities, artists and creatives are also being priced out of creative maker spaces. This issue and if this issue persists, we are looking at a future where the vitality of our downtowns and local attractions are at stake. This will pose a serious quality of life and economic cost to the Commonwealth. By adding a creative space definition to the preservation code, and creating a mechanism for cities and towns to establish trust funds that hold assets for the creation of the vision752 of studios, rehearsal halls, performance venues, and galleries, we will give municipalities, other schools to use to mitigate the760 displacement of artists and creative communities.
This is an issue that cannot wait for an object or two for consideration. It's happening right now. On the other hand, the Place Act would establish a statewide percentage for public art, to ensure that we welcome new residents to Massachusetts776 and lift up the diverse stories of our history through public art. The public art fund would create a fund, which would require no less than one-half of a percent of funds allocated for the construction or substantial renovation. Of any publicly owned or managed building, and no less than a quarter of 1% of funding for new construction projects over $200,000 to be designated for the selection design creation, and maintenance of public art. As my panelists will share, public art807 plays a vital role in the design of809 our cities and towns. Murals, sculptures, art installations, and813 public spaces help us better understand our communities, bring our pull together, and change a visitor's experience of a place. I am going822 to pause here, and I'm going to turn it over to Annis Sengupta MAPC. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
ANNIS SENGUPTA - MAPC - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you, Emily. Good morning. Chairs, Mark and Domb, and members of the committee. My name is Annis Sengupta. I am the director of Arts And Culture at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of the Creative Space Preservation Act and the Place Act. These Bills will provide communities with the resources to preserve and grow the creative work and cultural production that makes the Commonwealth healthy, connected, economically resilient, and vibrant. MAPC is a855 regional planning agency for the 101 Cities and Towns of Metro Boston, which comprises half of the state's population and two-thirds of its job. The Arts and Culture Department has witnessed the importance of Arts and Culture to community-based economic development and868 the barriers that municipalities face in investing in the sector. The limited ability to access funding and the challenge of aggregating funding from multiple sources across fiscal years878 create significant barriers to building robust municipal881 public art and culture programs, and these883 Bills will help solve those problems.
According to the 2020 BEA report, the arts added $23,700,000,000 to the state's economy, creating $13,600,000,000 in arts worker compensation. During the pandemic, however, the arts economy declined at nearly twice the rate of the economy at large with production dropping by 6.4% compared to 3.4% overall. Securing affordable space for artists to do their work and funding public art are critical pillars to ensuring this vital source of economic prosperity and community well-being is protected. The Creative Space Preservation Act would enable municipalities to establish trust funds to hold assets and property for the creation and preservation of Creative faces, allowing artists to stay in their communities. Development pressures are contributing to the rapid loss of critical workspace that fuels artistic and cultural production. In Alston, the redevelopment of a single building at 119 Braintree Street resulted in the closure of more than half of the creative workspace remaining in the neighborhood since 2019.
In Somerville, 2.75 million square feet of buildings that house graded arts and cultural space continue to face high exposure to development pressure. In the face of951 this challenge, municipalities lack affected policy tools to preserve the spaces and must seek permission from the state or957 negotiate custom arrangements to address the issue parcel by parcel. The Creative Space Preservation Act would give municipalities the tools to protect these spaces. The PlayS Act would create a sustainable funding source for public art projects across the state by allocating a percentage of construction costs on any state-owned property or publicly funded new construction projects over $200,000 toward a public art fund. The funding could then be used to create and maintain public art making it easier to engage residents in developing relevant and inclusive public art for all. Language and the Bill describe the process to commission public art developed collaboratively by MAPC and the inspector general's office in compliance with procurement law that will provide greater clarity for the appropriate use of grant agreements for commissioning public art. We are here today because we work with municipalities on these issues and are looking for1005 solutions to address, those that have been identified and exacerbated by the pandemic. Thank you for the opportunity, and I'll hand it over to Denise. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - On them. He's, like, still a second flat.
DONEECA THURSTON - LYNN MUSEUM OF LAKE ARTS - Good morning. Chair, Domb, Mark, and committee members I am Doneeca Thurston. I'm the executive director of the League Museum of Lake Arts, a cultural campus located in the Heart of Town Development and the Arts and Culture District, and our mission is to collect and celebrate our cities, rich history, art, and culture. As part of my work, I have the pleasure of overseeing and working with the community of artists. Musicians, creative entrepreneurs, and cultural organizations rent space in our men's arts building. One of the few dedicated artists' spaces in our city of over 100,000 residents that has been a haven for local art and creativity for over 30 years. We intentionally keep our rents affordable, as we recognize that many folks within our artist community do not have the privilege to be full-time artists, and we take pride in providing space and playing a role in someone's journey to establish themselves as an artist, musician, or cultural change maker. But before the influx of inaccessible market-rate development, We bought ourselves having to fill vacant units only a few times a year with a handful of folks on a wait list for particular spaces. Today, I have a wait list of over 30 individuals stub have been on the list for two leaders.
These hopeful artists are not just from they're from Salem, Huey, Marblehead, and other areas of the North Shore. Fortunately, most of our tenants were able to maintain their spaces during the pandemic. However, there's now an even greater need for a forward creative space, and that, unfortunately, we cannot meet. With many artists in Lynn and greater Boston being priced out of their previous spaces, they have nowhere to go. As someone who was born and raised in Lynn, I know firsthand how beautiful, lively, and diverse the community is, and as a result, the arts and poultry scene is just as vibrant. From street festivals to murals and public arts, big public art installations produced by young people, performance showcases featuring movers and shakers, and men's hip-hop scene and beyond, the power of public art is the ability to tell our stories our triumphs and our pave through a medium that extends beyond words. These two Bills are needed now because our arts and culture community cannot continue to thrive without them. The loss of space for creative work continues to grow, and our artists musicians and cultural change makers need space and platforms to hone their craft, show face their talents, and tell their stories and we're better able to do that than in the communities in which they live. Thank you for the ability to share my testimony, and I'll pass it back to Emily. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Did you wanna add anything else?
SPEAKER4 - I did not just, thanks to you all for considering these these 2 bills today.
SPEAKER1 - Sure. Hold on because we may have questions.1167 I know I have at least 1 question. And before1169 I get to that, I just wanna recognize representatives has joined us, represent Keith and representative Pignatelli. I believe is also online. So welcome to the Good Committee.
REP DOMB - COMMITTEE CHAIR - I had the great pleasure of touring the Lynn Arts Scene with, my colleague, Rep Capano, early in the summer. So I was super impressed and really excited and jazzed up by what I was seeing happening in there, and I had never been there before. So I'm glad to see you. My question is if you have a sense of how much per year would be allocated through the Place Act. If you have a dollar figure on what that would look like1205 for creative spaces.
RIDIK - Sure. Using the formula that's included in the Bill, we took a look at this year's capital budget because we have 24 capital budgets. I believe it's 7.2, I actually wrote this down. I believe it's a $2,900,000,000. It would mean that 7,200,000 would be allocated for that public art fund. Now that seems like a pretty impressive amount, but keep in mind that within that capital bond project, there are1235 a significant number of projects. So to put that into context, the library commission has a construction grant program. That is about $25,000,000. That means 4,200,000 would go for public art. Okay? That would be in libraries across this commonwealth. Another example is that Bridgewater State University is1256 doing a major renovation of Bernell Hall. That's a $4,200,000 project. The public art that would there would be an allocation of about $10,000 available for that project. Again, the idea is how do we make sure that when we're building new projects that are going to be public open spaces around our communities, public art is a part an intentional part of those projects in design. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Do we Senator Mark, do you have any questions? Are there any questions from the committee
SEN MARK - I just want to know, I am working with the towns and cities. Like, I've worked with, Wakefield, and we got, a cultural center on Arborley Street. It used to be an old post office. We've done the first floor to display our art and everything. Second floor, we're planning on making, studios for people to stay in. I think that working with towns and cities where they have abandoned property, might be worthwhile. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Let's see.
SENGUPTA - So the Metropolitan Area Planning Council has been working directly with cities and towns to support the, developing concept plans for the redevelopment of publicly owned buildings such as the Art and Cultural Center. So we've completed work in Malden and or completing work in Riviera currently about this. The goal of creative space preservation would really be to create more tools than simply, buildings that are coming online and underused and1353 you're investing just in that, but thinking more1355 broadly about when the buildings that artists are currently in are under development pressure and what can they do to respond to that so that there's that community of artists that builds on the work that's being done at each of those buildings. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER7 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much.
Represented Keith with your level of testifying and just for guidance.
Please.
