Life’s Interconnections (6/7/24)
This morning I attended the Charles River Chamber of Commerce Spring Breakfast honoring the retirement of Susan Paley, Vice President of Community Relations at the Village Bank.
The Village Bank has been a long time supporter of the Suzuki School of Newton, and it is thanks to them that we are able to offer so many of our school events, such as our solo recitals and graduations, without additional charges to the students' families. Susan has been a strong advocate for us in the Village Bank's charitable giving, and she is very active in many Newton community projects and events. I will be sad to lose Susan in our relationship with the Village Bank, but am hopeful the Bank and Susan will still be active supporters for our School.
At this Breakfast, the keynote speaker was Edward Augustus, the Commonwealth's Secretary of Housing, a position that has not been utilized in 30 years. The Healey-Driscoll administration reactivated this cabinet-level position as a means to address the housing shortage in Massachusetts. Following Mr. Augustus' address, there was a four-member panel discussion composed of Jason Hoch (Innovation Institute at MA Tech Collaborative), Kate Fox (Office of Tourism), Dr. Emily Reichert (Climate Tech) and Michael Bobbitt (Mass Cultural Council). What do housing, innovation, tourism, climate tech, and culture all have to do with one another?
These issues are all interconnected, and I am thinking to myself that they are all a part of the state's budget process, and thus in need of dollars for their programs. While these may seem like competing problems, in fact, they are all interwoven and their solutions are all related to one another. The common factor in all these issues is their effect on us, the people who live in Massachusetts.
The high cost of housing is a serious enough issue that companies are worried about attracting good staff from those who are coming out of our top Massachusetts universities. Climate change is affecting our quality of life. Our work-life balance and our health depends upon having a chance to go to a concert, play, or museum, or even to take a dance class. To nurture our young people, we need to ensure they have strong academics and physical education, but they also need access to the arts to develop their emotional health and creative skills. No one factor can be improved upon without looking at the whole picture.
Attending this event, where the attendees are not the same professionals with whom I usually interact, brings this perspective clearly into view. While one hears questions asking how we can support more housing, better transportation and reducing carbon emissions and global warming, one worries that asking for funding to support childcare costs and free concerts may be a lost cause. I know the cultural sector alone is a $25.8 billion industry in the state of Massachusetts. That is larger than the real estate industry. The benefits of a strong cultural sector are not limited to the performing, visual, and literary arts: culture also attracts tourism to the area, boosts spending at hotels and restaurants, and similarly strengthens retail business. Culture supports 4.6 million jobs, and payroll is the Suzuki School of Newton's single largest expense. And yet, funding for the arts is usually the first to be cut. This is not only true for government funding and private donations, but also for school budgets and in family spending.
However, as one looks at the respective industries represented by the guest panelists, one sees that they are all united in improving the economy and the quality of life for all of us. In the end, these different domains are in fact all generating additional income to the State as economic drivers. This means that jobs, housing, and quality of life all come together through our growing concerns for each other.
The Suzuki School of Newton will soon be sending out our June appeal letter as part of our never-ceasing efforts to remain accessible to families who cannot afford music lessons without financial help. We hope that we, as a community, can all come together in support for one another in whatever means is possible for each of us.
- Sachiko