We’re looking for artists, cultural organizations, and creative businesses across disciplines to join us as featured exhibitors and performers during the 2026 Creative Sector Day at the State House on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

Creative Sector Day at the State House is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions that artists, creatives, sector leaders, and cultural organizations make in Massachusetts. Throughout the day, we will stage performances, displays, and demonstrations by members of the creative sector in the Great Hall and the Grand Staircase areas of the State House. Performances and displays will be open to the public from 1 - 3 PM and all selected participants will receive a $300 stipend for their work.

Only Massachusetts-based artists, cultural organizations, and creative businesses are eligible to apply to perform or exhibit at Creative Sector Day.

Applications will be reviewed and selected by an advisory group consisting of artists residing in Massachusetts. The deadline to submit a RFP is Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 at 5 PM.

Review the proposal guidelines and apply here.

Advocacy for the creative sector can’t be limited to one day or just at the State House. We want to bring Advocacy Week to as many artists and creatives as possible through local activations, but we need your help.

We’re looking for organizers to host local events and activities in the weeks leading up to, during, and after Advocacy Week. Past events have included letter writing campaigns before theater performances, roundtables with elected officials, art making for community change, 24-hour livestreams and webinars with sector leaders, and teach-ins on policies affecting the creative sector. You can organize an event solo or in coalition with other people in your community.

Send us your ideas by Friday, January 30th at 5 PM to have your activation added to our statewide directory.

Learn more about local activations on our blog.

MASSCreative is hosting several trainings in early 2026 to help you make the most of Advocacy Week. Join us for these events:

Art & Democracy: Where We Are and Where We’re Going - Wednesday, January 21st at 12 PM

REGISTER HERE

The “Art & Democracy” webinar is a crash course in arts policy and legislative advocacy. In this webinar, we’ll cover topics like:

• The structures of federal, state, and local government, and who you should go to in order to for effective advocacy;

• The relationship between art and activism;

• Key arts and cultural advocacy priorities for Massachusetts in 2026; and

• Ways that individuals and organizations can take meaningful action to advance those priorities.

Activating Your Community - Tuesday, January 27th at 1 PM

REGISTER HERE

In this webinar, we’ll explore different ways that you can organize your community before Advocacy Week 2026. We’ll talk about:

• Organizing legislative breakfasts, coffee hours, town halls, and other events;

• Understanding available tools and resources for organizing these events; and

• Laying the groundwork for long-term advocacy impact.

How Nonprofits Can (and Can’t) Lobby and Advocate - Thursday, February 12th at 12 PM

REGISTER HERE

Nonprofit organizations, and the people who run them, are trusted community and civic leaders. Often, nonprofits will opt out from advocacy and lobbying out of an assumption that they cannot legally participate in these activities.

501(c)(3) nonprofits are allowed to advocate and lobby on issues and legislation that impact their organizations and the communities they serve, but there are clear guidelines around which activities are permissible and what’s not allowed by the IRS.

This webinar is designed for nonprofit leaders to better understand what they can and can’t legally do when it comes to lobbying and advocacy, so that they can take on greater leadership roles within the sector.

*Is there a training you’d like to see us organize? Let us know what would be helpful to you and the organizers you work with!

Letters to the editor (LTEs) and opinion editorials (op-eds) are free and direct ways of communicating with a lot of people about cultural policy issues and things that are impacting your creative community. Authoring a LTE or op-ed is an effective way to attract a larger audience to your issue and sustain conversations about your given priority.

Creative Sector Advocacy Week is a great time to submit a LTE or op-ed about your cultural policy priorities. Think about the kind of impact we could have during Advocacy Week if advocates submitted letters to newspapers throughout Massachusetts!

Get involved with Creative Sector Advocacy Week by submitting a LTE or op-ed to your local publication. Visit our blog to review the LTE and op-ed guide.

We will need volunteers to help execute Creative Sector Day at the State House on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Let us know if you’re interested in volunteering!

Pulling off a statewide advocacy week and related programming takes significant staff time and resources. Consider supporting this project by sponsoring local Advocacy Week events and Creative Sector Day at the State House.

Learn more about Creative Sector Advocacy Week sponsorship opportunities here.

Creative Sector Advocacy Week 2025 was made possible thanks to the support of our sponsors at the Mass Cultural Council, The Boston Foundation, Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Empower, Essex County Community Foundation, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, and the SouthCoast Community Foundation.