REP KEEFE - HB 3246 - Good morning. Thank you for taking me out of turn. The traffic is really horrible. I was looking south whether you're on the tea or Mass body is bad. So, I'm just really, proud of the advocates that I've just1411 spoken to. In terms of the Bill that, we have filed, the the Act. I'm Mary Keefe, just so people know, I represent the 15th Worcester District, but I'm also a1426 graduate of Mass College Park. Which I'm really proud of. So I bring that perspective as an artist and as a legislator, to this issue. We had a Press conference last Friday leading1440 up to today. I told a story, and I'm going to tell it again. I was walking from the Boston Garden to Cross Charles Street to get into the Boston Common. If you can picture that, there's sort of a gateway there. To the left, is a very tall statue of a man, and he's on a pedestal. To my right was a woman walking two dogs.
The dogs looked up and they saw this great person and they could not pass in front of the1480 statue. As much as she was trying to get them to do it, they just kept looking up and going, that's so the message is art is powerful. Right? Very very powerful, and, we want it to stop us in our tracks, and for us to learn. What's important here? What's significant? Who is this person? Why is it important that we take a little time to learn about history in our place, our state, our city, our town if it is? So I'm really proud to file this again. I'd love to see this happen you know, there are many countries in Europe that do this and have been doing it for 25 to 30 years. You know, 1% of, national capital expenditure goes towards, supporting artists and supporting public art. So, I really appreciate everyone paying attention to this. I appreciate the advocates and what they bring forward here today. I think they're explaining it in ways that are so great for us to take one project by another project and really understand breaking it down, what it could mean in terms of dollars. So that's it, and thank you for hearing me today. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Representative Keith. And your leadership for so many sessions on this issue, at least I haven't been here that long, but I know that you're a strong advocate on.
SPEAKER8 - Well and I think we get better, but there comes a point where you can't get much better. So1564 we wanna see it pass.
SPEAKER1 - Right. We may have questions.
MARK - Pretty hard-hitting question coming up. Are you ready? So as Representative Keefe's seatmate for ten years when I was in the House, I had the honor of learning a lot about art and knowing that she is one of the rare members of the legislature with a BFA degree. This was always impressive to me. While I would never testify about a Bill before the committee I chair, I do want to note that thanks to your advocacy, my processor had been a lead sponsor of this Bill, on the Senate side, and working with Senator Kennedy, I continue that support for this Bill. It's it's because of your advocacy, Mary.
KEEFE - Well, you know, it's really great because a lot of people would think you have to be a lawyer to be a legislator. Right? But we need all perspectives. Really1617 and1617 I also want to recognize, a colleague Chris Walsh, who has represented me ever since passed. He was an architect and also a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. He also was so glad that we could work together and some of these issues. So, yes, it's great. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Are there any other questions that replicate
REP VITOLO - Thank you for your testimony. I wanna point out that it's not just European nations that have figured out how to art in the government building. I was in Cape Verde, with the past year, and every single government building had recent current photos of Cape and they don't have many as we do here, but things can be, you know, kind kind of dodgy and of dry, and those photos. Reminded everyone in th se buildings. They were up to. They were really doing the work for me. I think that Cape Verde, of whom 25 percent of their entire GDP are remittances from Cape Verdians around the world. If they can find the money to celebrate who they are in their creativity and their culture, I would hope we could do it too. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER8 - And it's great opportunity1698 to recognize identity and, a reflection of who the people are. So or history, especially. So thanks, Tom.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Any other comments or questions, Jeff? I'm just checking
REP KUSHMEREK - Representative Keefe, thank you for, your testimony today and for your leadership, on this issue, to dovetail, on what Representative Vitolo just spoke of, you know, I think all too often. We struggle with finding ways of getting people to engage with government. Right? They have a hard time seeing themselves in a hall of government, either because of, you know, systemic inequities, generational, divides and communities, or socioeconomics, right, and trying to do ways to engage people and get them to see themselves, in seats of power and in halls of government. This, I think, provides, an interesting way to combine both arts and, and a pipeline, of hope, and and aspiration, to those halls of government. So thank you for that and, you know, I do have a question here, which is, you know, seeing that you're, a Representative in Worcester and in Central Massachusetts. I'm curious about what you envisioned, for both the commission and, the awards to ensure that there's regional equity, in those awards and, the seats there.
KEEFE - Well, I would hope so, I think looking across this, committee and who's here, we know how often it happens that resources seem to get stuck, you know, like, somewhere beyond 128 and so we have to be diligent about that. I'm really glad, vice chair that you brought this up because another piece of this, is that community involvement. We were at our press conference on Friday. We were standing in front of a new statue that was, executed by the same person that did this, the fireman out on Ashburton entrants, you know, how powerful that is as well. So this is the same artist, but it took community members saying We need something to point to the history of the Blackstone Canal and how that was made. It took them eight years to get it done. To really negotiate back and forth, forth amongst themselves, about what it should say, what it should be about, what it possibly could look like. It's a wonderful thing to see people come together and have a kind of passion and really just see something happen, and it was wonderful, Friday. Some of those people were there, and I really give them a lot of credit for sticking to it. So this could help a lot. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you so much, Raf Keith, and for your leadership on this. The next panel on the same legislation, Molly De Millionaire, Julie Wake, and Sarah Joss.
What is it? Baby, my name?
JULIE WAKE - ARTS FOUNDATION OF CAPE COD - HB 3241 - SB 530 - I'm Julie Wake. I am here with the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, and I'd like to thank the committee for this opportunity to speak I'm here with my colleagues also from Cape Cod who will introduce themselves. I'm here on behalf of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, a 36-year-old nonprofit, which serves as the regional Arts Agency for Barnstaple County. I'm fortunate to live and work in a place where our legislators fully support Arts and Culture. Special thanks to Senator Moran, Senator Sierra, Representative Flanagan, and Representative Fernandez as well as Representative Diggs who I believe is on the call. Both the Place Act and the Creative Space Preservation Act are critical to shaping towns and cities in Massachusetts for the better. The Creative Space Preservation Act serves as a vital investment in artists who are some of the most engaged members of our communities.
The pandemic illustrated how at risk they are and how consistently underfunded1970 and underrepresented they are. Yet they continue to make art, and they continue to remain involved because they care immensely about where they live. If we want them to remain a part of Cape Cod and a part of the Commonwealth, we need to work together to make affordable and accessible spaces for artists to create, innovate, and give them avenues to bring their work to market and to their communities. Cape Cod has two thriving make spaces right now, the Hartwich Cultural Center known as the 204 and the Provincetown Commons, where communities are supporting the arts by providing art studios in older buildings renovated to meet the current demands of local artists. Both are full with weightless. We have the demand. We want our artists to stay, and the Creative Space Preservation Act makes it possible for them to do so.
The Place Act is one that I'm specifically passionate about because I know how impactful public art can be. It gives communities a sense of place and an avenue to educate the general public about their history. Values and issues are important to them, and they bring people together. If you've ever2043 witnessed a public artist working on a2045 mural, you know how engaged onlookers can get. In watching the process, it engenders civic pride, it strengthens a community's identity. We've witnessed exactly that in Provincetown, the country's oldest continuous arts colony on the outermost edge of Massachusetts. Public art initiatives, bring people together. I've heard firsthand from community leaders and Provincetown residents that these pieces are attracting people who might never step foot in a museum and democratizing art in Provorgetown by bringing it all out into public spaces. This is what the place will do. It will make art accessible to all, and I'm going to pass that on. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER5 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - K. Can you use the Nike2094 bumpers?
MOLLY DEMEULENAERE - CULTURAL CENTER OF CAPE COD -HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you Chair and to the committee for giving us this time today. My name is Molly Demeulenaere. I'm the executive director of the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, and I have the Fortune to work with2108 many towns and cities within the Cape region. I'm here to talk on behalf of the Creative Space Preservation Act specifically. Cape Cod is known for its arts and culture. We know that arts and culture drive tourism to Cape Cod. We know that visitors stay longer They've spent more money and they make more of an economic impact on our communities. We need support for those artists to be on the cape and to stay and be able to present work. There's a specific location in Hyannis in Barnstable County, where there's a risk. There are many work and live spaces that are at risk of always becoming used for different things. Right? And so we need this preservation space act to preserve those.
