Western Massachusetts legislators Sen. Jake Oliveira of Ludlow and state Rep. Pat Duffy of Holyoke are pushing a bill to help financially support arts and culture tourist spots in need of a marketing boost.
The proposal seeks to cultivate a more equitable statewide tourism industry by prioritizing museums, music venues or historic sites that feature marginalized stories and voices.
The lawmakers consulted with Boston-based arts non-profit MASSCreative, which specializes in arts advocacy to draft the Cultural Equity in Tourism bill (H.3244/S.2194).
If passed, the grant program would be established through the state's Office of Travel and Tourism. The grants could be used to assist with funding in advertisements, tourism publications, web design, billboards and more.
In an interview, Duffy said marketing for arts and culture attractions is needed to amplify the state's hidden gems, especially as people resume their travels following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People are coming back, and maybe even embracing tourism and cultural opportunities even more,” Duffy said.
Duffy also noted the pandemic highlighted the need for more marketing in arts organizations who shine a light on underrepresented cultures and groups. She said the western Massachusetts region, in particular, hosts a plethora of these spaces and events.
“This is a bill and a fund to bring more attention to marketing tourism and cultural highlights in regions where we don’t always look in Massachusetts, and so I think it’s fitting that it’s two western Mass. legislators who are working on it."
The bill asks for a “modest” initial 1% of grant funding from the state’s Tourism Trust Fund, Duffy said, but there's an opportunity for that to grow in the future.
Duffy said the grants would not only benefit the museums or venues, but also the region's visitors and broader economy.
“It grows everybody’s marketing, tourism dollars, cultural appreciation, cultural resources,” Duffy said. “Outreach is crucial…So these arts communities, these cultural resources — they need help with their marketing money and it’s good government for the state to help invest in that. It’s good economic development for all of us.”
Springfield Museums’ spokesperson, Michelle Murphy said the grant would benefit the arts and culture “incubator” that is western Massachusetts. Murphy said the marketing funding for Springfield Museums “has to continue in order for our stories to keep getting told.”
“The legislation that they have written is valuable, we believe, because of the extent to which it provides practical support for organizations that otherwise struggle to communicate the wealth of opportunities they afford in their institutions,” Murphy said.
