MASSCREATIVE ACTION NETWORK’S 2024 ELECTION DEBRIEF
On November 15, 2024, the MASSCreative Action Network (MCAN) hosted an election debrief with community organizing and policy experts to learn how 2024 federal and state-level election results will impact the creative sector in Massachusetts. We were joined by panelists Anthony Davis Jr., Errin Davis, Adam Hinds, and David Holland. The conversation was moderated by MASSCreative board member and Staff Specialist for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Babson College, Rodrigo Guerrero.
Please enjoy the recording from this event. You can find the links to mentioned resources and panelists’ biographies below.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
ABOUT OUR FEATURED PANELISTS:
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Davis is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Davis System, LLC. Recently named to Boston Magazine’s 150 Most Influential Bostonians, Davis has served as a political strategist and organizer with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and with a number of political campaigns.
Prior to starting The Davis System, Davis had the privilege of working on campaigns for a number of well-respected politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren; Senator Doug Jones; Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Congressman Joe Kennedy, Governor Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu, Candidate Ben Jealous, and Candidate Mike Espy. -
Errin Davis serves as the Chief Operations Officer at The Davis System, LLC, where she oversees major contracts and event management initiatives. A 2018 graduate of Salem State University with a B.S. in Business Administration, she was recognized as a Katzman’s Entrepreneurship Scholar. Her career spans various roles supporting elected officials, including Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, and State Representative Liz Miranda.
Davis's professional journey includes contributions to the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Boston Public Schools Office of Equity, Strategy & Opportunity Gaps, and Emerge Massachusetts. In 2024, she was honored in Salem State's 40 under 40 Alumni and was 1 of 50 to receive recognition for her contributions to the Massachusetts Caribbean Community. -
Adam has twenty-five years of experience working in US politics, government, and foreign affairs. He is currently the CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. Before joining the Institute, he spent six years as a Massachusetts State Senator where he Chaired the Committee on Revenue and led the Senate’s effort to rebuild the Commonwealth post-COVID. In 2021-2022 he was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.
From 2005 to 2014, Adam worked for the United Nations in the Middle East. He was based in Baghdad, Iraq where he was a team leader of a UN-led negotiation between the Kurdistan Region and the Government of Iraq over disputed territory. He was a regional advisor to the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in Jerusalem. He worked for former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish a ceasefire in Syria in 2012 and then was part of a team to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program.
Early in his career, Adam worked for former Congressman John Olver and was part of John Kerry’s campaign for President where he worked for Susan Rice, the head of his foreign policy team who later became the US National Security Advisor.
Adam attended Wesleyan University and received a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Adam is married to Dr. Alicia Mireles Christoff, Associate Professor of English at Amherst College, and they have two young children. -
David brings over 20 years of experience as a strategy consultant and leader in arts, culture, and the creative economy for nonprofits, higher education institutions, philanthropy, and businesses globally. As the Deputy Director at Creative West, he guides advocacy and public policy programs; leads external relations and fundraising; and spearheads consulting services to organizations throughout a region of 16 states and jurisdictions and nationally. Since joining Creative West, he has co-developed Creative West’s Pacific Initiative; co-designed Creative West’s Arts and the Rural West gathering; co-directed the development of the state of Washington’s Creative Economy Strategic Plan; launched and maintained the Creative Vitality™ Summit, a global conference on the creative economy; authored the Creative Economies and Economic Recovery report in partnership with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies; established the Western Arts Advocacy Network; developed relief, resilience, and other special grantmaking programs for artists and organizations in the West and the Pacific; joined the faculty of the National Leaders of Color Fellowship; and secured multi-million dollar private and public investment for Creative West’s programs.
David also serves as the Co-Chair of the Creative States Coalition, a national coalition of citizen advocacy groups and their partners. He previously served as associate director of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston. Other prior roles include leadership and senior management positions with VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation, VCU School of the Arts, ART 180, the Latin Ballet of Virginia, Arts & Business, and the UK innovation foundation Nesta. Holland also served as a senior consultant with BOP Consulting, a global research and consulting practice for culture and the creative economy, and worked as campaigns officer for the UK’s National Campaign for the Arts. For more than 13 years, he has served as an independent management consultant for clients from Salzburg Global Seminar and the Inter-American Development Bank to United States Artists and Think of Us, a research and design lab on child welfare.
He is currently on the faculty of the MA in Arts Administration program at Goucher College. He has served as a panelist and on steering committees for the National Endowment for the Arts, Colorado Creative Industries, and the Oregon Arts Commission among others. He is a Salzburg Global Fellow, Evan Carroll Commager Fellow, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Holland holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and Asian studies from Amherst College and masters degrees in international studies and diplomacy and the history of art from the University of London, SOAS.