It's really about also giving the power back to the local municipalities so that they're able to work with their local communities and local artists to make sure that2163 those resources stay in those communities and help those artists stay in2167 place. Affordable housing2169 on Cape Cod is challenging, to2171 say the least, and so they're not only losing their homes due to tourism and being priced out of the market, but they're also losing their spaces to work and to create, to engage communities that are disenfranchised, that are not always given voice, and arts are a powerful tool for change. Giving artists the ability to activate that is something that only artists can do, really, and that's what happens in arts and cultural centers and in museums, and museums have shown across the world that they're trusted, organizations that people come to them and they feel that they're safe spaces to dwell. Making sure that artists populate that work is really important. So thank you so much for your support. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SARAH JOHNSON - CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Hi. I'm so happy to be here today. My name is Sarah Johnson. I'm the executive director of the Cahoon Museum of American Art, which is in Catsuit on Cape Cod. I'm very passionate about the Place Act because it aligns with my organization's submission to support local arts and culture. I'd like to share, an example. Well, first of all, my museum, our mission is to serve the community through education and arts and culture enrichment. We have a specific initiative called Street Side, which is, as Molly was saying, museums often have their art inside. So this was an opportunity for us to put art out along a very busy roadway route 28 where everyone in the community could see the art and accessible to everyone. So I wanted to share a personal example of that. We currently have a sculpture, a 9-foot tall, sea serpent, that runs the length of our building. My office actually overlooks this piece.2289
All day long, I witnessed people pulling off the road families getting out, climbing around the sculpture, taking pictures of the text, taking selfies with the artwork, taking pictures of it, and sharing it, and is just an example of how creative placemaking works. The community has this sort of civic space to have access to the arts,2310 and it's so impactful. So, this Act gives an organization like mine an opportunity to receive funding to enhance and continue this kind of public art project. It also gives us the opportunity, to engage our artists, which is so important. They don't often get opportunities to create large-scale outdoor artworks. As well, it allows us the opportunity to collaborate. So through the Place Act, we would be able to collaborate with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and other community development organizations. Which has strengthened our communities overall. I also appreciate that this act, emphasizes transparency and accountability in the reporting requirements, which is so important, ensuring, accountability and the use of public funds, and I'm enthusiastic about all these. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Thank you for your some money. So when people are saying that traffic was bad this morning, thank you for showing up at the state house from the Cape. I want to welcome Mick Ramos to the hearing. And I also was victim of the traffic. All of that. No no worries. Does anybody have any questions from the committee? Thank you so much. Thank you.
The 3rd panel on these legislation will include Peter Albert Williams, Kathy Couch, Joanna Faraby Walker, and Lisa Thompson. Are you here? Oops. It's virtual. Sorry.
We are here. Yes. Oh, great. Thank you so much. Good morning. There you are. Sorry. Teams is really problematic for me. Please state that you are and go right into the pat go right into your conversation. Thank you.
LISA THOMPSON - NORTHAMPTON COMMUNITY ARTS TRUST - HB 3241 - SB 530 - I'll begin since I am, representing the umbrella of this group. My name is Lisa Thompson. I'm a board member of the Northampton Community Arts Trust, which is located in Northhampton, Massachusetts. Thank you for allowing us to testify today, on behalf of the Creative Space Preservation Act. The Northampton Committee Arts Trust was formed in 2010 as a direct result and rich response to the loss of affordable creative space in downtown North Hampton. We witnessed a Johnson, North Hampton in the 19 seventies with artists moving in and small creative businesses creating a vibrant downtown. During the 1980s and 1990s, rents began to steadily rise. In the early 2000s, many artists were2491 forced to leave and migrate to, other, surrounding towns, Holyoke, Holyoke, Greenfield, and East Hampton. So in 2006 North Hampton, Community Arts Trust formed a group of concerned arts leaders and began to think about what an entity that could, help support creative spaces in the community and perpetuity. They adapted, from the model of a land trust, and the Northampton Community Arts Trust was formed with, a similar mission of creating, preserving, affordable space, and creative space in the community.
The first project of the Northampton Community of Arts Trust was a former 25,000-square-foot lumber yard. That's located in downtown. In the last decade, the art trust has, garnered support from hundreds of individuals, foundations, and local state and federal funding to help renovate this building into a flexible-use or arts building, including galleries, studios, media rooms, and performance spaces. These were all spaces that were were2567 losing were had had been lost in Northampton. The idea was that three arts organizations that formed the partners in the building have entered into long-term leases with the arts trust and are able to program and provide space to local artists at affordable rates. We hope that this Bill, and we think it's a very important Bill, brings this issue to a whole new level and and makes it important to recognize the protection of creative spaces in a community on the same level as land trust and affordable housing. So I'll turn it over to my colleagues, some of whom are partners in the building, to share a little more information about the2616 work that we have been doing and the excitement we have about this space Creative Space Preservation Act. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - And the second person who will be speaking on your panel?
SPEAKER14 - Oh, turn it over to Cathy Couch.
KATHY COUCH - APE - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Hello, Chair Mark, Chair Domb, and the members of2644 the committee. My name is Kathy Couch.2646 I'm the co-director and steward of, Available Potential Enterprises. A nonprofit arts organization in Northampton that supports artists by stewarding the spaces in which they create, perform, and exhibit their work. Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of the Creative Space Preservation Act. Our organization was founded in the 1970s during the Renaissance that Lisa spoke to, and it was part of the energy of revitalization of Northampton that was fueled by the influx of artists creating and sharing work in the ample affordable spaces throughout the city. APE was founded on the very principles that underlie this Bill, namely that creative and imaginative work for artists is essential to the health and vitality of our communities. Thus, we must ensure that there are spaces in which these endeavors can occur and be experienced. Over the past 15 years, we've seen a steady loss of affordable spaces for creative exploration, in Northampton, and real estate costs just continue to grow. The negative impact of this loss is felt not only by the artists, but also by all members of the community who have less opportunity to experience the inspiration, reflection, and live event that comes from artistic encounters.
For 30 years, APE existed on the top floor of Thornes Marketplace, a five-story department store that houses still dozens of small2734 local businesses. From its very low overhead thus offer our art spaces at extremely low cost to artists. But in 2006, one of the owners of Thorne's marketplace decided to sell the building, and APE was forced to move out of its spaces. With this sale, Northampton lost one of the few remaining affordable performance spaces in the city, and it coincided with the cascade of loss of performance spaces. Throughout the city, and resulted in the creation of the arts trust. If a defined property restriction, like one proposed in this Bill, had existed at the time of the sale of Thorne's marketplace, I have little doubt that such a provision would have been used by the owners to preserve APE's affordable spaces within the structure of the building sale. This Bill would offer organizations facing similar situations, directing clear means to preserve this precious resource of creative space and bringing the care of such basis to the same level of is the preservation of green space, affordable housing, and agricultural land for local food. We strongly encourage the continuation of this Bill out of committee, and the passage of it in the session. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. I have 2 other people on this panel listed. I don't know if they're with us virtually. Peter Albert Williams and Joanna Faraby Walker.
If you're with us, just We're both here. Jump in. Thanks. Okay. Please.
JOANNA FARABY WALKER - NORTHAMPTON CENTER FOR ARTS - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Sure. Good morning from Beautiful Western Massachusetts. Thank2845 you for this opportunity to testify on behalf of the Creative Economy, a very important sector for Massachusetts. I'm Joanna Faraby Walker, Managing Director of the Northampton Center for the Arts. The Northampton Center for the Arts is a 501C3 nonprofit organization2862 that has been serving Northampton, Massachusetts, and the surrounding Pioneer Valley since 1984. Almost 40 years. The center was established as a result of a public-private partnership between the city of Northampton, and the developers of the former Sullivan School in Downtown, Northampton. For 30 years, the center's ballroom and galleries served as venues for performances, exhibitions, arts education programming, and community gatherings. But in July 2013, the city of Northampton's non-renewable lease for the space that has the center expired.
So that space is now office space, and the beautiful ballroom was divided up. The Northampton Centers for the Arts stayed alive by operating out of transitional office space producing Northampton's first night and organizing events in alternate venues across the valley while looking for a new home. In September 2017, four years later, the center finally relocated to the Northampton community art street building at 33 Holly Street, a project you just heard about in detail from my fellow building partners. If the 33 Holly project hadn't come along, I don't know what the North Hampton Center for the Arts would have done. We aren't a big enough organization to buy a building of our own, especially in modern-day in Northampton. We might have been able to limp along for a while, continuing to do work in the community, but ultimately what we need to fulfill our mission is affordable space.
The center stewards three spaces at 33 Holly, a flexible performance venue, a multiple-purpose room suitable for things like art classes and youth programming, and a beautiful dance studio. We rent these spaces to artists, performers, students, educators, and others in our community at reasonable rates to host events in classes. We also have a community fund to help those who can't afford to pay to access the spaces. These spaces are in constant demand by our community. We have to do very little paid advertising. Our bigger problem is managing high demand with a small nonprofit staff. This was true even during the pandemic. The demand met the allowed capacity at every stage of reopening. There is a real need for affordable and accessible spaces where people can gather and work on creative projects together. It3001 is essential for a happy healthy community. Massachusetts is known as the state of art and culture. In order to maintain that reputation, the commonwealth must invest in maintaining creative space for artists and for the larger community. Thank you very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you very much. Peter Albert Williams?
