Boston – MassDevelopment has selected partnerships from Fitchburg, Lynn, and Springfield, Mass. to participate in a two-year program aimed at building a sustainable artistic and cultural infrastructure within a city as a mechanism for supporting economic growth, representing a $1,605,000 investment in the communities.
MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) Creative Cities supports existing arts and culture partnerships in graduated TDI districts and helps build a creative infrastructure in these cities that can continue after the program ends.
In Fitchburg, the TDI Creative Cities program will be led by ReImagine North of Main. The partnership will leverage capacity, resident participation, and recent improvements in local art and culture activity to create equitable opportunities for economic and community growth and development. The program will help stabilize projects and organizations, provide additional and enhanced professional development for emerging resident leaders, and create a signature event designed to represent the full diversity of cultures in Fitchburg.
In Lynn, the program will be led by the City of Lynn’s Planning Department. The partnership will merge small business recovery with innovative arts, culture, and leadership development activities with a focus on amplifying Lynn’s underrepresented voices and promoting equitable economic development.
In Springfield, the program will be led by Art for the Soul Gallery. The partnership will focus on providing technical assistance and professional development for underserved populations within Springfield’s creative economy, helping area organizations and individuals build the structures necessary to advance cross-cultural collaboration and creative and cultural empowerment downtown and citywide.
MassDevelopment’s TDI Creative Cities is made possible by the Barr Foundation, which has awarded $4.4 million since 2019 to MassDevelopment to create and administer arts-based programming for gateway cities.
