Community shows supports for arts in Medford at City Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Vocal support was strong but greater economic support may prove more of a challenge
By Crystal Yormick
The Medford Arts Council and Arts Collaborative Medford received a wide show of support for increased arts and culture funding and support from residents, the arts community, and city council members at Medford’s Committee Meeting of the Whole Tuesday night.
Three volunteers presented the MAC and ACM’s vision for Medford, issues the arts are facing in the city and opportunities for collaboration with other city groups and initiatives to over 50 attendees who filled Medford City Hall. They requested funding for a part-time community arts liaison — which some residents said should be a full-time position instead — to promote greater efficiency and coordination in arts programming and increased funds for the arts council.
The three most influential reasons for spurred art growth in their presentation included activation of public spaces and community and economic impact.
However, as stated by City Council President Issac Bears, the council remains unable to fund the initiatives themselves. The only person with that power is the mayor through the city budget, he said.
“We can approve, cut or reject the request that we received,” Bears said to residents at the meeting. “That is the legal role of the city council under our city charter. So, we are advocates, but in many ways, we are advocates alongside you.”
Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said she is proposing to increase arts programming grants by $5,000 and add a 10-hour a week arts liaison to the staff for the upcoming fiscal year. This would be incorporated into the adopted budget if the council accepts the full proposal, she said.
Laura Jasinski, co-founder of MAC and one of the presenters, said she’s been able to meet with the mayor, and the amount of support at the meeting from city council and residents is a “sign of unity.”
About a dozen residents took the podium or spoke via Zoom in support of the funding requests, many of whose statements were met with cheers and applause. They pointed towards increased community engagement, quality of living and economic benefits as reasons to support arts in the city.
Residents also said art fosters public engagement, makes a place more appealing to live and provides people with activities to do. City Council Vice President Emily Lazzaro said her primary focus is always meeting the basic needs of the most vulnerable populations in Medford — the arts are “pretty primary” in this hierarchy, she said.
The city contributed about $60,000 in funding for FY25 budget. The MAC also received about $32,000 from the state. Resident Gary Roberts, former chair of the Medford Arts Council and founder of Arts Collaborative Medford, said despite this amount being exceeded in the past, it has remained around the same since 2018.
“Things have not gotten less expensive,” Roberts said. “So basically, they’ve not been [keeping] up with inflation.”
Unless budgets for other city departments like the library, senior centers and schools are altered so these departments can pay for arts with their own funding, then there will continue to be a
strong demand for funding from the art budget, Roberts said.
In a “cash-strapped” city like Medford, it can be difficult to find sources to pull funding from and budget changes often take years, Councilor Anna Callahan said.
“Even if it doesn’t make it into this budget, it’s important to have meetings like these,” Callahan said.
One resident, Elliot Jokelson, spoke out via Zoom against increased funding. He said he supports the arts but there should be no additional investment from the city until it addresses what Jokelson described as publicly supported anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist programming.
“Please do not increase Art Collaborative Medford’s funding until there is accountability and transparency and a serious process for addressing antisemitism in city-supported arts programming,” Jokelson said.
Residents also drew attention to events like the Medford Porch Fest, which happened this past Saturday, and spaces like the Chevalier Theatre and the Condon Shell as art investments with positive results for the community.
“Before the Chevalier Theatre got active with all these events, we had very few restaurants here in Medford, and now we have quite a few, a lot, many to go to” said resident Laura Duggan. “What drives that? Theatre. Our performances at the Chevalier Theatre.”
Some residents said they go to other towns like Somerville and Cambridge to enjoy the arts and stressed this as another reason for why Medford needs to invest in them more.
“Community members deserve to have access to the arts, whether or not they identify as artists,” resident Stephanie Houten said. “[Art] contributes to well-being. It impacts health in a positive way, and it just makes our community a better place to be in.”