PETER ALBERT WILLIAMS - NORTHAMPTON OPEN MEDIA - HB 3241 - SB 530 - My name is Peter Albert Williams, and I am the executive director of Northampton Open Media in Northampton, Massachusetts. We're also one of the lessees inside of the building at 33 Holly Street in Wisconsin. Thanks for listening to our comments today, and I hope you consider passing this Creative Space Act. I think it's of great importance, for us in Northampton and for the Commonwealth in general. What we do in Northampton Open Media is provide resources to filmmakers and multimedia creators inside of the community. We provide them with equipment, cameras, microphones, edit systems. We provide them with space, we provide them with training, and we provide them with staff to help them create content. The other thing I'd like to add is we do this almost entirely for free at no cost.
fundamental to our mission because one of our goals is to empower voices inside of the community that otherwise are not, a lot of this equipment is very expensive. A lot of the sort of knowledge around it is very difficult to attain. So that's what we do. We provide these, and we do a good job of it. I would like to say, I'm going to brag a little bit, saying, we're one of the most highly decorated community media art centers in the country. One thing I'm really proud of is we won an Emmy award this year. That Emmy award was a production staff by mostly student volunteers for the community, up against major networks inside of the Boston area, cable networks. So we've been successful with our model. However, what we would not be successful at is acquiring space for needing to pay rent of a significant amount inside of the city of Northampton.
We certainly couldn't purchase a property based on our budget. So it is the existence of spaces like this, that allows us to do our work. In addition,3134 we're an economic development organization, so we have numerous students who come through our programs, and go on to work as professionals, if these spaces didn't exist, those opportunities wouldn't exist for those students. Again, we're working with other arts organizations inside of this building, and that itself also creates, and nurtures creative collaboration among these I don't think we would be working with the Center for the Arts or with APE in the way that we are as intimately we are and, reaching more and more people and a more rich way inside of the community.3169 So I strongly encourage you to consider this space act and to pass it I think it's it it has tremendous wide-ranging effects beyond even just the surface of the space. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. I I would be remiss if I didn't say as a resident of the valley that I've had the honor and pleasure of participating in many events at the center for the arts. So thank you. I'd like to know if there's any questions from the committee. I think rep digs. Do you have a question online?
SPEAKER18 - Not a question. Just wanted to First of all, thank you, madam chair for letting me speak. Julie Molly and Sarah, thank you. I was listening to their They're, about the cape, you know, the3217 cape has so much art stuff going on down there that is is so important, so you know, we we need our arts and and we have so much talent all around our our districts in in in Massachusetts. So, I think this is just so, so important. That that's really all I wanted to say.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, Red Dicks. Center Mark. Any other comments or questions? Thank you so much for making time to testify on this bill and both of them. Thank you. Yeah. Senator Miranda, I believe you are online to talk with us about your bill.
SEN MIRANDA - HB 3241 - SB 530 - SB 2192 - Yes. I am here. Thank you to my colleagues. I greatly, appreciate you guys taking me out of turn. I normally wouldn't do this, but I have two really important3267 Bills, and I'd love to speak fully about both of them if that's possible. So the first I want to talk about is the Creative Space Preservation Act, which is S 530 and H 3241, which I filed with my good friend, and house colleague, Rep, Dan Cahill. There have been over 150 advocates who have signed on to endorse this Bill. Across the commonwealth and especially here in the second Suffolk district, the creative sector is negatively affected by the loss of access. To affordable space for the creation of art and the showcasing of culture. This Bill would do two really critical things. We've heard from a lot of people who've already testified. One is to create a formal statewide definition of creative space under the preservation code. By including a formal definition in the preservation code, it puts the issue on a similar level as land conservation and affordable housing. It will give cities and towns across the Commonwealth a shared definition that they all can use.
Secondly, is to allows cities and towns to create a way to hold money or property in a trust that they can then use for the preservation or construction of galleries, performance venues, rehearsal halls, and so much more. These two actions cost the state actually no money. But give communities the first step in addressing the problem of lost creative spaces. Growing up in Boston, my childhood was very vibrant. It wasn't until I was 18 years old that I realized that not everyone appreciated the beauty, the loudness, and the creativity of our communities. Families from different cultures, different religions, and different socioeconomic backgrounds came together to make black Boston what it is today. When I think of Black Boston, I hear the hound of the sounds of hip hop, merengue, Bachata, and soca, all mixing into one. Anytime you walked a block, there was always a car with a booming sound system, playing the songs you knew every word to. Even if you didn't speak the language. When people talk about Black Power, it all started brick by brick and was kept alive by the people of this community then and still today.
The creative sector in the economy impacts everyone and exists everywhere in the Commonwealth. It is critical to amplify the stories of those of underrepresented communities. Encouraging resilience celebration and supporting democracy. As a state with the first and only public college of art and design, Mass, College of Art, which is in3415 my district, is regarded as a place where arts and culture can prosper, but only so long as artists can continue to live and actually work here. In the lively second Suffolk district with so many outstanding groups that paved the way for our young people to have access to arts and embrace their creativity. We have groups like origination, for example, that produce innovative and dynamic performing arts programs, that motivate challenge, and inspire youth to be the best they can be. The group implements special initiatives to raise students' awareness about pertinent social issues and to facilitate their development into well-rounded productive citizens within their families and neighborhoods.
These programs are open to all of you but have a special emphasis on Boston's underserved neighborhoods in our district. Some of us are in elected office. Others write, others are on the block and others are using art to create change. There is room for all of us in this movement if we show up for it. You see real change that lasts the test of time starts at the grassroots level and works. Change made by the people starts here, organizing and demanding more for their communities, building more workforce development pipelines in Massachusetts, must include the creative workforce and creative workforce development. We want to train creative professionals with a promise that they can use their talents here. In this difficult time, we're living through. Now is the time to make a historic investment in our young people's capacity to lead themselves and be a part of building their own destinies. I dream of a Boston where we all feel worthy and belong. Thank you to the Chairs, and thank you to the membership for this opportunity to testify today. I ask for your support and your favorable report on this important legislation. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much, Sandra. And, I think you have ever gunners come on, or should we are you willing to do that now?
MIRANDA - I have another, testimony, and this one is near and dear to me. So I apologize for taking another two to three minutes. But I hope my colleagues will understand and the people in the room. To the chairs, and thank you. This is about an important resolution S 2192, which is to establish, a Massachusetts Cabo Verdean and Cultural Center, which would establish a special legislative commission to investigate and study the feasibility of actually establishing a statewide mass, cape Meridian Cultural Center in the city of Boston. It would recognize the over 200-year history of Cabo Verdeans in the Commonwealth. Massachusetts has been home to Cabo Verde migrants like my family since the early as early as 1790. The census estimates that the base state total CV population is around 71,000, but that's grossly undercounted. It's widely known that there are nearly 300,000 Cabo Verdeans and their descendants in the Commonwealth.
of them live in Boston Brockton, Taunton, New Bedford, and on the Cape. Between the 1790s and 1850s, outward-bound Nantucket wheelships, stopped at the Cambridge Islands to recruit workers, and many returned to Nantucket. While many more Cape Verde enjoy New Burford, New Bedford, and Waleships, the catalyst, of Cabo Verdeans immigration to Massachusetts. Cabo Verdeans have served in every war since World War 1. My family's story began in Boston with my grandfather. Manuel Gonzalez Miranda, came to Boston to pursue the American dream in 1976 from the newly freed colony of Cabo Verde, on the West Coast of Africa after a war led by a Milka Cabral against the Portuguese colonial rule. With a full heart, and working hands, he came to build a foundation, working in a factory, preparing to and sending his family back home.
Our family came to the Dudley Triangle in the Roxbury community that was in transition, experiencing environmental injustices, redlining, and disinvestment, but is also transforming into a vibrant tapestry of people from different cultures. Two, there are two movies in a book called Streets of Hope about this neighborhood and the Duddy Triangle rebuilding the community after decades of injustice.3652 I bore witness to the people3654 of this community who literally re-imagined what our community could be and rose it from literally the ashes, reclaiming over 1400 parcels of vacant land for public goods. It is here that I learned about my own agency the power of hope and the power of possibility. It's that immigrant story and truly the Cabo Verdean story in the common that needs to be told. It needs to be remembered, and it needs to be preserved.
We see a nationwide trend of ethnic enclaves erasure across3683 this country as a result3685 of gentrification and displacement. That rings true here in the Commonwealth. But it's critical that our history and culture3691 be preserved and establishing the commission to initiate future development of a Cabo Verdean culture center where the Cabo Verdean culture and history will remain permanent and a permanent fixture in the Commonwealth is incredibly important. Thank you for your time today, and I would humbly ask the members of the committee, and then the chairs for a favorable report. Members of the committee, like, Kip Diggs are actually actually of Cabo Verdean descent, and so is Carol Dogherty. I see Representative, Worrell there who represents the largest Cabo Verdean community here in the Commonwealth. We have, 200-plus years of history, but we actually have culture and history today that needs to come alive we don't need just a Freedom Trail in Boston. We need things that share the cultural impact of other ethnic groups. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so3739 much, Senator Miranda. Surely representation matters, and your3743 testimony is compelling. I wanna offer an opportunity for anybody on the committee to ask a question or make comments? Yes. Please
We're almost I apologize.
SEN MORAN - So I see in that first Bill, it establishes five trustees for the creative space. I represent municipalities who currently have, trouble feeling committees and, appointed spots within their municipalities. So I'm wondering where the number five came from.
