Community Foundation for MetroWest Logo
ARTbuilds logo

An Action Project to cultivate a vibrant and equitable arts and culture community

The Community Foundation for MetroWest (CFMW) is advancing a long-term commitment to strengthening arts and culture as essential drivers of community, vitality, economic opportunity, and regional identity. Through its participation in the Barr Foundation’s Creative Commonwealth Initiative, CFMW is helping shape the future of arts investment across MetroWest by aligning community voices, data and philanthropy to achieve lasting impact.

ARTBuilds MetroWest is CFMW’s Action Project for advancing a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable arts and culture landscape. By combining continues community engagement with datadriven insights, this strategic framework adapts over time while advancing a clear set of long-term goals.

musical duo performing on stage with guitars at Bellforge
Ash and Eric - Livingston Taylor at Bellforge Arts Center 9/3/2022
Courtesy of The Umbrella Arts Center
Bellforge Cultural Festival
Bellforge Cultural Festival Oct 8, 2022 | Courtesy of Bellforge Arts Center

Key Data

The arts are a vital and enriching force, adding significant value to our community and inspiring active engagement from those who participate. 

  • 90% of Metro Boston residents participated in personal creative activities during the pandemic years 
  • 96% of Metro Boston residents attended in-person cultural events/venues in the two years prior to the pandemic 

The arts bring insight and empathy, and boost connections and involvement in community and civic life. 

  • 72% of Americans say arts provide shared experiences with people of different races, ethnicities, ages, beliefs, and identities. 
  • 73% of American say that arts “help me understand other cultures better.” 
  • People who engage with arts, especially those involved in creating art, are more likely to be active in their communities and making a difference in the lives of others. 

Art brings vibrancy to our places; it attracts people and investment and injects new thinking and approaches to community change. 

  • In 2021, arts and cultural production in Massachusetts accounted for $27.2 billion in economic impact, 4.2% of the economy, and 135,181 jobs. 

  • In 2023, MetroWest Tourism spending amounted to $2,005 per resident, a return to pre-COVID amounts (as compared to $3,374 per person in Massachusetts, also a return to pre-COVID amounts).

Community Listening:
Investment Guided by Local Priorities

More than 60 community members participated in six listening sessions, facilitated by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council and in partnership with local nonprofits, to surface priorities and opportunities in MetroWest’s arts and culture landscape. Participants identified where targeted investment can strengthen spaces, expand access, and support artists—helping ensure donor dollars are aligned with community-defined needs, grounding this strategy in lived experience, not assumptions.

Tarciso Alves performs at Framingham History Center
Tarciso Alves performs at Framingham History Center | Photo by Sarah Jennings
Child interacts with Amazing Airways at Discovery Museum
Amazing Airways | Courtesy of Discovery Museum

Data & Accountability: Measuring Need and Progress

CFMW added arts and culture indicators to Impact MetroWest, its community data initiative, to identify opportunities and gaps, inform investment decisions, and track progress over time. This framework strengthens accountability and storytelling, helping donors see how investments in arts and culture translate into stronger communities, greater access, and regional economic vitality, with transparent metrics and ongoing reporting that demonstrates results.

Direct Investment: Early Wins and a Platform to Scale

As CFMW’s arts and culture Action Project, ARTbuilds MetroWest expands on that legacy by mobilizing additional, collective philanthropy to strengthen spaces, increase accessibility, and support working and teaching artists, including $50,000 in pilot planning grants to an inaugural set of community arts partners, an early investment phase that is already generating momentum and ready to scale with additional donor support.

Professional dancer dances with young boy
Courtesy of Bellforge Arts Center

Process

Phase One: Planning and Assessment

  • Conducted six community listening sessions in early 2025
  • Created an Arts & Culture section on Impact MetroWest
  • Created a draft definition of arts & culture
  • Outlined a framework for a healthy & vibrant arts & culture sector

Phase Two: Strategy & Investment

  • Piloting a program providing planning grants totaling $50,000 to four community art centers across the region
  • Leveraging listening sessions, community feedback, and data from Impact MetroWest to determine key trends and areas of opportunity or need
  • Mapping out how this work will lead to meaningful change
  • Engaging a group of artists to serve as Community Advisors to inform initiative strategy

Phase Three: Evaluation

  • Assess program sustainability
  • Expand and adjust scope of programs and funding priorities as needed

In Partnership with Barr Foundation

The Community Foundation for MetroWest is proud to partner with the Barr Foundation in supporting the arts through their Creative Commonwealth Initiative, a ten-year project aimed at strengthening community foundations as key resources for the arts across Massachusetts. 

The Barr Foundation chose community foundations as partners because of their unique ability to create hyper-local impact. The Community Foundation for MetroWest was selected as one of the eight community foundations in this initiative due to its longstanding commitment of arts and culture, its focus on data and storytelling to supplement and enhance its grant programing, and its dedication to elevating the arts across a diverse range of stakeholders in the community.  

For More Information Please Contact:

Caroline Murphy, Vice President of Programs and Donor Services
[email protected]

Alyssa Berkson, Program Manager
[email protected]