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Our city needs to plan for cultural spaces in the same way that we plan for housing, transportation, and green spaces. We need a Cultural Infrastructure Plan for Boston. There is a great need for affordable spaces to make and share culture and a plan to address the historical inequities in access; the COVID-19 pandemic has increased this demand even more. Our plan will direct development tools and planning to recover and deliver more cultural facilities in the places that need them most, with transparent goals and accountable, regular reporting and feedback mechanisms. In addition to performing arts spaces, our plan will support spaces where art and culture are produced.
Many of our public spaces make young people feel unwelcome and actively discourage them from gathering and being visible. To reduce these exclusionary practices, I will collaborate with Boston’s Arts & Culture team, Boston Public Schools, and the private design sector to establish a young person–led design research program. This work will identify barriers to using public space freely and inclusively. The program will consider public space design and management issues and deliver new programming, management, and design requirements for any new public space or updates to current ones.
solidarity
Unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group. I will work with the Offices of Arts & Culture and Economic Development to ensure more arts and culture workers understand and enact their rights. Cultural workers will have access to resources and information about labor rights, organizing, and unionizing. This is an integral part of a just recovery that bolsters support for hard-hit, socially vital sectors such as arts and culture.
The current system makes it too complicated and costly to host cultural events in our communities, something we should encourage. To that end, I will work with all related City departments to champion more dedicated assistance and deliver an accessible permitting toolkit that makes it easier for organic, local cultural events to happen. We will also work with the Boston Police Department to introduce a community safety approach to small community events and explore reducing or subsidizing police details’ financial requirements.
Economic recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 will require significant investment in the night-time industry and workers. We will convene a study commission to understand “Boston at Night”—working patterns, transit barriers, venues, and workers’ needs to increase night-time economic activity—and to create a package of support for night-time cultural venues and workers.
I will work with Boston’s Arts & Culture department to introduce a single touch-point for communities, artists, and supporters to report culture-at-risk venues, studios, markets, and events. We will work with funders, planners, and developers to sustain and support these places before they are lost. This capacity should also ensure that cultural infrastructure is supported through Boston’s Community Preservation Fund work.
Paid for by The Committee to Elect Kendra Hicks. All Rights Reserved © 2020.