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Take Action: Lowell Mason Act!
- mcgillicuddyc
- Sep 9
- 3 min read
Dear Visual and Performing Arts Education Organizations and Individual Supporters,
Please email this out to your members and colleagues as soon as possible. This Friday is the deadline to register to speak at next Tuesday’s hearing with the Joint Committee of Education.
Sincerely,
Arts|Learning
Take Action Today!
Lowell Mason Arts EducationEquity Act poised to Raise $millions in mandated Arts Education Spending!
The Arts Access for All Coalition of 9 Professional Arts Education Association has successfully submitted Massachusetts State Legislation sponsored by Representative Paul McMurtry. The Lowell Mason Act, if passed, will mandate a 1% increase of Chapter 70 State Funding to all school districts across the Commonwealth to be spent only on arts education. This could inject millions in dedicated arts education spending in the first year alone, mostly on new arts education staffing and programs.
This bill will now be reviewed in a hearing by the Joint Committee for Education on September 16, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM in person at the Gardner Auditorium in the MA Statehouse and also VIRTUALLY. It will be live streamed here. Please see the two actions that are critical for every Massachusetts Arts Educator to take in the next day or so (see below)!
Future generations of MA residents will be most grateful for your support as they use lifelong skills learned through the arts to stimulate and grow our economy and to create an enhanced positive cultural and artistic climate across Massachusetts.
Action Step Number One: Provide Testimony to the Joint Committee on Education
You can personally submit written testimony to the Joint Committee on Education. The more people who submit testimony can help convince the Committee that this legislation has broad support. It is incredibly important to add your own personal story why the artsmatter to you and/or to your students. This is actually more impactful than just quoting data points. Story telling is the most effective way to garner support.
Written testimony may be submitted by email to Fiona Bruce-Baiden and Dennis Burke, or by snail mail to the Committee on Education, 24 Beacon Street, Room 473G, Boston, MA 02133. The Chairs request that those submitting written testimony include “EDUCATION COMMITTEE TESTIMONY” and the bill number H4297 IN THE SUBJECT LINE, and provide the committee with your name, organization, and phone number. The Committee will accept written testimony until Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
Action Step Number Two: Contact Your local legislators and
Ask them to Co-Sponsor the Bill!
Send a Letter to Your local state Representative and state Senator through this campaign app (Thank you to NAfME for your support!). By putting in your home address, it will automatically contact your state representative and senate members with a sample letter which you may use or edit as you wish. This literally will only take minutes to do!
Again, it is important to add your personal story, and you can reuse what you submit as your own testimony in the letters to your local legislators. Please revise or add to the letter any way you wish. The point is to garner support from a large contingency of the MA legislature so the Education Committee just doesn’t sit on the bill without taking action.
It is important that this be done no later than this Friday, September 12, 2025.
Turn Up the Volume: Amplify Your Advocacy Voice!
Lowell Mason House Presentation
The Lowell Mason House is sponsoring a Lyceum program entitled “Turn Up the Volume: Amplify Your Advocacy Voice!” On Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 6:30pm at the First Parish Meetinghouse, 26 North Street, Medfield, MA. Advocacy is a common term in music education, but what is it and how do we do it? What does proactive advocacy look like?
Join Allyson Rottman, Advocacy Chair for MMEA, for a presentation and roundtable discussion focused on music education in Massachusetts and advocating for the future. Participants will gain practical tools and methods for building support for music programs and have the opportunity to connect with music colleagues from around the state. She will also discuss the upcoming public hearing at the Massachusetts State House on H4297 “The Lowell Mason Act - to mandate a percentage of Chapter 70 funds for Arts EducationPrograms”. Free admission.
Arts|Learning is a nonprofit organization with a mission to transform learning experiences for children through the arts by developing partnerships to create model programs, engage in public advocacy, and advance the field of arts education.