MIRANDA - It mostly came from the Mass Creative community that, suggested that we have five trustees, but as you know, Bills are a work in progress. We're having a press conference tomorrow and then, working within the communities that might shift and change. But normally, you want to have enough people to make decisions, but not too big so that decisions don't also get stuck in a pipeline. So I just think it was an arbitrary number, and trying to represent different regions of the Commonwealth.
MORAN - Then just one other question. I see that it's exempt from, taxes. I understand the reasoning behind that if it's coming into the municipality, but I'm wondering if there's any information on what that would look like for the municipalities if there would be some, that might be impacted by a significant loss of text revenue to the municipalities.
MIRANDA - So I'll get back with you. I work with my team to get you a concrete answer on that. You know, I didn't think about that question. I'm not prepared to answer it, but I'll get back to you on that because that's an important piece. Cities like Boston, you know, have a tax base that is incredibly diverse. You know, it's not like the colleges and the museums aren't paying their fair share yet. That's another, conversation to hear for another day. But I can imagine, you know, we have 351 Cities in Towns and for the 60 smallest, I'm wondering how that might impact. So thank you for that good question. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments or questions It's a Miranda. Thank you so much. It's always wonderful to see you even virtually, and thank you again for your strong advocacy and leadership.
SPEAKER19 - You're welcome. Thank you. Have a good day.
SPEAKER1 - You too.
Good morning.
SEN KENNEDY- SB 2190 - To your mark, to adult members of the committee. Thank you for allowing me to testify out of turn this morning. I'm here to offer testimony and support of Senate 2190 an Act establishing a program. For local art and community engagement, the Place Act is to dedicate funds to create and maintain public art in communities across Massachusetts. The Place Act codifies the process for commissioning public art, making it easier for cities and towns to in developing relevant and inclusive public art for all. As you move around the city of Worcester, you will see the bright colors the illustration of dreams and visions, images from our past, and the very best representation of our community. All this is reflected in the powwow community murals and art installations in our city. A similar story is being told in communities across the Commonwealth. Local Arts provide an opportunity to energize the quality of life for our residents, providing for cultural impression, and allowing our communities to engage, interact, and contribute in vibrant ways.
Art goes beyond beautifying our community. Engaging in the arts can offer positive interventions for overall mental health, both as a participant in an art project and as a participant in an audience viewing of our project. Additionally, involvement in the arts can improve academics for youth. For3993 example, according to a study conducted by the Arts Fund, students with higher risk factors for safety and success, who are involved in arts are 23% more likely to attend college than peers with low arts involvement. While students from under-invested neighborhoods with access to cultural resources score higher in math and English. An act establishing a program for local art and community engagement affirms the Commonwealth's commitment to public art.
By designating a percentage of construction costs on any Commonwealth-owned property, and new public construction projects exceeding $200,000 for a public art fund. Importantly, the Place Act creates a place commission, which will be required to convene local community advisory groups to ensure that commissioned public art projects reflect the culture and people where the public art is installed, thus ensuring that the dreamers the makers, the creators, and the builders in each of our communities, as well as other stakeholders lead the conversation on our installations. The time for this Bill is now, across the Commonwealth construction projects are underway, with many more scheduled to begin this year. With the Place Act, we have an opportunity to promote positive civic and educational outcomes and create vibrant and inclusive neighborhoods. Thank you again for your time. I urge the committee to report this Bill favorably. So much. Happy to answer any questions. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much, Senator. Are there any questions or comments?
MARK - I gave Representative Keefe a lot of credit for getting me on board as a co-lead, but, just wanted to note, honored to back4101 you up on this Bill. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER3 - Thank you, Senator, Mark, and thank you, Representative Keith, for your leadership on this bill.
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions from the committee? Senator Kenny, thank you so much. Thanks for making time. I'm throwing a busy day to stop by.
Are you here virtually?
Madeline Monroe.
Al Wilson.
K. We'll continue. Kate Gilbert.
SPEAKER21 - I'm here. I'm here. I'm not towing Monroe. Sorry.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Okay. Please. I don't see you on the screen, but I hear you so that and that's good enough for me. Please, share us share your test with us, and there'll be a 3 minute clock that will show up on the screen to help you guide your time.
MATOWEE MONROE - UNITED AMERICAN INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND - HB 3248 - SB 2186 - Thank you so much. My name is Matowee Monroe. I am, a Lakota woman, and I am co-leader of the United American Indians of New England. I am testifying today in support of H 3248, S 2186, and to protect Native American heritage. On behalf of our organization, we're asking that you be voted out of the committee favorably. You know, in thinking about how to speak to you about this Bill, I think non-native people often are not aware of the grief that stalks indigenous people because sacred items and the remains and belongings of our ancestors have been mistreated are bought and4208 sold on open markets are hidden away by collections and4214 institutions alike, and are not returned to tribal communities, even decades after the Native American graves protection and repatriation Act was passed. So as painful as this is, I want you to imagine that your grandmother, was taken away from her family and forced to attend a boarding school run by the government where her hair was cut off and she was beaten for speaking her own language.
Decades later in 2022, you find out through a newspaper article that your grandmother's hair is part of a collection of native children's hair that has been sitting around unnoticed and unacknowledged at Harvard's pivoting museum. Or imagine that your great-grandfather was killed by the US Army, and his head was taken by army surgeons for supposed academic studies of skulls, that are intended to prove that white4276 people are more intelligent than4278 other people. Soldiers also cut off his braids as a trophy. Stripped your great grandfather's moccasins from his feet, took his personal shield, and his headdress with eagle feathers. Imagine you, his descendant, then see these items these ancestors being put for being put up for auction by an auction house or being sold off by a library that wants to earn some money by getting rid of these items in their collections.
Or imagine that a sacred ceremonial item was taken from your community and sits locked in someone's vault instead of being returned to your community where it belongs. All of these items we refer to as our ancestors, and it causes trauma to indigenous people when we cannot bring back our ancestors to our families communities, and homelands in a culturally appropriate way. Today, we ask that Massachusetts do everything it can to end this trauma. United American Indians of New England support this Bill that would patch a hole in the 1990 Niagara and prevent private institutions from being able to retain and sell native remains. In addition, we would like the legislature to consider strengthening the provisions of4364 NACRA in the state to help expedite the disgraceful failure of institutes institutions such as Harvard to return remains decades after NACRA was passed. Thank you so much.
DOMB - Thank you so much. I have a couple of questions. First of all, I want to make sure that you submit written testimony to the committee in addition to your verbal testimony. You can elaborate on some of your points if you'd like. Could you describe for us the extent to which you anticipate that this sort of transaction or, removal of, sacred objects happens in Massachusetts?
MONROE - I would say that the removal of, these ancestors has been commonplace ever since Europeans arrived here.
DOMB - So you anticipate that it's happening right now. It's presently happening. It's not whatever is happening. Has happened in the past and it's being carried forward, but it's an active sort of, transaction that is going to?
MONROE - I4430 would say that the issue that we're addressing right now is that ancestors continue to be held4436 and sold off and I'd like to and there's no way to stop it when it's a private institution, such as a library, for instance. I'd like to refer your question if I may to Jean-Luc Pierit, who is in the room with you right now, though. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Sure. I think that person may be scheduled to speak. So that that'll happen. Thank you so much. Are there any other questions or comments from the committee? Thank you so much for your moving testimony.
So let's call Jean Luc Pande. I think he said. Thank you. And you can say what you were going to say, and then you can follow-up if you'd like on what was asked.
JEAN-LUC PIERITE - NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN CENTER OF BOSTON - HB 3248 - SB 2186 - Sure. Thank you so much for this opportunity. To address the joint committee. My name is Jean Peritz. Currently living in Hyde Park. I am president of the board of directors for the North American Indian Center of Boston and Jamaica plane. Also, I'm currently an MLK visiting scholar at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. I'm speaking today in favor of S 2186, H 3248, an Act to protect Native American heritage, and I, just want to, use my time to kind of build off of some of the ideas that Matowee Monroe brought to the table talking about the case within, the barrier museum and the return of the objects that were, acquired after Whitney talking about the hair samples over at Harvard, coming from children at, at residential and boarding schools here with the United States.
You know, this is personal for me because the story of my family, the story of my tribe, is that, in 1969, our ancestral village was raided, it was a grave robber who excavated the village, and there were, the largest cash of, Indian trade goods that was leased to the Harvard Peapet Museum and stayed out of tribal custody for over 20 years. That's part of that, the case is what led to the Native Graves Protection Repatriation Act. So there are a couple of loopholes that we're trying to close here. Number one,4582 NACRA only applies to those who, receive federal funding. Number so that that's, the rationale for having all public entities included within this. The case of Harvard actually points to the fact that even though NACRA set a deadline for inventories of sacred objects in human remains to be done with, by the mid-nineties.
