Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition

Artists leaders and artist-run groups addressing policy issues that affect artists in Massachusetts

MALC Wishes Everyone a Healthy, Happy, and Creative 2019!

2018 AUD group photo
Artists Under the Dome, Nov. 14, 2018

The MALC Steering Committee wishes everyone a healthy, happy, prosperous, and creative 2019!

Here is a quick look back at 2018 and a look forward to 2019.

2018 By Artists For Artists

2018 was an important year for MALC. We celebrated our 10th anniversary and the release of the 2018 By Artists, For Artists report.  In October, the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development and the State House Cultural Caucus hosted a State House briefing for the By Artists, For Artists report and invited both MALC and the Massachusetts Cultural Council to present.

12th Annual Artists Under the Dome

We thank everyone who came to the 12th annual Artists Under the Dome event in November.  The 2018 year AUD event was a day of celebration and commemoration.

2018 was also a year of loss for MALC and the greater arts community. We lost two champions of artists: Representative Chris Walsh and MALC Co-Founder Liora Beer.  They are missed dearly, but not forgotten. 

Onward to 2019

As we look towards 2019, it will be a busy year for our coalition. 

MALC is moving forward with our legislative agenda. We’re sharing the By Artists, For Artists report and its recommendations not only in Massachusetts but across the nation.

MALC is thankful that several state legislators are refiling key legislation on behalf of MALC for this upcoming two-year legislative session:

1) An Act establishing a disaster and emergency aid fund for Massachusetts artists. This legislation if passed, would allow for the State Treasurer’s Office to establish a specific state fund for Disaster/Emergency Aid for Massachusetts Artists working in all disciplines. This fund will be used to help artists who have had a health care emergency (i.e., could not pay their medical bills or medical insurance) as well as to help those artists who suffered other types of emergencies (fires, floods, theft). The funds would be generated from money raised from the private sector. With the blessing of Cindy Walsh, Representative Chris Walsh’s wife, this fund will be named after him.

2) An Act relative to procurement services for artists. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Public Procurement Act, Chapter 30B, has precise language on the process for the procurement of supplies, services or real property by a governmental body. Currently, under 30B, it is not possible to pay artists to develop a concept. The competitive bidding process does not take into account subjective value, something intrinsic to art. The proposed legislation corrects this and, if passed, will allow more public art, artists-in-residency programs, and artists of all disciplines to be hired by our municipalities. This Act is revenue neutral. States that allow this exemption are: AK, Delaware, FL, GA, ID, IL, KY, NJ, NM, NC, PA, RI, SC, and SD.

3) An Act Relative to the Creative Economy. The Independent Contractor law change in 2004 has negatively impacted those in the Creative Economy ever since. This proposed bill will fix this issue for our sector using an intellectual property carve out*. The 2004 Independent Contractor law change made it next to impossible for people to be classified as independent contractors in Massachusetts. When you are classified as an employee, you do not own or control your intellectual property. The employer owns what you create. If the proposed bill passes, artists of all disciplines will be exempt from the Independent Contractor Law and will safeguard others from being forced into an independent contractor status.

*The individual needs to “freely and voluntarily identifies, markets or promotes oneself as a freelancer, as self-employed, as a sole proprietor or as an independent business; (ii) controls and regularly negotiates the use of the individual’s intellectual property; and (iii) meets the federal standards for being an independent contractor including, but not limited to, standards developed by the United States Internal Revenue Service or Department of Labor.”

We are hopeful that through our work with our supporters and collaborators, we can pass these needed pieces of legislation.

Finally, MALC is excited to work with the State House’s Cultural Caucus, the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASSCreative, and other state-wide collaborators in 2019 to make our Commonwealth the best it can be for artists of all disciplines.

Onward to 2019!