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A bold proposal
How to build the economy through the arts and culture

Tell Us What You Think
Have an idea? Submit it here!

Tucked inside House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s impressive and commonsensible economic-development package for 2006 is — hands down — the most-important cultural initiative Massachusetts has seen in many years.

Aimed at increasing jobs and bolstering tourism — the state’s second biggest industry — the measure would establish a structure that over the next 10 years would invest $250 million in arts and cultural facilities, requiring recipients to match state investment with privately raised funds. The result would be a sorely needed infusion of $500 million into our cultural infrastructure. If approved as submitted, the measure would pump $26 million into the state economy next year.

Culture, in all its various guises, is the keystone for the business of tourism, which — after education — is Massachusetts’s most significant piece of economic machinery.

What makes this piece of statecraft particularly imaginative in these lean times is the cost to taxpayers, which would be zero. No new tax dollars would be needed to put the program in place. The bill would appropriate the $13 million already budgeted to finish paying off the debt of the Hynes Convention Center, which has been retired early. Instead, that $13 million would be used to purchase a bonded fund of up to $104 million — which, combined with already earmarked revenue from hotel and restaurant taxes, would provide a cash stream totaling around $25 million a year. Institutions tapping into that money would raise the matching funds themselves.

DiMasi’s proposal is a model of prudent, state-sponsored investment. Its aims are well targeted and the results will be sweeping.

A bold initiative such as this doesn’t spring to life overnight. This one is the result of years of work and collaboration by the Boston Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Economic Development Authority, the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, and some of the most forward-thinking members of the General Court. It in no way diminishes the contribution of the entire group to cite the vital role played by the private Boston Foundation, which sponsored scores of meetings and issued two landmark reports assessing need and suggesting action.

Massachusetts, and particularly Boston, is graced with an abundance of cultural and arts groups — more, in fact, than most cities and states. The problem is that we haven’t had enough money to support them all sufficiently. DiMasi’s plan would help ease strain among the many competing for limited funds. It would enrich our cultural life, make tourism all the more attractive, and help energize the economy.

Unfortunately, our divisive political culture thrives on not getting necessary jobs done — especially when it comes to arts and culture. Why a state full of smart people is so often short-sighted is a mystery. In terms of dollars, culture contributes far more to the state economy than sports. Yet this often-cited fact is rarely acted upon. Here is an opportunity to cut through the mists of negativity that cloud good ideas. This is a great idea. It deserves to be enacted, and DiMasi should be commended.

KEEPING THE BALL ROLLING

While Speaker DiMasi’s initiative is a welcome step in the right direction, those who care about the state of culture in Massachusetts should view the proposal as an opportunity, a platform on which to build awareness of ongoing needs.

One reason we may take cultural institutions for granted is that we have so many of them. They’ve always been here, we reason. And we conclude — wrongly — that they always will be.

A simple idea would keep the issue literally in front of voters. It comes from Boston city councilor John Tobin, who represents West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. For several years he’s been talking up the idea of creating a special license plate to benefit the arts, like the special Red Sox plates that support the Jimmy Fund, and the Cape Cod edition, which supports conservation efforts.

Here’s how it would work:

A design proposal for such a plate would be submitted to the registry for approval within 30 days.

The most successful plates so far have raised about $2.5 million. The organizing such an effort requires would be considerable (and we’ve but touched on them here), but the benefits would be enduring.

To help jump-start the idea, the Phoenix calls on artists to submit plate-design proposals to us at artsplate[a]phx.com. Or mail them to our offices at 126 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, Attn: artsplate. Go to ThePhoenix.com/artsplate for guidelines.

Perhaps a public exhibition of the entries could get the ball rolling. The Phoenix is willing to help. Are you?

What do you think? Send an e-mail to letters[a]phx.com.

 


Issue Date: August 5 - 12, 2005
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