After the Massachusetts State Legislature approved an increase of $2,374,800—or 18%— to the Massachusetts Cultural Council on July 8, Governor Charlie Baker shocked the arts community by vetoing the funds on July 17. State Arts Action Network member MASSCreative rallied arts advocates to contact their state officials to override the governor’s veto. Within a week, arts and cultural leaders and supporters sent over 4,000 messages to their state representatives and senators.

The state’s Cultural Caucus  then circulated a letter—written by the Caucus Co-Chairs, Senator Dan Wolf of Harwich and Representative Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox—to the Legislature’s leadership asking it to support the override. By July 28, more than 100 members of both parties from the House and Senate had signed the letter. In addition, Senate President Stan Rosenberg of Amherst and House Speaker Robert DeLeo of Winthrop—along with Ways & Means Co-Chairs Sen. Karen Spilka of Ashland and Rep. Brian Dempsey of Haverhill—expressed strong support for the override.

The House and the Senate both overrode Gov. Baker’s veto with votes of 153-2 and 38-0 respectively. This marks an increase of 49%—from $9.5 million to $14.16 million—in the Commonwealth’s investment in the creative community over the past three years.