It took decades in order for some of the transparency in these collections to happen. So we don't necessarily know what exactly is at these publicly funded entities. We just know that as these stories come out, they, you know, will continue to get some more consciousness about what exactly is there. But the Bill itself is actually meant to intervene at the point of deacquisition. So when the publicly funded entity moves to deacquisition whatever the objects are in the case of the Metford Public Library in 2018, it kind of sparked, the Bill being filed in the first place. They actually, sent their objects from the McCall nation to the skinner auctioneers here in Boston. So we saw that as an indicator of a loophole, and we worked with artists, archivist curators to kind of say like, okay, well, what we can do, we can't just have, a state-level knack like California has. What we can do is just intervene at the part of the acquisition. So that's the rationale behind the Bills.
DOMB - Thank you. I'm sorry that that cut you off because this is very informative. Are there any comments or questions? So, if I may, is there also a need then to get an inventory of4686 what's out there to be able to track it in terms of this timeline for de-acquisition?
PIERITE - Yes. I wanted to just, you know, again, go back to, like, the consultation that we had with artists and archivists and, and so forth. So, you know, definitely, we want to make sure that we're that we get that, point of the acquisition. In this case, this would scale out to a body, of laws that we can price sort of a state-level NAC growth, as I said, California has. But we definitely want to make sure that we're taking one option off the table when it comes to deaquisitioning those sacred objects. Don't send them to the auction. So that's the only thing that we're asking for right now. There is a longer-term conversation in terms of capacity building for, institutions in terms of doing inventories and having the technical assistance in terms of repatriation. But you know, right now, we're just trying to intervene at the point of it on deacquisition. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. I hope you'll also submit your testimony as you are able to. Absolutely. Any other questions? Thank you so much. Extremely informative. Thank you.
SPEAKER22 - Thank you, Jeremiah. Thank you. Chanel?
SPEAKER1 - Al Wilson.
Okay. Kate Gilbert. Thank you.
Good morning.
KATE GILBERT - NOW & THERE - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Good morning. Thank you, for letting me address this joint committee to Representative Keefe, Representative, Labrino Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, Senator Mark, and, Mass Creative for developing and preventing the Police Act, an important program that makes it easier for cities and towns across the Commonwealth's to develop life-affirming public art. I'm Kate Gilbert. I'm the founder and executive director of Now and There. We are a temporary public art organization, in the city of Boston. I'm an artist myself. I've had 10 studios in 20 years, so all of these issues are very important to me. But I'm really here because I am the unwittingly, unknowingly product of public art. It's4822 had a profound impact on me and my life and my here. You see, I grew up the child of the 1970s. We were going everywhere trying to find free things to do, including maybe trespassing on a foundry. As a child around 1978, driving into our parking lot in Hampton, Connecticut, where we did our grocery shopping, we experienced James Wines ghost parking lot.
These are cars that looked as if they were coming out of the asphalt or covered in asphalt. I remember vividly sitting in the back seat and hearing my father get very upset that they had covered these old classic cards and asphalt. My mom, in the same way, got so excited about the conversation of the environment that this work was yes. So this is how I experienced public art. I thought it was accessible. I could touch it. It got people really excited. It was big. It was free. It was for me. In my community. So fast forward to, 2015, I started now and there was sheer frustration that we didn't have enough representations of who we are as Bostonians, and what we could do together. To date, we've created 38 projects within the city of Boston Limits, we're finding that when we co-curate with artists who have extraordinary vision and communities who have equally strong commitments and compelling ideas about how to make their neighborhoods more vibrant and contemporary, we find great success.
We're seeing our spaces are changing. They're becoming more equitable and vibrant. We're also seeing that it's making an impact on permanent works to come down the line. They're more representative of who we are as Bostonians. An example lies in Charlestown with LotLab, a public art program that uses vacant lots to put up. We now have four projects, all by women, 11 free events, reductions, and family activities, and we're demonstrating to the National Park Service what a welcoming center can be. The Commonwealth has extremely talented artists and communities. They just need a little lip. Public art is really challenging. If we give them support through this Bill, we will be able to not only challenge norms but affirm our values. A Bill like this was a more public art that opened minds, conversations, and spaces. I strongly recommend the Place Act. I am here to be a resource for any of the committees or groups that need to form this, and to make sure that public art is equitable across the4965 entire commonwealth. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much for your testimony. Any comments or questions from my colleagues? Nope. Thank you. Thanks for your patience too. Molly Williams, are you here?
Peter Demora.
PETER DIMURO - THE DANCE COMPLEX - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. It'd be a citizen, guest, among you. I had some other notes, but I think it is a great privilege to go after Mike Collins and Creative and the other panel. So I don't have to do the exposition like we were setting up a play or something like that. Peter Dimuro, I'm an executive artistic director at the Dance Complex in Central Square Cambridge, I am over a 30-year-old inclusion, but dances happened on that land. With Wampanoag in Massachusetts, indigenous peoples and through the odd fellows who built a beautiful, his now historic landmark building. But I'm also an artist. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to, present work on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. My father was a street club from East Boston, Brooklyn Orient Heights, we moved to Illinois in my youth. When I came back to Boston the first time, I, we we those highways above where the parkway is now, but, it was an amazing feat yesterday to be a mature artist at 64 years old. To have lived this life as an artist and, make something about my heritage, the Italian feast days that happened in the north end.
As well as my artists, to our ages 20 to 72 in the core company, calling upon their ancestors to make this work. I bring this up because I left Boston in the 1980s because I felt there was a ceiling, a wrap-around of what I could do and what I could accomplish at that time. I intended to be away for three years, and I spent 20 years away. I came back to a really wonderful and vibrant area of the city, Boston and Cambridge and now I'm here at the Stance complex, which is, if you don't know the building itself, we're a host through about 120 classes a week. 60 to 70, teaching artists per week in workshops from all over the world. Every dance from every culture is represented here. I say this because we think of dance as, one thing that, we grew up with, the disco era, or whatever we grew up with, rolling up the rug in our kitchens and dancing with our families.
We have that from seven different African countries and all of, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and parts of Asia, and people come to5133 us to preserve the legacy of what they've made with their families and those histories We're also making new dances by holding hands with people and making the dance that we couldn't make without each other present. These kinds of things are very important, as we look at legacy. It's not only the building, but it's the history of our people inside this nonverbal communication. Each of the creative ways that you found to get here through the traffic today, was an artistic solution. It was choreography, and I assure you that's the kind of thinking that we were trying to share with the Commonwealth, all citizens deserve creativity, not only dance, special art, as has been said, but it's been an amazing privilege to bring dance to, our world. I hope these Bills, that we're talking about today will help all of us be more dimensional creative citizens. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. And thanks for saying that we're all creative. Please sit and we may have comments or questions. Are there any comments or questions from the committee? Okay. Thank you. You wanna
SPEAKER24 - dance less than I can do that.
SPEAKER1 - We're good. I mean, if you wanna dance away from the table, you're welcome. As I turn around. I'm not gonna stand in
Claudia Zarazua from virtually, I think. Yes. There you are. Claudia, good good morning.
SPEAKER25 - Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes. We can. Welcome. Hi.
SPEAKER25 - Can you hear me?
CLAUDIA ZARAZUA - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Hello, Chair Mark Chair, Domb, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to share my support for the Creative Space Preservation Act. My name is Claudia Sarah Sewer, and I live in Cambridge. I worked with Peter and Annis, before, I was the Arts and Cultural Planning director for the city of Cambridge. The city where the affordability crisis is acute, and if you attended our recent open studios weekend, you may have known this too. Most of our emerging artists are working primarily from home from their place of residence and don't have access to proper workspace. In addition, more than 80 cultural organizations that call Cambridge home are struggling to keep up with building costs, and are at risk of displacement.
Cambridge values the creative sector as it amplifies the stories of underrepresented communities, encourages social resilience, celebrates cultural diversity, supports democracy, and brings joy to residents. This Bill would allow Cambridge to establish a trust to hold funding or property to use for the preservation or construction of artists' studios, rehearsal spaces, cultural, and nonprofit spaces, dance studios, and performance venues. To propose actions under this Act, does not have any financial costs to this state, but will have a profound impact on the preservation of creative space in communities like Cambridge. Massachusetts is at a crucial choice point when it comes to its creative sector without affordable spaces for artists, creative workers, and culture groups to create and perform, they will leave. We are already seeing that in Cambridge. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Do we have any comments or questions5338 from the committee? Nope. Thank you very much.
Matt McArthur. Are you with us virtually?
SPEAKER26 - Yes. I am. Good morning.
SPEAKER1 - Good morning. I think maybe wanna say hello. Just can you hear if we can hear you?
SPEAKER26 - Testing 1 too. Can everybody hear me? Yes. Go for it. Fabulous. Very good morning to you.
