Deep dive: BIPOC Boston — A special analysis from Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation

This special analysis centers the voices of people of color in the Boston metro area, and is part of Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: Focus on Massachusetts, a state-specific “deep dive” commissioned by the Barr Foundation to help connect the cultural sector across Massachusetts with the experiences and needs of its communities and audiences during the pandemic and beyond. In this report, we share findings about Boston-area BIPOC residents’ attitudes, behaviors, and hopes for the arts and culture sector. We explore the kinds of change and transformation that people want to see in the arts and culture sector, key building blocks for a more resilient and relevant sector, and the impacts of online and offline experiences in their cultural lives, among other themes. These findings are based on more than 8,000 survey responses collected from Massachusetts residents and more than 75,000 responses to the second wave of the national survey.

The Massachusetts reports in this series build on our equity-focused, pandemic-era national research collaboration, Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: A Special Edition of Culture Track, undertaking in partnership with LaPlaca Cohen and Yancey Consulting and with support from several national and regional foundations.

We welcome your thoughts, questions, and comments about this report; please email the Culture + Community research team at CCTT@sloverlinett.com.

See also:
Focus on Metro Boston, a companion report in the same Barr Foundation/Slover Linett series; and video of the Boston convening in May 2022, with presentations of the research findings and panel discussions with community-based arts and culture practitioners and funders, co-hosted by the Barr Foundation, the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, Boston Public Library, and Slover Linett.