Somerville Working To Strengthen Artistic Community

SOMERVILLE, MA — Mayor Katjana Ballantyne announced the release of the Somerville Cultural Capacity Plan Wednesday. The city has partnered with the Somerville Arts Council to put together what it describes as a comprehensive plan to sustain Somerville’s artistic community and ecosystem.

The plan includes five objectives, including preserving existing and discovering new affordable spaces for artistic production, increasing funding, strengthening connections and giving artists more of a speaking platform within the city, incorporating arts and culture initiatives more into the city’s policy and planning, and catalyzing new initiatives led by artists.

This plan also includes musical artists, as the city is inviting local musicians to two meetings in March that have the goal of addressing challenges in the Somerville musical community.
“Fostering our vibrant arts and culture scene is essential to Somerville’s civic, economic, and creative vitality,” Ballantyne said. “With this plan, we are striving to ensure that we’re not only protecting what we have but also building long-term support structures so our creative community can thrive for generations to come.”

The SCCP is available to view online.