Last night I spoke on a panel organized by SPARK Boston with Yng-Ru Chen, founder of Praise Shadows Art Gallery, Joseph Zeal-Henry, the new chief of arts and culture for the City of Boston, and Michael Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Alliance. The panel was, in a way, a celebration, given the opening of Praise Shadows in Boston’s Chinatown/Leather District and the recent announcement of Zeal-Henry to the highest-ranking city government post in the arts, both stories covered by BAR this past week.
The largely thirty-thousand-foot-level talk focused on the dynamics that make the arts ecosystem in Boston unique. (For my hot takes on this specifically, support local journalism by subscribing and requesting a copy of our fall/winter 2025 Issue 15. We are less expensive than subscriptions to legacy publications and your support is critical to keeping the Wonk wonking. Also we’re a nonprofit so donations are a tax write-off. ‘Tis the season.)
A central theme from the night was that while it’s easy to say the arts in Boston are facing challenges, there isn’t a single cause to point to. Instead, what emerged was a web of overlapping pressures—affordability, space, labor, and access—that shape the conditions artists are working within. But as I said in the panel last night, a lot of the problems that artists are suffering are the problems that all of us are suffering… the rent is too damn high for all of us. So how can we build a bigger tent and think about these pressures as coalition issues rather than something specific to the arts?
We spoke in depth about the City’s Downtown revitalization programs that helped bring Praise Shadows from Brookline to Boston and the translation needed (which is being realized by organizations like those helmed by Nichols and Zeal-Henry) to make the needs of the art industry legible to government and vice versa.
For example, Zeal-Henry explained that part of the reason Praise Shadows received a grant from the City that allowed them to open the new gallery in Downtown was because the fellowship program they operate (in partnership with BAR) is considered a workforce development program. His explanation drove home the importance of finding ways for arts workers to be more conversant in the languages of government and business. It’s not about giving in, or government dictating content, it’s about getting the artists access to resources that make their work legible as labor.
Zeal-Henry is doing a significant amount of this bridging, adeptly translating government to art and art to government. A transplant from the UK, he brings an international perspective, having served in London city government under mayor Sadiq Khan prior to moving to Boston in 2023. Last night’s conversation builds on our recent interview with Zeal-Henry, published on the heels of his appointment as Chief of Arts and Culture, where he begins to sketch out what it might look like to treat the arts not as a symbolic asset, but as infrastructure within city government. Read the exclusive here.
The Weeks in Wonk
National Arts Policy Alliance Names Three Co-Directors
On March 17, the National Arts Policy Alliance (NAPA), a program incubated by United States Artists, announced the appointment of three co-directors: Althea Erickson as director of advocacy & policy, Helena Huang as director of stewardship, and Lolan B. Sevilla as director of organizing. Established in 2024, NAPA is a research and organizing coalition designed to advance economic rights and justice for cultural workers working across local, state, and federal levels.
Learn more about NAPA and their work.
Boston Center for the Arts Names Shey Rivera Ríos New Artistic Director
According to the press release, “As Artistic Director, Rivera Ríos will guide the artistic direction of BCA programming and partnerships while strengthening the organization’s role as a civic and cultural anchor in Boston.” Originally from Puerto Rico, Rivera Ríos is a longtime New England resident and working artist who most recently held a leadership position at Providence’s interdisciplinary arts space, AS220.
Learn more.
Harvard’s Carpenter Center Names Kate M. McNamara as Director
According to the press release, McNamara will lead the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts’ artistic and academic programming while advancing its role as a hub for contemporary art within Harvard and the broader public. McNamara has served as interim director since Dan Byer’s departure in summer 2025 and brings a background spanning institutional and artist-run contexts, including roles at Boston University Art Galleries and MoMA PS1, as well as founding the experimental project space ODD-KIN.
Learn more.
Governor Healey Appoints Joyce Linehan to Mass Cultural Council
Governor Maura Healey appoints Dorchester resident and long time MA arts and policy insider Joyce Linehan to Mass Cultural Council’s governing board. Linehan previously served as the chief of policy and planning under former Governor Marty Walsh and as a special assistant to the president at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She currently serves as chief of staff for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
Calling All Clove-Smoking, Angsty College Boyfriends! Jack Kerouac’s On the Road Scroll Gets a New Home in Lowell
Country musician Zach Bryan purchased a 120-foot scroll of Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road for $12 million from auction at Christies. His plan is for the piece to anchor his proposed Jack Kerouac Center in a former church in Lowell. “That this manuscript, which is perhaps the most valuable in the world, will be at the center is a game changer,” said the executor of the Kerouac estate.
Working Without the Pressure of Success: In Keeping With Tradition, the Whitney Biennial Drops to Mixed Reviews
The Whitney Museum’s Biennial ostensibly serves as a pulse check on contemporary art in the US today. Nearly every edition, however, opens to mixed critical reviews—if not full-throated condemnation. This year is no exception, with many of the critics asking questions in the ArtWonk wheelhouse: What does this work show us about the relationship between artists, politics, and power today? You might read through a few and let us know what you think. Or make a donation to BAR to pay for an ArtWonk press trip to get our take. Just ideas.
Check out: E-flux; The New Yorker; ArtNet; Hyperallergic; Art in America
Consortium of Architects and Culture Groups Sues President Trump and Kennedy Center Board
A group of eight organizations, with a collective membership of over one million people, is suing the Trump administration to stop the planned renovations on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They cite the demolition of the East Wing of the White House as evidence that under President Trump, the administration plans “to fundamentally alter this iconic property without complying with bedrock federal historic preservation and environmental laws, and without securing the necessary Congressional authorization.” The suit seeks to have the board comply with historic preservation laws and have Congress approve any renovation plans before moving ahead with construction.
Read more.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Art to Award Bill Maher the Mark Twain Prize in Humor
The Kennedy Center Board announced that political talk show host Bill Maher—of the TV show Politically Incorrect and now Real Time with Bill Maher—is this year’s recipient of the annual award for achievement in humor. The award will be presented in a ceremony just before the center closes down for a two-years renovation.
Read more.
Dark Money in MA Politics
WBUR did a deep dive into One Commonwealth, the 501(c)(4) helping fund Governor Healey’s housing campaign. Sometimes called “dark money” nonprofits, 501(c)(4)s don’t have to disclose who contributes to them. Once rare, these organizations are now on the rise in the US and in MA. According to WBUR, ten of these organizations were started in Massachusetts in the past two years, but the IRS reporting lags, so it’s possible there are more. So far, donors to One Commonwealth include DraftKings and Peckham Industries, provoking questions about what interests a paving company and a gambling outfit might have in the governor’s MA housing policy.
Read more.
Calls for Civic Action
Weigh in on the Future of 290 North Beacon Street
The Boston Housing Authority and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture invite the public to a meeting to discuss a new housing and practice space planned for the site of the Sound Museum, which was demolished in 2023.
Thursday, April 16, 6:30–8 :00 p.m. Register for the Zoom meeting here.