MATT MCARTHUR - THE RECORD CO. - HB 3241 - SB 530 -Chair Dom, Chair Mark, and members of the joint committee. Very grateful to be here and for the opportunity to share support for H 3421 and S 530. My name's Matt McCarthy. I'm a resident of the Roxbury Neighborhood of Boston, and I direct a Dorchester-based non-profit community music workspace called The Record Co. We build and operate accessible community space for the creation of music. You can think of it as a record co. like a community center, but instead of a pool, leave a bunch of recordings in the personal studios. If you're interested in basketball and you're trying to find your people, Mark Ramirez Park and jump in. If you Matt, I see. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Matt, is either a dream a little bit, I think. Yeah. Give me 1 minute. Can you hear me now? Coming in. There's a lot of static.
SPEAKER26 - Alright. Can you hear me now?
SPEAKER1 - Much better. Thank you.
Yes. Please hear me5426 now. Yes. - I can't hear you, but if you can hear me, I saw a thumbs up. Wonderful. Oh my goodness. Thank you all. So I can't hear you, but I'm gonna go ahead and talk.
MCARTHUR - So Record Co, the organization I operate in Dorchester is like a community center, but instead of a pool, we have a bunch of recording and rehearsal studios. If you're interested in basketball, you're trying to find your people, you'd walk over a park and you jump into a pickup game. If music is the way you choose to express yourself and you're trying to find your people, then that's what the record coast for. You come to us in Dorchester. I'm very proud to share that we now host more than 1,000 affordable reservations for the creation of music by more than 35,100 unique music makers every month. Additionally, as of March of this year, we operate a temporary 35,000-square-foot 90-studio facility in Dorchester as well. Which was a crisis intervention responding to the displacement of more than 500 musicians from a warehouse building in Alston at the end of last year.
As a musician myself who learned early in my career that I was better at facilitating the art of others than I wasn't making art, I often get asked why I do this. Why is this important? Music is a deep and ancient form of human expression. You go into a 5,000-year-old cave that no one has been in for 1,000 years, and on the wall, you find how to catch food and on the floor below that painting, you find a flute. Like, we humans have been doing this. Have been creative together for a long time. It's woven into the fabric of who we are. It's not just as5509 people individually, but also as a civilization. That sounds super dramatic,5513 but, all of us here5515 today have a responsibility to ensure that human creative expression doesn't end with us. I'm just heartened to share them the 12 years that I've been doing this. Myself, our board, our staff, our donors, our community members. We've all been fighting to5529 create space for music makers to express themselves and to make creative work.
This problem has gotten worse, at that time. It's not better. For-profit real estate development continues to create intense pressure that displaces creative workers and other critical community space uses, to ensure that our cities and our state can continue to attract and retain the creativity that makes Massachusetts a place that people actually want to live. We must now build new methodologies and create new tools to preserve creative space. That's exactly what these two Acts do. H 3241 and S 530. They expand on the tools we have to keep music makers, painters, sculptors, dancers, writers, poets, all the makers that make our state great to keep these people here in Massachusetts, with so many pressing social issues to and involve competing priorities. It can be tempting to think that these kinds of5580 things are a drop in the ocean, but I cannot say emphatically5582 enough these Bills are a big deal. They will make a difference for thousands and thousands of people across the state. Thanks for the opportunity to share testimony, and thank you for your consideration of these critical pieces of legislation. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. I don't know5595 if you can hear me. But I'm sorry.
SPEAKER26 - I can't hear you. Let me see if I can figure that out.
SPEAKER1 - Can you hear me now? Hello?
Yes.
If we have send them to you in email,
Thank you.
Thank you. We're gonna go5630 on to the next person. Hope Green, are you with us virtually?
SPEAKER27 - Yes. I am.
SPEAKER1 - Great. Great. Welcome. Thank you. Please be in it. Again, it is. Yes. You're testing.
HOPE GREEN - WESTERN AVENUE COMMUNITY FOR ARTS OF LOWELL, MA - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you. Hello, Chair Mark, Chair Domb, and members of the committee. Thank you for your time and your attention today. My name is Hope Green, and I'm testifying on behalf of Western Avenue Community for the Arts of Lowell,5660 Massachusetts, where I serve as executive director and work as a visual artist. I'm here to share our strong support for H 3241 and S 530, the Creative Space Preservation Act. Western Avenue is one of5675 the largest artists communities in the country. We have 250 work-only studios and 50 live work-artist lofts. For 16 years, we were under private ownership of Carl Fry who developed an old textile mill complex into an arts community. Last year, The Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston purchased Western Avenue in order to preserve it beyond the lifetime of a single owner. Western Avenue's preservation is a success story in a sea of the uncertainty and loss that so many other artists in the region are facing.
We put out a survey this spring to our 368 artists and creative entrepreneurs asking what they value5714 most about being at Western Avenue. The three answers that overwhelm all the others were that the space is affordable, the space is permanent, and they are in a community that values and understands the work they do. Not eking space wherever they can find it. A safe creative home is a powerful thing, and I am honored to work to maintain it for our 368 artists. I'm here, and I'm speaking for the 75 to 85 artists who contact us each month looking for a safe, creative home, but we are always full and always have a waitlist. The creative campus arm of the Arts And Business Council is actively looking to preserve more artist space, but the crisis of affordable artist space is larger than any one of us and is going to require multiple parties and multiple strategies to solve.
The Creative Space Preservation Act has the potential to help. Not only does it give cities and towns, tools to join in solving this problem with us. But from my particular perspective, I'm encouraged by the way it brings creative space and affordable housing into the same conceptual family together as protected space. We hear get a very strong, consistent call for affordable live work artist space. If protections could overlap, That seems to me to have really exciting possibilities for solving these problems. Thank you to everyone who's working to solve the puzzle of the creative space crisis for people who took the time today. Thank you to Representative Cahill and Senator Miranda for sponsoring this Bill, and5812 to5812 Senator Kennedy for his consistent support of Western Avenue. Finally, I just want to give my unending gratitude and admiration to every artist who refuses to give up in the face of this crisis. Thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. We're gonna have any questions. Any comments or questions for the commission? Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER27 - Barbara
SPEAKER1 - Mangum, Are you with us virtually?
Steve Maller. Out there's Barbara Mango.
Barbara, are you with us?
Steve Maller.
K. Oh, to try Al Wilson 1 more time in person? Nope. Okay. Marth, we have a it looks to me like These are individuals. Not a problem. Martha Chasten Soekel?
1
Can you
SPEAKER28 - hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yeah. A little louder. Maybe he's microphone closer. Okay.
MARTHA CHASON-SOKOL - ARTS FOR EVERRET - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Hello, Chair Mark, Chair Domb, and members of the committee for the opportunity to share my support for the5920 Space Act. My name is Martha Chason-Sokol, and I live in Everett. I am a practicing artist and the founder and director of Arts for Everett, a nonprofit art space. I moved to Everett more than three years ago into a space that has become my home, my sculpture studio, and the location of arts for Everett. I was downstairs working on what was to become an art lab in Everett. In the studio upstairs was my sculpture, Venus Grouty, a piece made of empty prescription pill bottles held together with clear plastic packing tape. The contractors approached me as they walked past in notice, and noted, we didn't know you could put medicine bottles in a sculpture. It was a moment of genuine growth and learning inspired by community art. This sentiment is persistent in my studio, as Arts for Everett has grown, students young and old are inspired by the work because it shows them what art can be. This is why I bring art and arts experiences into public spaces in my community practice as the founder of Arts for Everett. The presence of public art is revitalizing. It creates community brings visibility to what is invisible and inspires joy and understanding.
When I come across a mural or street painting unexpectedly, it brings me great happiness and often teaches me something about who lives in the neighborhood. In conversation with Everett City officials, I was told that negotiating with developers to create space or artwork is impossible. We are surrounded by cities and towns that find ways to create amazing public art. Everett residents deserve the same access to art as our neighbors, and our officials deserve the tools to negotiate for that access on our behalf. This Bill is especially valuable to our state because it prioritizes work by Massachusetts artists. Rixie, an artist connected to Everett has worked on murals locally and Internationally, the place act can bring artists like Rixie together with students to create public art leaving behind monuments to their heritage, showing them that they too can build a future. Each art is that fund is a touchstone to culture. As we continue to develop and redevelop towns and cities, it is important that we proactively plan for and around art spaces. This work will remain essential in capturing our stories and representing our diverse communities I strongly encourage the committee to report the place Act favorably of the committee and support its passage this session. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Are there any questions or comments from caregivers? Thank you. Thank you for testimony. Kathy McCain, Are you with us virtually?
SPEAKER29 - Yes. I am.
SPEAKER1 - Terrific. Thank you. Please share your testimony with us.
SPEAKER29 - Alright. Thank you. Cheers, Marks and Dom. And thank you to my legislators, wrapped up the, and Senator Villas, and my friend, Senator Olivera.
Do you see the Moose? Is it where is a sentence and a question that I have heard over and over in the last year from people in the city of Hyoke? I'm not something that I necessarily would have heard downtown. It is, however, a large moose on the side of a building, a mural made by artists. One of six last year. This year, who is that guy? And then who is John Brown? Curious children and adults. Want to know who is that guy, and a conversation begins about abolitionists.
