Equity in the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture

In our work, we often use the words "agency", "department", and "office" interchangeably. In Boston, public agencies are often governed by a commission and are somewhat separate from the operations and governance of departments and offices within the administration. Some examples of agencies in Boston are the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), and the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA).

An application is a formal, often written, request or response that a person will complete and submit to be considered for a program or opportunity. When we use the word application, we are often referring to the process through which the constituents we serve submit information to receive grants and other opportunities through our office.

According to Springboard for the Arts, “An artist is anyone who thinks creatively about the world and their dynamic place in it. Our definition of artist is broad and includes visual artists, performers, writers, music creators, culture bearers, makers, artisans, storytellers, social conveners, idea purveyors, imaginaries, visionaries, students, teachers, organizers and nurturers. Artists are a powerful natural resource and they exist in every place and community.”

Civic engagement is the practice of being involved, informed, and interested in activities relating to a city or town, especially its governmental and/or political administration. In Boston, we would often use the phrase “civic engagement” to describe residents' involvement and advocacy work related to our municipal government.

The Center for Performance and Civic Practice defines this as “projects that bring artists into collaboration and co-design with community partners and local residents around a community-defined aspiration, challenge or vision."

• In our Boston Artists-in-Residence program, we define civic practice as the collaborative effort between the City and artists to imagine and test new approaches to City of Boston policies, processes, and procedures that speak to existing issues or questions in a department.

Collection refers to artworks that have been commissioned, donated, purchased, or otherwise acquired by the City of Boston via majority vote of the Boston Art Commission. This includes artworks colloquially referred to as public art. The public art team documents artworks included within this definition as well as short-term artworks and artworks on private property such as murals and artworks that have been deaccessioned. 

We use the word commission in two ways:

• To signify the act of requesting and authorizing the production of a work of art,
• and when we talk about the Boston Art Commission, which is an independent board of mayorally-appointed volunteers that approves and commissions public artworks around the City in partnership with our office.

Cultural space includes spaces to make work, such as:

• artist studios
• rehearsal spaces
• fabrication spaces
• recording spaces
• fashion studios
• photography studios, and
• film facilities.

It also includes spaces to present work, such as:

• live music venues
• performance spaces
• gallery spaces,
• outdoor spaces,
• event spaces, and
• gathering spaces that host cultural events.

Artist work-live housing is another form of cultural space.

Merriam-Webster defines culture as: 

• the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group
• the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time;
• the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization;
• the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic;
• the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.

Indigenous Roots and McKnight Artist Fellowships provide the following definition of culture bearers: “Culture Bearers practice intergenerational lifeways and living, evolving cultural art practices that educate, exchange, and share in order to preserve ancestral knowledge. In this work, Culture Bearers hold a direct throughline from ancestors and teachers and center sharing their practice with youth. The role of culture bearer is particularly important within ancestral cultures undergoing transition or experiencing threat from outside and dominizing culture(s).”

A culture worker is someone who works to uphold, grow, conserve or restore a specific culture, or a community connected by culture, through education, artistic production, care work, or community organizing, while motivated by a sense of equity, and accountability towards that culture and others within it.  

We often use the words "department" and "office" interchangeably. When we use the word "department" we use it to describe a public department that functions as part of the larger municipal government in Boston.

This is an acronym that stands for Asian American (and) Pacific Islander.

 ADA relates to The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and is an informal acronym that is often used to refer to this civil rights law. The ADA is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. When our office refers to the ADA, we are often thinking of ways the arts can be more accessible to persons with disabilities. We are thinking about accessibility both for audience members and artists/creators, and the laws and regulations that have been put in place to guide accessibility in arts spaces and programs.

ALAANA is an acronym coined by Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) that stands for “African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, (and) Native American.” ALAANA was preceded by ALANA and AHANA, which were first used by Brown University in the 1970s. GIA added the third A (Arab) in the 2000s. ALAANA is an alternative to POC (People of Color) that does not present whiteness as the norm or standard. 

BIPOC is an acronym that stands for “Black, Indigenous, [and] People of Color.” It is a 21st-century modification of the term “people of colo(u)r,” which has been used since the 1790s. The additional leading B and I are to acknowledge that Black and Indigenous communities have a different relation to whiteness and distinguishes them from the larger POC grouping. 

Resilient Boston defines diversity as "having a high number of races, cultures, and ethnicities represented within a group, organization, or institution."

The City's Language and Communications Access (LCA) office defines this as "when a person has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment."

Resilient Boston defines inclusion as "involving people of all backgrounds, abilities, perspectives, and beliefs within a group, institution, or decision. This is more than achieving diversity; it is ensuring all individuals have a true sense of belonging."

Resilient Boston defines equity as "respectful treatment and fair involvement of all people in a society. It is the state in which everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Additionally, the National Academy of Public Administration, which has been studying the use of equity as a means of evaluating public policy describes equity as the “fair, just, and equitable management of all institutions serving the public directly or by contract; the fair, just, and equitable distribution of public services and implementation of public policy; and the commitment to promote fairness, justice, and equity in the formation of public policy.” This definition lays the groundwork for measuring equity in Resilient Boston’s initiatives."

LEP stands for “Limited English Proficiency” and is used to describe when a person does not speak English as their primary language and has a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English.

LGBTQIA+ is an acronym that stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual and/or Ally +,” with the + intending to stand in for any identities outside of heterosexuality and cisgender that were not listed (such as two-spirit or pansexual). Versions of the acronym have been in use in the USA since the 1980s; previous iterations  include GLB, LGB, LGBT, LGBTQ, LQBTQ+. It is usually used as a catch-all designation to refer to people who are not straight and/or cis-gender.

This acronym stands for “Language other than English” and refers to when an individual does not speak English as their primary language and has limited ability to read, write, speak or understand English.

POC is an acronym that stands for “People of color”. This term was created and used by people who do not identify as white (or of European heritage). This term has been used since the late 1970s.

The federal government uses the term “underserved communities” to refer to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life.

More information about these terms and other topics related to equity can be found on the Language and Communications Access website and the Office of Resilience and Racial Equity website.