Boston wants to build more space for the arts. It just needs a plan

From theaters to galleries to studios, space to make art in Boston is in short supply. The city thinks a cultural infrastructure plan could offer a fix.

“ We plan for everything else in cities,” said Joseph Henry, the Director of Cultural Planning for the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. “We plan for schools, we plan for roads, we plan transit, we plan housing.”

Now, the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture wants to plan for art. Earlier this month, it issued a request for proposals for a Civic and Cultural Infrastructure Planning Framework. It is seeking a team of consultants to evaluate the infrastructure needs of the city’s cultural sector, and recommend policies and investments to fulfill them.

“We haven’t been giving developers and ourselves the tools to advocate for culture properly,” Henry said. “So we don’t know where things need to be, how big they need to be, and what types of spaces need to come forwards.”

City officials say that Boston has lost at least 100,000 square feet of art space in the last decade. Fans and artists have protested the closures of cultural anchors like the Piano Craft Guild artist studios in the South End and the beloved indie rock club Great Scott in Allston. Despite efforts to replace some shuttered landmarks, new cultural spaces have not kept pace with need. According to the city, only 1% of new development approved in the last 10 years was for the arts.

A cultural infrastructure plan, Henry said, would help his office negotiate with developers. It would also allow the city to determine exactly what kind of cultural space needs to be built and develop best practices around how to build it.

“ I hope that it allows us to retain our talent because they can see that we’re building the infrastructure that they need and not the infrastructure we think they need,” he said.

The planning framework sought by the city of Boston is reminiscent of a cultural infrastructure plan adopted by London in 2017. That plan led to the development of the Thames Estuary Production Corridor, a fabrication district designed to support the city’s fashion and screen industries. (Henry, who was previously employed by the Greater London Authority, led the project.) London’s cultural infrastructure plan also helped establish its creative land trust, allowing the city to preserve affordable arts space in perpetuity.

As for Boston, Henry hopes an infrastructure plan would lead to “culturally affirmative zoning” to eliminate red tape. “ It’d be really great if you could open up artist workspaces without having to get a zoning board of approval appeal,” he said.

Henry emphasized that any special zoning for the arts need not be at odds with the city’s housing goals.

“ I don’t want culture, which is at risk of displacement, to then displace people in their homes,” he said. He pointed to a city plan to build music rehearsal space alongside affordable housing as a potential model. “If  you can collaborate and partner across different departments, you can actually deliver projects that support two sets of agendas at the same time.”

Proposals for the civic and cultural infrastructure planning framework are due in mid-January. The city has budgeted $250,000 for the project and expects the process to take 12 to 18 months.