WORCESTER CULTURE COALITION CITY COUNCIL SURVEY (Editor’s Note: As a service to our readers, Worcester Magazine is publishing a survey of City Council candidates conducted by the Worcester Cultural Coalition. Below are the completed surveys submitted by the WCC to Worcester Magazine. This content has been edited for length. Worcester Magazine will publish profiles of At-Large City Council candidates Oct. 29.)
Mayoral Candidates
WOOcard program, the Worcester Cultural Coalition is trying to brand Worcester as being creative 1. Arts instruction increases and to leverage the strength of our achievement across all disciplines and develops the whole child. What members to attract more residents, will you do as a School Committee college students, and visitors. How member to champion arts education would you utilize the creative community to make Worcester a for our youth both in our schools great place to live, learn, work and and communities? How will you play? balance the importance of arts education with the constant pull to AT-LARGE CITY COUNCIL teach to the test? 2. The start of a mayor’s tenure LINDA PARHAM – Challenger often sets the tone of the City STEVEN KING 1. One of the main Council priorities. When elected, things we need to do is what actions will you take in your invest in the talent we first 100 days to provide support have here. The names on this masthead are proof and resources for the creative positive that Worcester community?
All City Council Candidates 1. Just as any other city, Worcester faces many economic and social issues. Can you provide examples as to how you would integrate the arts, culture and creative community in solving social problems? How would you use the creative community to drive economic development in the city? 2. What revenue sources will you create or use to increase the city’s investment in the creative community? 3. We’ve all had defining moments in our lives. What personal experience with arts, culture and creativity has had an impact on your life and your view of the community? 4. Worcester is being touted as a creative city with public art, festivals and dozens of cultural organizations. Through the
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is a vibrant, creative, culturally diverse, thriving community and that those making that happen need and deserve the support of those in office. There is an excellent model in Boston that is a nonprofit, called the Future Boston Alliance that has a suite of programs that could, if brought to Worcester, help to facilitate bringing more voices from this sector into the halls of decision making. Their Assemble program is focused on bringing creative entrepreneurs, artists and other cultural forces together to talk about and share their experiences on a whole host of social and economic issues. Bringing more artists into our schools and community programs to work with youth to discuss solutions to some of our challenges will create more relevant, approachable solutions, and move us all forward. Arts and Culture are uniquely positioned to break down barriers and bring people together to facilitate creative solutions. We can also support artists using art as therapy to heal from some of the challenges in our community, especially violence. Public arts installations, or even community created art events can help people move beyond their pre-conceived notions and comfort zones and begin to roll up our sleeves and get to work building solutions. 2. I believe that a diverse tax portfolio will provide needed relief to small businesses and residents while also drawing on resources from those that can afford to give more.
• OCTOBER 22, 2015
With a more stable tax base, we’ll be able to provide more comprehensive services to our small business owners, cultural institutions and even working artists. We can look at examples of places like Philadelphia, and even Lowell, to find examples of incentives cities have been able to provide to make it more feasible for working artists to build sustainable lives living and working here. There are also opportunities for federal grants that can have a multiplier effect, so that even a one-time grant can make an investment that spurs economic growth. For example, the Participatory Budgeting Project can bring in additional revenue to be brought to the community level to engage our whole city on deciding how this additional money will be spent to make our community stronger. Projects in other cities have included school and park improvement, new programs, or even specific positions to focus on unmet city needs. 3. I have always appreciated arts and culture, but it wasn’t until my daughter became a film and television major that I gained an even deeper appreciation for the arts as a method of storytelling and introducing new narratives into the world. She helped me to see a bigger world through her lens by shining a light on certain issues that society does not discuss regularly. She had directed a documentary film on the effects of black children attending all white schools. Through her creative process I saw her develop her leadership and gain confidence within herself. I am grateful that arts can provide that kind of developmental experience while also helping us to connect with our collective humanity. 4. First, The Worcester Cultural Coalition has done a great deal of work branding Worcester as a creative community, and for that I am grateful. As I talk to voters, that is often brought up as an asset - from events and visits to museums, to bringing friends from out of town to StART on the Street, people seem to know Worcester is a city full of talented cultural creators. I think if we want to continue building on this, we should continue to embrace the emergence of public art and leverage the resources available to creating it to also create space for people to gather: benches, more walkable neighborhoods, incorporate art installations in transportation hubs and small green spaces for people to enjoy the growing amount of art available to see. I think the WOO card program is incredible and also underutilized. I cannot speak to specific ways to make it more widely known, because I don’t want to make
assumptions about what is already being done, but I would love to sit down when I am in office and learn ways I can better leverage city partnerships to ensure more access to this wonderful program. Last, I think our creative and cultural economy is one of our largest assets as a city. And I know that in order to leverage that creative capital to truly bring in more tourism, students and new residents we need to make sure that we’re pulling our weight in providing the other needs for a vibrant engagement with our community. That means we need to make sure that people can easily access public transportation to get to these institutions. We need to make sure that they can afford memberships to our museums and to shop in our small businesses by creating and investing in good jobs and training programs. And we need to make sure that our next generation is prepared to continue building on this legacy by ensuring vibrant arts education in our public schools.
JOE PETTY Incumbent Mayor/At-Large Councilor
Questions for Mayoral Candidates 1. I have been an advocate for STEAM training since becoming mayor and will continue to advocate for more arts and music in our schools. Our budgets are set almost entirely by the state, and the Legislature is currently working through crafting a new foundation budget, which will make for a more equitable formula for education funding. Ultimately, we need to make it a priority on both the local level and the state level to make sure that arts instruction and enrichment are properly funded. 2. I have enjoyed watching the murals go up downtown and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We need to allow more public art. Making sure that we are putting in place policies that make it easier for artists, festivals, and the creative community to program our parks and public spaces, beautify our city, and for residents to enjoy it. We need to make sure that when we discuss marketing our city that we are talking about all the opportunities that our museums and theaters create. STEVEN KING