Move4ART

Thanks to  MassCreative , Mattapan creatives have a basis for comparing the two mayoral candidates before we pull a lever next Tuesday.   And while the Mattapan Arts Council (M.A.C.) has decided  not  to endorse a candidate this time around, a side-by-side comparison of the candidates’ responses to  MassCreative’s questionnaire  is worth considering. One way to compare the two is between ‘head’ versus ‘heart:’  one candidate speaks from his personal connection to the arts; the other reveals only what he thinks about the arts.  Put differently, one approaches the questions posed from the “inside out;” the other, from “outside in.” Of course  the challenger  is promoting change, while  the incumbent  is defending the status quo.  And it is on the hinge between the two that the M.A.C. found itself deadlocked. The challenger acknowledges the need for change, at least.  His responses suggest he’d  do some...

First, we must give a double shout-out to MassCreative :  for mobilizing artists and arts organizations around a powerful idea, i.e., to " Create The Vote 2013" (implications for future campaigns?  We hope so.); and for facilitating arts-focused candidate forums.  Kudos are also due to WBUR 's TheARTery for " Arts and the Next Mayor: What Boston Wants and What it May Get "--digitally capturing (and archiving) an arts-focused approach to a campaign now winnowed to  Connolly On The Arts  and Walsh On The Arts .   'Cause here and now, TheARTery 's a time-saver as we try to figure out which of these two guys to vote for on Tuesday, 6 November 2013.   Problem is, plans for the arts being forwarded by the candidates are clearly cut from the same cloth--one woven by what TheARTery describes as "Boston's cultural community."   As a result  both candidates kinda sound alike when talking about how their administrations would ...

Mattapan (Environmental) Action Network's most recent post really captures the mood: Meh! Tuning N2 the Mayoral Race . 'Cause I have been feeling a lil "meh!" about the race; especially as the field ballooned and eventually winnowed. Under the circumstances we'll have to cast our vote based on each candidate's commitment to artists and access to "the ahts"--arts education, arts OST-programming, arts institutions, arts facilities, to arts as a portal to civic engagement.   Tomorrow we'll post our findings here.