In light of the murder of George Floyd and the resulting worldwide protests against police brutality, the Boston Hassle humbly submits this request to our home to call for more arts funding as a small but important aspect in greater struggle against systemic racism and classism. 

The Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture in Boston receives .5% of the total annual operational budget, receiving over $2.2 million in 2020. Compare that to the money the city spends and plans to spend on the police budget in 2020 and 2021, over $414 million, 20% of the total city budget for 2020.

Through this budget allocation, the city makes their priorities quite clear: they invest more money in policing their citizens than in empowering them. This lack of trust needs to be mended and we believe that art can start to build the bridge. 

We are calling on Mayor Marty Walsh, City Council President Kim Janey, and the rest of the Boston City Council to double the funding to the Office of Arts and Culture for FY22 and throughout the FY21-25 budget plan. This would make future funding for this office 1% of the total annual operational budget. 

With this budget increase, we are also calling on the City Council to provide:

1. More direct funding to artists, specifically BIPOC artists and/or artists from marginalized communities 

2. Diverse sets of programming and grant initiatives for organizations of all tax filings, backgrounds, heritage, sex/gender orientations, career-levels, and skills. 

3. The creation of an arts and culture task force to seriously address the lack of venues in Boston, given the loss of both Great Scott and The Milky Way in the last four months due to the pandemic.

Here is the full version of the Letter:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AN_9wMazpMHy899rIe146ZeFvhtVuBc2TTiK5og2xso/edit?usp=sharing