CCB MEDIA PHOTO
BOSTON – Cape and Islands State Senator Julian Cyr has filed legislation at the State House which aims to help fund cultural programming while also allowing bay state drivers to show their support for the arts right on their car.
“A constituent actually in Provincetown reached out to me and proposed the idea of an arts license plate,” explained Cyr of how he came up with the proposal.
“Something that he had thought about for quite some time. This is someone who spent all of the time on a number of or it didn’t and being part the arts community.”
The bill allows the commonwealth’s Department of Motor Vehicles to begin marketing a new license plate, with profits used to help fund the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
If approved, the new plate’s design would be selected through a local artist competition led by the council.
The plate’s $50 cost to drivers would help fund state art programming which has been face unsuccessful efforts to have its $14 million budget reduced over the last several years.
“If you look at the role of culture and arts in our livelihood and identity,” said Cyr.
“bBut most importantly on the Cape in our economy, this is the real life blood of what attracts folks to come to our region.”
It remains unclear how much a new plate might generate, with 33 different specialty plates available already.
One of the most popular remains to be the Cape and Islands plate, which has generated nearly $25 million over the last two decades.
By DAVID BEATTY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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