Artists Under the Dome
Artists Under the Dome was launched in October 2007. It is an artist run website and is run by inkind donation of artists' time and resources. This website strives to inform Massachusetts artists of the State House Artist Working Group's efforts and also helps to keep artists informed of Statewide efforts and public policy initiatives that may impact their livelihoods.
This site acts a resource and tool for individual artists of all disciplines and strives to follow and inform artists on the State's policy, legislative & regulatory actions. Our goal is to empower individual artists to become more engaged with the democratic process and public policy making.
Artists Under the Dome
Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition (MALC)
Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition (MALC), its meetings, and connected working groups are designed to bring together artists leaders of all disciplines and artist(s) run organizations, initiatives, and businesses around key issues facing Massachusetts artists working in all disciplines. Though participants may have different perspectives on how best to address the issues facing our community, we are all committed to improving the social and economic position of all Massachusetts artists. The overall goal is to empower our community, support our artists leaders, and to mentor new artists leaders. We want to ensure that artists are at the policy making table.
MALC
Medicine Wheel Productions
World-renowned artist, Michael Dowling, founded Medicine Wheel Productions (MWP) as a nonprofit organization in 2000. Initially a focused painter, Dowling began shifting his work to public art installations in response to a call he felt from the community. Through this transition, he repeatedly experienced the phenomenology of art. One such experience happened in the early years of the “Medicine Wheel” installation. Participants in the 24-hour vigil were invited to carry in stones and symbolically place them in the center of the room as a way to commemorate the AIDS epidemic and acknowledge the overarching sense of loss. Michael saw two women slowly pushing in a very large stone and walked up to them to see if they needed help. In response, one of the women said, “No! You don’t understand. Her son, my nephew passed away from AIDS. This is our burden to bear. We need to do this alone.” Their participation in the installation allowed them to grieve, but more importantly, heal and move forward.
Medicine Wheel Productions
Mass Poetry.org
Mass Poetry.org showcases a variety of extraordinary local and regional poets, and engages the public through poetry readings, interactive workshops, panel discussions, music, film and visual arts, and performances geared toward a diverse statewide audience.
MassPoetry.org is a new program to connect poets and poetry with larger audiences. The project grew out of roundtables with poets in every part of the state to explore that condition of poetry in Massachusetts. Those roundtables were a collaborative effort between MassPoetry.org, the Mass Cultural Council and MassHumanities.
The purpose of MassPoetry.org is to create resources to aid and support the Massachusetts poetry community, to reconnect poetry to more mainstream culture, to create new audiences for poetry and to organize the poetry community throughout the state. MassPoetry.org works to support poets and poetry in a number of ways.
The Massachusetts Poetry Festival is a unique 2 day gathering of poets and poetry lovers from across the Commonwealth for readings, workshops, panels, concerts, a small press fair and more, which links together all the dispirit strands of the Massachusetts poetry community to promote more collaboration, respect and communication.
MassPoetry.org is proud of the start we have made. The Festival has been created and two successful Festivals have been held. We have started pilot programs in schools, in the community and with teachers. We have 59 partner organizations, schools, and institutions across the state. We have a broad, diverse and talented Advisory Board. But as much as we have been able to do, far more remains to be done.
For more information about MassPoetry.org you can contact Michael Ansara at info@masspoetry.org.
Mass Poetry.org
Massachusetts Cultural Council
We want the Commonwealth to support arts and culture as much as arts and culture support the Commonwealth.
OUR MISSION
The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) is a state agency that promotes excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.
The Council pursues this mission through a combination of grant programs, partnerships, and services for nonprofit cultural organizations, schools, communities, and artists.
OUR VISION
The Massachusetts Cultural Council is committed to building a central place for the arts, sciences, and humanities in the everyday lives of communities across the Commonwealth.
The arts, sciences, and humanities have the power to build healthier, more livable, more vital communities. They enrich, exalt, and provoke. They are an essential part of a strong educational system. They contribute enormously to our economy. They build bridges across cultures. They can be used to address - or better yet, prevent - some of our most stubborn social problems. They help us interpret our past and shape our future. They help us understand what it means to be human.
OUR FUNDING
MCC receives an annual appropriation from the state Legislature and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bank of America, and others. Details on our budget are available online. In turn, MCC makes thousands of grants directly to non-profit cultural organizations, schools, communities, and individuals artists, through funding programsthat use arts, science, and the humanities to build strong, diverse, livable communities. The beneficiaries of these programs comprise a cross-section of the population and citizens in each Massachusetts city and town.
OUR IMPACT
There are few places in America as rich in arts and culture as Massachusetts. From Boston to the Berkshires, from Cape Ann to Cape Cod, our state boasts an array of exceptional cultural organizations, beautiful and distinctive communities, and thousands of talented artists and educators. The MCC nurtures the creative life of Massachusetts. We help organizations grow and change. We help schools enrich students' lives by weaving quality arts, humanities, and science programs into their curricula. We foster dialogue among cultural leaders on issues of shared importance, and make connections between artists and businesses. And we advocate on behalf of the cultural community--ensuring that arts, humanities, and sciences have a voice in discussions about the future of the Commonwealth and its communities.
* If you’re interested in hosting your own event in MA you still have time.
You can sign up at the main 100 Thousand Poets or Musicians for Change by clicking this * official signup page link
You can sign up at the main 100 Thousand Poets or Musicians for Change by clicking this * official signup page link
