MELROSE CREATIVE ALLIANCE
Note: this is a temporary site while the Creative Alliance builds a new online home!
Melrose is home to hundreds of arts and cultural assets that comprise our local economy, enrich our quality of life, and contribute to our sense of place. Cultivating opportunities for these assets to thrive, access funding, secure space, and reach audiences is an ever-present challenge. It can also be challenging for residents and visitors to learn how to engage in all we have to offer. And our community is committed to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion in our arts and cultural offerings.
In March 2022, a volunteer group of dedicated creative producers organized and hosted a first-of-its-kind Melrose Arts Summit.. The half day workshop explored two key questions:
What is our collective vision for a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable arts and cultural sector? and
How can we work together to get there?
Roughly a dozen volunteers subsequently formed the Melrose Creative Alliance, working and meeting regularly to distill over 18 pages of participant notes and transcripts into an actionable set of priorities and initiatives. The results of this work and the findings presented here represent the shared voices and vision of over 80 creative Melrose producers and consumers. Read our progress report.
Contact us at: melrosecreativealliance@gmail.com
Mission
Formalize and build underlying support and capacity for a vibrant, diverse, inclusive and sustainable arts and cultural sector in Melrose.
Vision
The arts in Melrose will be a vehicle to create connections, raise awareness, educate and inform. Support for arts and culture will be public and transparent, and will include funding and human resources. Working artists are supported with resources, a sense of community, and professional development. The definition of arts is also expanded to encourage a wide array of creative participation. Melrose will be colorful and music-filled, and will host frequent cultural events, making it a vibrant destination for Melrose residents and neighbors.
TOP 3 PRIORITIES
Central to our identified priorities is a commitment to fostering diversity, equity, access and inclusion through and in our arts offerings. Additionally, the single most cited value at the Summit is the idea that this work merits a financial commitment to paid professional human resources to advance our goals.
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Connect people through the arts. Build trust, intentional and meaningful long-term relationships throughout the community.
Make space for marginalized creative voices, elevate artists and creatives both in and out of Melrose;
Visible and demonstrated support for arts and creativity in our community; an environment where creativity is clearly valued and supported;
Support arts and creative offerings that take place in the public realm and foster social connections among residents;
Connect talent pools of human resources, and make information and resources for creative producers more accessible;
Create networking and development opportunities for creatives;
Provide arts producers with professional development in outreach, communications, accessibility, DEIA.
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Improve systems of community communications and outreach, to make it easier for audiences to find creative offerings and support artists. Build systems for artists and creatives to reach the community, both technology and human resources, and offer professional development in marketing and communications.
Build systems and structure to make it easier for creative producers to get their message out to a wider community;
Make it easier for residents and consumers to find out about creative offerings in the community, awareness of creative practitioners, and how to support them;
Develop a robust marketing effort across Creative Alliance, City of Melrose, and Chamber of Commerce;
Examine the structures and systems currently in place that may be barriers to inclusivity and participation.
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Equitable access to public spaces for presenting creative work. Melrose is a platform for creativity, arts & culture, where businesses and people can easily actualize initiatives and projects to support a healthy community, economic development, and thriving vibrant city.
Every space - inside and outside, private and public - will be ready, accessible, and cost-effective for all;
How to identify, navigate and simplify rules, paperwork, barriers;
Affordability; booking structures that don’t rely on small arts orgs to subsidize;
Variety of right-sized spaces for variety of needs;
Support for orgs who need frequent access to space for ongoing use;
Using public spaces to meet neighbors and bring people together;
Creative happenings with little formal structure needed - popups of creative participation.
TOP 3 INITIATIVES
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Creative HIVE
An online hub of information for creative producers and arts consumers. This initiative is not a substitute for human efforts in relationship building, but rather a tool most requested at the Summit to help creative producers reach audiences and help residents discover creative offerings.
Event listings, classifieds, funding sources, venues information, artist directories, articles;
Users can add content (events, classifieds) and extract content (listings sent directly to an email inbox).
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Creative CONNECT
In-person meetups featuring guest speakers, presentations, and relationship building opportunities in areas of artist professional development and community building.
Professional development in marketing, accessibility, public art, and more;
Relationship building with community and civic groups: RJCC, HRC, Friends of METCO, Council on Aging, church leaders, etc.
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Creative DISTRICT
Pursue a state-designated Arts & Cultural District; a walkable district that infuses creativity into downtown businesses to activate the local economy.
Cultural Districts are eligible for upwards of $5K in annual funding;
The Melrose Creative Alliance has begun this work and is well-positioned for success.