Boston Mayor Marty Walsh Announces $1 Million For Arts Funding

In last night's State of The City Address, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh pledged to increase his city's arts funding with three programs combining a budget of $1 million.

The Boston Globe reports that the programs will provide direct grants to individual artists, expand the city's fledgling artist-in-residence program and establish an artist resource desk at City Hall, which officials said would act as a central information hub for artists working in the city.

"The biggest thing we hear all the time is that local artists living in Boston need funds," says the mayor. "These are specific programs that touch on different types of artists across the spectrum in the city."

The city's recently formed artist-in-residence program, Boston AIR, will be divided into 10 or more Boston Centers for Youth & Families. The $500,000 program would place working artists in BCYF centers throughout the city to develop programs and work alongside staff members, helping them think creatively about administration issues.

"You could really be creative with this money and this program," notes Walsh. "Conflict resolution could be one, teaching young people to express themselves could be another."

"There's a lot of talk of how artists are being pushed out of the city and haven't felt supported by the city in the past," says the mayor's chief of policy, Joyce Linehan. "Among the many things that are coming to the top in terms of needs is that we need to be directly supporting Boston artists."

A $400,000 program will offer competitive grants to artists living in the city. The funds will be unrestricted and will probably be available only to individual artists.

"Individual artists grants are pretty hard to come by," said Linehan. "Part of what we've heard through the process is that rather than be involved in programming, the city should support the people who are doing the programming."

A third program, budgeted at $100,000, will fund an artist resource desk at City Hall. Staffed by a full-time employee, it will serve as an information clearinghouse for artists, providing a list of artist-grant opportunities as well as guidance with issues such as housing, licensing, and permits.

Once the cultural plan is unveiled, says the mayor, the city will seek to partner with the private sector to fund its execution.

"We have to have skin in the game," says Walsh.

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