ARTS ACTIVATE BOSTON COALITION
Image of the Boston skyline.
ABOUT THE ARTS ACTIVATE BOSTON COALITION
Arts Activate Boston (AAB) is an arts advocacy and policy effort led by Boston arts leaders to unify, strengthen, and amplify the Boston arts and cultural sector. By educating the public on the significant value of the arts, hosting convenings on key arts topics, and mobilizing the arts sector, AAB invites Boston’s arts sector and supporters to advocate for increased sustainable investment in Boston’s arts.
The Arts Activate Boston Steering Committee includesBlair Benjamin (Assets for Artists), Ami Bennitt (#ARTSTAYSHERE), Bobby Boyd (The Record Co.), Kim Dawson Ohiomoba (GrubStreet), Musau Dibinga (OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center), Maria Finkelmeier (MF Dynamics/Berklee College of Music), Aaron Myers (Boston Dance Alliance), Brendan O'Bryan (Massachusetts College of Art & Design), Nicole Olusanya (Independent Artist & Educator), Layanie Oscar (MASSCreative), Shey Rivera Ríos (Boston Center for the Arts), Emily Ruddock (MASSCreative), Karthik Subramanian (Company One Theatre), Dawn Simmons (Speakeasy Stage), and Ngoc-Tran Vu (Independent Artist & Organizer). AAB is supported by the Barr Foundation.
Sign up here for Arts Activate Boston updates:
For additional questions, please contact ArtsActivateBoston@gmail.com.
2025 BOSTON MAYORAL FORUM
After organizing the 2025 Boston Arts Mayoral Forum through MASSCreative’s Create the Vote initiative, Boston arts leaders are continuing their advocacy for a stronger Boston arts and cultural sector through the Arts Activate Boston Coalition. AAB is convening creatives, practitioners, educators, administrators, and advocates of all arts disciplines to be in dialogue with elected officials, City staff, and funders about their needs, resource gaps, and to recommend arts policies that will invest in Boston’s cultural infrastructure.
WATCH THE 2025 BOSTON MAYORAL FORUM RECORDING:
Graphic of Boston Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) Spending 2015-2027. Created by Boston Art Review.
FUND BOSTON’S ARTS CAMPAIGN
In April 2026, AAB launched in response to Boston’s proposed $1.2M - or 27% - cut to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) in FY27. The Fund Boston’s Arts campaign invited Boston’s arts stakeholders to attend and give testimony rejecting the proposed cuts at Boston’s City Council hearing on Arts and Culture on April 30, 2026. More than 150 creatives attended and participated in the hearing and over 70 stakeholders also sent written testimony to the City Council and Mayor Wu asking them to restore Boston’s arts budget.
In June, the city approved the FY27 operating budget and restored $825,000 of the proposed spending cuts to MOAC.
WATCH THE APRIL 2026 CITY COUNCIL HEARING:
UPCOMING EVENTS & WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
Arts Activate Boston will host four citywide convenings between 2026-2027 focusing on four topic areas. Each convening has its own host committee working in partnership with the AAB steering committee.
These convenings will explore the current state of each topic within Boston’s arts sector and workshop ideas on potential policy solutions. The committees will synthesize notes and ideas into recommendations for the City and funders after each convening.
CREATIVE LABOR SUMMIT: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH AT THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Host Committee:
Blair Benjamin (Assets for Artists), Althea Erickson (National Arts Policy Alliance), Eduardo Gomez (Advance Collaborative), Mina Kim (Mina Kim Consulting), Marissa Molinar (Midday Movement), Deidra Montgomery (Congruence Cultural Strategies), Emily Ruddock (MASSCreative), Lolan Sevilla (National Arts Policy Alliance), Danya Sherman (Congruence Cultural Strategies), Karthik Subramanian (Company One Theatre), and Anna Yu (Consultant).
Join Arts Activate Boston and Company One Theatre for Boston’s Creative Labor Summit on September 18, 2026 at Boston Public Library’s Central Branch (700 Boylston Street).
Creative labor — the work of artists and cultural workers — is real labor deserving of fair pay, stable conditions, and the same dignity and protections as work in any other sector. The summit aims to inform an equitable cultural labor policy for Boston and to make the case for creative labor as civic infrastructure.
All are invited to a morning fireside chat with Ali Noorani (President and CEO of the Barr Foundation), Sam Gill (President and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation), and two of Company One Theatre’s co-founders and leaders, Shawn LaCount and Summer L. Williams.
An afternoon session, facilitated by Congruence Cultural Strategies, will explore policies that impact wages, housing, healthcare costs, and working conditions for creatives. There will be time for discussion and ideation.
CREATIVE SPACE SUMMIT: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH AT BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Host Committee:
Blair Benjamin (Assets for Artists), Ami Bennitt (#ARTSTAYSHERE), Bobby Boyd (The Record Co.), Jim Grace (Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston), Shea Rivera Rios (Boston Center for the Arts), Emily Ruddock (MASSCreative), and Brad Vernatter (Boston Lyric Opera).
YOUTH & ARTS EDUCATION SUMMIT: MARCH 2027 (DATE TBD)
Host Committee:
Musau Dabinga (Origination), Julia Gittleman (MGA Consultants), Eryn Johnson (Avaki Consulting), Celina Miranda (Hyde Square Task Force), Nicole Olusanya (EdVestors), Veronica Robles (Veronica Robles Cultural Center), and Mark Vanderzee (Company One Theatre.
ARTS EQUITY & ACCESS SUMMIT: DATE TBD
