A state advisory council’s recommendation to strengthen Massachusetts’ creative economy is shaping both long‑term policy discussions and current legislative efforts, including proposals to expand creative space, workforce support and sustainable funding.

What’s ahead includes a statewide Arts and Culture Summit planned for 2026, continued advocacy at the State House during Creative Sector Advocacy Week, and efforts to advance legislation, such as the Creative Space Act.

Springfield’s Tiffany Allecia served on Gov. Maura Healey’s Cultural Economy Advisory Council, a state‑appointed body created in 2024 to develop policy recommendations for strengthening the creative economy.

The Healey administration released the council’s report and recommendations in April. It was informed by statewide listening sessions with artists, educators, cultural workers and creative entrepreneurs.

“We know the creative economy is a multibillion‑dollar sector — about 133,000 jobs generating roughly $27 billion in revenue — and it’s doing that without extensive organization,” Allecia said.

She said creative workers are often spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to access resources and sustained funding.

“The creative sector often gets dissected into education, mental health or tourism, instead of being recognized as its own economic engine,” she said.

Allecia said the work is about more than economic output — it’s about ensuring artists and cultural workers can live, work and create in their own communities.

Key challenges include limited access to affordable studios and creative spaces, short‑term training programs that pull creatives away from paid work, and grants that fail to provide long‑term support.

“If you want to use a commercial kitchen, do pottery or glassblowing, you often have to leave Springfield — those spaces simply don’t exist here,” she said.

Recommendations and goals

The council recommended defining and mapping the state’s cultural economy, and elevating arts and culture within state government through stronger cross‑sector partnerships.

It also called for capital investments to support downtown revitalization and preserve creative space, expanded business and workforce development for creative workers, and exploration of a permanent, sustainable revenue stream for the arts.

Advocacy organizations, including MASSCreative, are advancing a 2025–2026 legislative agenda that includes the Creative Space Act, which will address these long-standing issues.

Over a year later, several members of the Massachusetts State Police are now facing charges in the death of trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia — the result of a lengthy independent investigation into the tragedy at the Massachusetts State Police Academy.

It was revealed during a news conference on Monday that a state police academy supervisor and three instructors have been indicted following a nine-month independent investigation into the trooper’s death.

Delgado-Garcia showed concussion-like symptoms after unauthorized and unsupervised boxing matches during training, according to investigators.

The death of a trainee from injuries suffered at the Massachusetts State Police Academy in New Braintree in September of 2024 have prompted charges against three staff members.

A special statewide grand jury heard from more than 150 witnesses and reviewed hundreds of pieces of evidence before handing down the indictments.

Lt. Jennifer Penton and Troopers Edwin Rodriguez, David Montanez and Casey Lamonte are charged with involuntary manslaughter and causing serious bodily injury, with Penton also facing a perjury charge.

Read the indictments below:

“The evidence gathered by the grand jury compels criminal prosecution of certain members of the academy’s Defensive Tactics Unit,” independent investigator David Meier said.

Meier noted that there was no evidence that Delgado-Garcia was targeted or “that anyone — academy staff, fellow trainees or any others — harbored any personal animosity toward” him.

The death of the trooper from injuries he suffered during a training exercise last year has prompted an in-depth look into the academy.

NBC10 Boston has reached out to the troopers; Edwin Rodriguez did not want to comment, while the rest were not reachable Monday night.

They will be summoned to court for arraignment and it is not clear if they will remain on duty.

The other recruit involved in the sparring will not face consequences, according to the attorney general. Mass. State Police said that since Delgado-Garcia’s death, the academy has suspended boxing training, installed new leadership and reviewed all training practices.