KATHY MCKEANE - HOLYOKE ART - HB 3241 - SB 530 - I am Kathy McKeane, the executive director of a new organization, Holyoke Art. Our mission is to assist community groups with public events and civic engagement. So it is not surprising that I am speaking to you today in support of the Place Act. Last year, Hoyoke, was6205 the site of a wave of public art. Thank you beyond walls. Al Wilson and the team there, and Chloe Soto, and the folks at Nueva Esperanza. The civic engagement specialists also known as mural artists, including Alexis Diaz from Puerto Rico. Case MacLean from Germany. Clio from Columbia. BK Fox from New York City, Claudio Picasso from Chile. And Betsy Casanas from Puerto Rico. All of these folks, plus about seven more this year have helped to bring public art to the building walls of Holyoke, and have drawn people to go exploring in areas that they may not have. It is a great testament to civic engagement. I urge you, to vote favorably about this Place Act and hope that we will all be able to enjoy the future with public art. Thank you.6292 SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. And as someone who drives through the city of Holyoke, often as a visitor, I get to also enjoy the public art as I'm driving by. So for tourism, Wanna also note that there's a visitor component that even if you're driving by, you get to enjoy it. Are there any questions or comments from the committee. Thank you so much for your testimony.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER - SB 2192 - Thank you very much. I appreciate just breezing in and having my testimony given. It's that's extraordinary. Much appreciated. Thank you, my colleague, Ripone, and Senator Mark, much appreciated, and committee members as well. I'm, here to testify in support of briefly in support of, Senate Bill 2192, which is a Bill filed by Senator Miranda, our former colleague in the House. The Bill is, an Act or resolves to establish a Massachusetts Cabo Verde Cultural Center. I am a Cape Verdian on my father's side. His family comes from the in, the Cape Verde Islands. I had the pleasure of traveling with folks from Bridgewater State University, the Institute for Cabo Verdian Studies there, early in December with a group of my colleagues and others particularly a delegation of officials from the city of Brockton, actually, to, meet officials to talk about relationships that should exist between and among the especially us in southeastern Massachusetts and the Cabo verdian, islands.
There happened to be more Cabo Verdians residing in the United States than there are on the islands of Capeford, which is kind of interesting. I'm imagining that when Senator Miranda tested, two at, her testify tour, Bill. She probably said that there are 70,000 plus Cape verdians here in Massachusetts alone. It is the largest voluntary migration that exists across the United States. There is the the largest population of those 70,000 are in Southeastern Massachusetts with 19,000 plus people in Brockton. 13,000 in Boston and skipping over New Bedford to Tonton. There are 28100 people in my district in the city of Tonton. So it is really important, I think, for the Cabo Verdian community in their migration, to our state to be recognized, very keenly, in that way. I and, it was Xavier who established a Cabo Verdian and Cultural Institute in Falmouth, a very robust, cultural center there, and he's very proud of that. I think that we can do the same in support of the cultural center here in the city of Boston.
We wish it were in Taunton, but we'll come and we'll, we'll visit. The future of a Cabo Verde center in the city of Boston is really critical, as I've said, to the diaspora who continue to migrate here to the city of Taunton. Bridgewater has made, an extraordinary effort to bring education not only to the islands in Cape Verde, but also to sponsor students who will come to Bridgewater, and there's a nice relationship that exists between and among the people in Capeford and the people here in Massachusetts through the university. I know that President Clark will support this, an effort to create a cultural, center in the city of Boston I certainly support that, that you will report this legislation favorably so that we can begin the investigation of the possibility of establishing that cultural center here in respect for the Cabo Verdian community coming to Massachusetts. So I thank you very much for the opportunity. I hope for a favorable recommendation. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Let's see. We have any comments or questions from the committee. Thank you so much, Brett.
SPEAKER30 - You're entirely welcome.
SPEAKER1 - We're going to go virtually to Elizabeth to Blank. Are you with us
k. We're gonna go back and see if Barbara Mangum is here virtually. I see it. Yep.
Okay. Uh-uh. There is that for a random?
SPEAKER31 - Yes. Hi. This is Barbara Mangum. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER1 - Yes. Please share your testimony with us.
BARBARA MANGUM - SOMERVILLE MUSEUM - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Yes. Thank you very much for allowing me to share this with you. I am Barbara Mangum. I am involved in the arts in a number of ways. I'm an art conservator with a studio at Joy Street Studios in Somerville. I'm also president of the board of the Somerville Museum. I meet with, quite a number of other arts organizations in Somerville, and one of our hot topics is what to do about the loss of affordable art space. This is a continuing issue for us, and it has major implications for Somerville as a creative city. I just wanted to say that I was very happy to see in, one of the Bills for setting aside funds for, the trust fund that it included maintenance. As an art conservator, often I find that maintenance is neglected. If you really want to keep the meaning and aesthetics of the artwork alive, you do need to maintain it.
Joyce Street has been bought by a developer. This is where I have my studio. So far, they have not developed it, however, they are clearly going to. They paid 22,000,000 for the building. It looks as if it may even just become a four-story garage. But for right now, I have to say that it's a community I like the idea of the trust fund because you could build a community with those funds, not just a single studio space somewhere tucked in one corner of a new development, but it's very important that these studio buildings like these old warehouses and all, that that you recognize that they provide a community for artists. They would share equipment. They have freight elevators. They have fire suppression, which, again, private, artists at their home usually cannot afford. So, for safety reasons, I think it's really important. That's all I want to say. I just am very happy to see these bills the two Bills about placements making and the trust fund coming into being. I'm very excited that you're taking this up today. Thank you so very much. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions or comments from the committee? Thank you. Thank you for your patience also in hanging in there. Jeff Grant.
Yeah. Good morning.
SPEAKER32 - I've got.
JEFF GRANT - CONCERNED CITIZEN - HB 3241 - SB 530 - Thank you to the committee for, allowing me the opportunity to come here today and to present. I'm going to present more so, I guess personally as a creative, artist and, provocateur, I guess, in the Boston area. I've been hosting a festival called the Illuminous Festival since 2014. When I came to Boston, I moved here from Providence, Rhode Island, a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, and of course, I was, straddling, or that decision between do I come to Boston or do I come to New York. I came here, but I was producing festivals in New York all the time, and we were, having these large-scale public art activations in public space using light and projection, and we were, projecting onto city spaces and trying to activate them with any means we had So those festivals attracted tens of thousands of people, and yet it came back to Boston. In 2014, we embarked on an endeavor to do those activations here. For me, it was it was tremendous because what transpired was that I met the creative communities in Boston, and the neighborhoods behind them. But, a lot of, the energy went into creating a demonstration of the city's creative capacity, and people came out in droves. I mean, I can't even describe you the first year in 2014. We had 20,000 people show up in the south end of Boston.
The second year, we took over Lance Down Street. Again, it was an opportunity simply to transform space through the eyes of local artists and give them a platform and some, resources to kind of reinvent the city even if just for one night through the lens of an artist, and then 40,000 people showed up. In our last event, we had 125,000 people show up in two days. It's just the thing that people said the most, I can't believe this is Boston when they came out and they saw these things. I saw that as both a positive and a negative. The positive is that people were surprised that we had this capacity ourselves to do these types of trans-formative activations. Then a little bit, sad that we didn't have the resources earlier on or better resources to kind of support these things that happen. I support both of these Acts. I think the creative, spaces Act in particular, what we talk about is murals on a wall in the things that beautify our cities, but what we're not talking about is actually these creative spaces are where the collective efficacy of our communities are strengthened by bringing people together through the process to through art to have conversations that absolutely cannot be had in6953 any other context. Right now6955 with our social fabric being sprayed as it is,6957 we need these opportunities and we need the space to do it in. So thank you. SHOW NON-ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE
SPEAKER1 - Thank you so much. Are there any questions or comments Thank you. Thanks for your testimony. This is the last call for these folks who have signed up to test it. I'm just gonna read your name. If your online. I hope you'll raise your hand and put on your camera so we know you're here. Al Wilson
Malik Williams.
Elizabeth to blank. And anyway. And
I think that's it. Anybody? Okay. So having exhausted the sign up list, we're coming7007 to the end before we sign off. I would be remiss if I didn't thank LIS for arranging for us to do a virtual public hearing. I'm thrilled. I'm sure I speak for everybody on the committee, especially my co chair, since we both come from Western Mass, that, virtual hearings is where it's at. We were able to hear from people from the Cape, as well as, North Hampton. And, that happens because we are having cameras in our in these hearings. So thank you LIS for making that possible. I also wanna thank the court officers for making it all possible and always being available to us. And I think if we're not taking any action on these bills, we should move to a motion to adjourn. Do I hear such a renewed? Do I hear a second? 2nd. Okay. There we go. Well, those in favor, say, ah, All those opposed say nay. The eyes have it. The hearing is adjourned. Thank you, everybody, for coming out, sharing your concerns with us. Hello?
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