Massachusetts artists, writers, cultural partners join in

www.mass-creative.org
Mary Ellen —

Next week Governor Patrick will be sending his FY14 budget to the Massachusetts legislature for consideration.

Please sign MASSCreative’s petition to urge the Governor to restore state investment in the arts and cultural community by increasing the Massachusetts Cultural Council budget by $3 million to a total of $12.5 million.

Just ten years ago, the state invested more than $19 million in the creative community providing the creative community with the resources to run their programs to build connected and vibrant communities.

Signing the petition to increase in the MCC budget will help bring more resources to the hundreds of arts and cultural organizations that bring our communities together, spur economic activity and create places where we all want to live, work, play and visit.

With more investment, resources will increase to youth arts programs that help our young adults discover their voice through art, dance, performance and song. More investment will also increase the money flowing to Local Cultural Councils which provide grants to more than 1,500 grassroots community creative groups in each and every town across the Commonwealth.

In less than a week, more than 2,000 Massachusetts residents have added their names to the MASSCreative petition. Please add your name and pass this petition along to friends, family, and colleagues.

Advocate Creativity,

Matt Wilson, MASSCreative
http://www.mass-creative.org/

P.S. This is MASSCreative’s first campaign to bring more resources and support to the creative community. Let’s kick it off with a bang.

MASSCreative needs art and cultural advocates

MASSCreative
Advocate Creativity

I have been asked by MASSCreative to let our readers know about this important advocacy work.

As many of you know, I am the author of children’s books on how we can protect the Earth, pollinators, the environment, native plants and  the Monarch Butterfly.

Subject Line – Governor Patrick and the MCC Budget – Time for Action

Dear Butterfly Woman Friends,

At times, I do advocacy work on behalf of creative art, music, and downtown urbanization. I am interested in promoting a vibrant art and cultural district in the historical town of Fitchburg, MA.

If you read this Blog, you might very well be an artist, writer, publisher or a master crafts person with an eye on the arts, culture, books and multi-lingual projects, which make up my immediate world.  What we need to protect and preserve here you may need to do in your very own town. I have found that working together in a common cause has a much larger impact than working alone.

I want to invite you join together with arts and cultural supporters from all across the Commonwealth to send a clear message to Governor Patrick to increase state investment in the creative community.

Please sign the Petition at http://www.mass-creative.org/petition118?recruiter_id=2834 and urge Governor Patrick to restore funding for the Commonwealth’s creative community.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which distributes state money to arts and cultural organizations across the state, has been a long-time supporter of ORGANIZATIONS. Yet MCC’s budget over the past decade has been cut in half, leaving many organizations scrambling to keep their programs running and accessible.

Governor Patrick is preparing his FY2014 budget for release at the end of the month of January. From then until July, the Governor, the Senate, and the House of Representatives will be debating how to allocate the estimated $32 billion in state revenue.

Please join with our statewide partner MASSCreative  and sign the petition petition urging Governor Patrick to restore the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) budget by $3 million to $12.5+ million.

Click on http://www.mass-creative.org/petition118?recruiter_id=2834 and sign the petition to restore funding to the creative community.

Your personal support of ORGANIZATIONS has given us the resources to provide our community with top-notch creative work. I am asking you today to add your voice to others across the state to urge the Governor to increase the state’s investment in the creative community to build vibrant and connected communities.

Thank you for your support,

Mary Ellen Ryall
Butterfly Woman Publishing, Inc. and member of MASSCreative

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