MASSCreative Partners with Local Groups to “Create the Vote”

HYANNIS – MASSCreative has partnered with local art groups on the Cape and Islands and in the Berkshires to run “Create the Vote” campaigns during legislative races for the House and Senate.

The initiative will highlight the importance and role that arts and culture play in communities.

Along with MASSCreative, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod has created a coalition of members from arts organizations on the Cape.

Those include people from the Cape Cod Theater Company, Cape Cod Community College, Cotuit Center for the Arts, the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum and the Wellfleet Preservation Hall.

“All of us have come together over a few meetings and put together some questions that we want the candidates to be asked and to be answered about why arts matter to our community on the Cape,” said Arts Foundation of Cape Cod Executive Director Julie Wake.

The campaign is meant to encourage candidates to develop cultural policies and to lead by example by convening community leaders on the arts and by attending arts and cultural events.

It engages in broad-based public education by holding public meetings with candidates, artists and cultural leaders and publicizing candidates’ answers to a questionnaire about the arts.

At first the coalition was focused on the Cape and Islands State Senate race, but are now including the State Representative race.

The coalition have sent a questionnaire to all of the candidates and are waiting for responses before setting up one-on-one interviews with the candidates.

“It’s a busy time here on the Cape, a lot of our coalition members are very busy during the summer season so we’re working really hard on partnering up with other organizations where we can hold a public forum to discuss Create the Vote,” said Wake.

The campaign was a presence during 2015 mayoral campaigns in Medford, New Bedford and Worcester.

Create the Vote hosted six candidates at the first-ever Gubernatorial Forum on arts, culture and creativity during the 2014 gubernatorial race.

By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter