ArtWonk: MA State Senate “Fun Coalition” Declares Warfare on Boring

The first step in fixing an issue is admitting that you’ve one. According to Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr, who represents Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, a serious downside dealing with Boston and Massachusetts is that we’re boring. 

“What I hear from my friends who are visiting from other states … time and again [is] how boring they find Boston to be [and] how boring they think Massachusetts is,” he mentioned in a cellphone interview. 

Together with State Senators Dylan Fernandes, Robyn Kennedy, Pavel Payano, Jo Comerford, and Adam Gómez, Cyr filed a set of amendments to the financial improvement invoice. The proposed amendments are a part of what his workplace referred to as the “fun agenda” in a July 21 press launch. Together with amendments filed by State Senators Paul Mark and Liz Miranda, the enjoyable agenda brings ahead a number of items of cultural coverage for consideration throughout this legislative cycle. 

All of those amendments are senators’ proposed additions to S.3178, the Senate’s cumbersomely named and wide-ranging financial improvement package deal. It consists of some, however not all, of the proposals from Governor Maura Healey’s $305 million Mass Wins Act, which was additionally designed to focus on financial improvement. S.3178 encompasses a various vary of coverage, together with growing AI security guardrails, growing the development of inexpensive housing, regulating e-bikes and scooters, and supporting the native arts sector. The invoice would authorize $325.1 million, however this complete could change as amendments are made this week. 

Cyr’s good occasions coverage is about greater than rubber-stamping hedonism by the regulation. The enjoyable coalition is making an attempt to place coverage to work to handle the state’s dedication to stodginess. In mild of Boston’s loneliness epidemic, the thought is that Massachusetts’s boring downside is a quality-of-living disaster. This, mixed with the cost-of-living disaster, is a governance challenge that warrants coverage intervention as a result of it impedes the state’s development by making it tougher to retain younger folks. 

“It’s clear that we need to do more to keep young people in Massachusetts. So much of that comes down to the cost of living, but there’s a fun factor, too. I hear all the time from people of every generation—but especially younger residents—that they’re looking for more opportunities to gather, connect, and share experiences. By strengthening our nightlife, arts, and outdoor recreation, we can shed our well-earned reputation for being a little boring while making Massachusetts a more desirable place to live, work, and visit,” Cyr wrote in an emailed assertion. 

The “fun agenda” consists of a number of items of laws that might help the state’s pivot to prioritize play. Cyr famous on a name that the coalition needs to formalize an Office of Outdoor Recreation in state regulation to develop help for agritourism and enhance mountain climbing trails within the Commonwealth; repeal the state’s 1984 joyful hour ban; and fund a micro-grants program for artists, overseen by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. 

“The amendment builds on a highly successful micro-grant program for artists and creatives executed by the Massachusetts Cultural Council during the COVID-19 pandemic. And … the amendment would provide a million dollars in funding to MCC over five years … to provide direct support to local creatives and to help strengthen cultural experiences,” Cyr mentioned on a name. 

The entire undertaking got here out of Boston’s World Cup occasion bump. According to the Boston Globe, the idea for this amendment package dawned on a group of state senators during a post-game dance party. After the state’s World Cup beer sales, hotel reservations, and even Tinder usage had been tallied, Beacon Hill appears to have realized that the shift to enjoyable Boston is sweet for cultural vibrancy—which is sweet for enterprise and good for the state. 

Even Governor Healey is in on the enjoyable docket motion. On July 16, she introduced The Great Divide Act, a nod to musician Noah Kahan. The act—filed by Fernandes as Amendment 20, To make music inexpensive by reining in predatory ticket scalping—would cap resale ticket prices at 110 % of face worth and restrict ticket reseller service charges and expenses. Healey additionally helps repealing the 1984 joyful hour ban, which was filed by Cyr and included within the “fun agenda” as Amendment 78, Conviviality. 

While the rhetoric across the package deal is interesting, the fact is that the amount of cash it affords is minimal. The five-year, $1 million micro-grant program for artists pencils out to $200,000 a yr, or roughly 0.0003 % of the $63.4 billion fiscal year 2027 price range. 

The enjoyable agenda isn’t the one laws meant to help artists into consideration throughout this yr’s legislative calendar. 

On Monday, Miranda filed Amendment 29, Preserving the Creative Economy, which incorporates language from the Creative Space Act. According to MASSCreative Executive Director Emily Ruddock, this modification provides to the invoice’s present language by “expand[ing] Cultural Facilities Fund eligibility [and retaining the] Downtown Vitality Fund … including grant programs for [the] creative economy [that] add Mass Cultural Council as a collaborator.” 

“We’ve watched communities erased not only through rising rents, but through the loss of the artists, businesses, and cultural spaces that define them. We’ve seen the promise of projects like Humphreys Street Studios, but we’ve also felt the loss of Black Market Nubian. The Creative Space Act won’t solve every challenge, but it will help stop the bleed and ensure that preserving culture is treated as a core part of building stronger communities,” Miranda wrote in an emailed assertion.

Additional amendments that help the humanities embrace Mark’s Amendment 109, Tourism and visitation Economic development, new income and jobs. This would set up that 2.5 % of the state’s room occupancy excise from the prior fiscal yr can be credited to the Massachusetts Tourism Trust Fund. Finally, Cyr’s Amendment 367—Seasonal Communities Housing Fund—would create a state fund to help housing in municipalities designated as seasonal communities, akin to Cape Cod. The fund includes a provision that helps year-round artist housing in cities that settle for the designation. 

This week, the Massachusetts State Senate will debate 595 proposed amendments to S.3178 to find out which might be formally added to the invoice earlier than it is dropped at the ground for a vote. It’s unclear when a vote might be held. Although December 31 is technically the deadline, there may be historically a push to vote on main items of laws forward of the summer season recess. 

Debate over S.3178 amendments will proceed by Thursday, July 23. In a July 21 e-blast, arts advocacy group MASSCreative encouraged constituents to call their senators and voice help for these amendments.

Local Headlines

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Barr, Wagner, and Andy Warhol Foundations Invest in Collective Futures Fund

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Cambridge City Hall Performance 

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Are the High Times About to Be Over in MA?

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National & International Headlines

The Heritage Foundation Comes for the Smithsonian 

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