By Alex Eng, deputy city editor
More than 600 artists, activists and local leaders advocated for public funding of the arts amid federal threats to arts education programs at the Paramount Center in Downtown Crossing Tuesday.
The Arts Matter Advocacy Day, hosted by MASSCreative and Emerson College, was a day-long conference of speeches, workshops and training sessions calling for increased funding toward public arts and education programs.
“Masschussetts-ans [sic], or whatever we call ourselves, and every American, has a right to arts, culture and creativity,” said ArtsEmerson Executive Director David Howse. “Today, we stand and lift our voices to say arts matter to all of us.”
Speakers highlighted the urgency of protecting public arts programs after President Donald J. Trump proposed March 15 to eliminate funding for federal agencies that fund the arts, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The three organizations fund statewide arts programs, including 400 nonprofit arts, humanities and science organizations and local cultural councils’ arts programs. They also provide invaluable educational experiences to young people despite how lowly Trump’s administration prioritizes the arts, speakers said at the event.
“We, as the arts and art education community, need to continue to push to change the narrative on how we talk about arts education,” said Boston Public Schools (BPS) Executive Director for the Arts Myran Parker-Brass. “There should no longer ever be a question about the importance of quality arts education in the lives of our students, schools and communities.”
Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) Vice-Chair Barbara Wallace Grossman said arts were undeniably important to American society as a whole.
“The arts aren’t nice. The arts aren’t frill,” Grossman said. “The arts are necessary. They are paramount to what it means to be a civilized, thinking, creative, engaged, committed, passionate, visionary country.”
Grossman also asked participants to push for their representatives to increase funding for the MCC by $2 million, to $16 million, which Grossman and other activists said would go a long way in promoting public arts projects and education programs.
After the program at the Paramount, participants marched alongside lively street bands to the State House to meet with their local representatives and share their personal stories of how arts education programs have impacted them.
Sara Stackhouse, theatre chair at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, spoke about how her middle school chorus program taught her to express herself.
“I learned that I was instantly part of a group, and I could be included,” Stackhouse said. “I learned that I could channel my big, big self into that chorus, and it was considered a contribution and not a problem.”
The program trained participants on how to engage with their local representatives, encouraging them to tell personal stories about how arts impacted their communities and ask their local leaders to commit to supporting the arts in both the state and federal governments.
According to a flyer circulated by MASSCreative, funding to those nonprofits would also provide thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for the state.
State Rep. Mary Keefe (D-Worcester) emphasized that besides their economic impact, the arts had significant educational and emotional influence on young people enrolled in public schools.
“Disappointment and what might seem like failures are really teachable moments, and that vulnerability is merely being human, something we all need to share and learn from,” Keefe said, highlighting how her previous experience as an art teacher showed her how arts education programs help young students develop into confident, independent thinkers.
Students enrolled in BPS, the Boston Arts Academy and colleges like Emerson, shared their personal stories on how arts education programs helped them grow as learned through speeches, spoken word performances or storytelling.
“Have you ever heard the truth of an artist?” said Nalany Guerrier, a freshman theatre major at the Boston Arts Academy, in a reading of her original poem. “It is their escape. It is the truth they are able to convey […] It is their truth, even under magical circumstances. It is our art.”
Alexis Maxwell, a sophomore theatre major at the Boston Arts Academy, said arts gave her not only motivation to attend school, but also encouragement to be original and creative.
“When my teacher gives us artistic leadership and allows us to create our own pieces, she is telling us that our ideas are valid and our creativity matters,” Maxwell said. “Every day, the love [of art] empowers. Like a flu, it is so contagious. The love of art is so amazing.”
