By Mr. Turkington of Falmouth, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3419) of Eric Turkington and others for legislation to establish accurate assessment and measurement tools to determine the status, viability, strengths and weaknesses of the arts, sciences and humanities.  Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Eric Turkington

Denis E. Guyer

Peter V. Kocot

Sarah K. Peake

Todd M. Smola

Christine E. Canavan

Kay Khan

Mary E. Grant

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act establishing the Massachusetts cultural assessment and annual report.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1.

Because the arts, sciences, and humanities contribute to both the local and state economy; because the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides support for the arts, sciences and humanities through the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund; and because the arts, sciences, and humanities in their many forms provide economic, educational and social benefits to our communities; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acting through the Massachusetts Cultural Council hereby commissions the creation of accurate assessment and measurement tools to determine the status, viability, strengths and weaknesses of the arts, sciences and humanities in the Commonwealth.  These assessment and measurement tools shall consider as many of the benefits as possible including economic impact; educational value including but not limited to schoolchildren, underserved populations, low-income people, and the elderly; and community benefits that can be identified and measured.  As part of the assessment, the first year of the project will establish baseline standards to compare future growth or lack of growth.  In addition to any new research, the Massachusetts Cultural Council will collect and correlate any existing research deemed relevant and cost effective to compiling this assessment.

SECTION 2.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council shall provide an annual report to the General Court describing the health and vitality of the arts, sciences and humanities in the Commonwealth; that this report shall be drawn from the assessment and measurement project created herein; and provided further that the General Court shall appropriate no less than $253,000 to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, over and above any other general appropriations to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, to accomplish this project and create an annual report to the General Court.  The benefits of the annual report and the creation of the assessment tools will be to guide cultural policy, create an enhanced ability to track cultural data and trends over time and compare how Massachusetts performs relative to other states and to the sector at large.