In collaboration with the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) and the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA), and led by Isenberg Projects, Agency worked to improve transparency and streamline processes around providing low-cost space to arts & cultural tenants on the waterfront.
Boston has been leveraging the power of a state law called Chapter 91 (which protects public access to the Massachusetts waterfront) to create and protect arts and cultural space for many years but saw room to improve its processes to better meet the needs of the arts community today. To support this work, Agency led an inventory of existing Civic and Cultural Facilities of Public Accommodation (FPAs) protected by that law, conducting document reviews, site visits, and interviews to understand the landscape today.
To build on Boston’s waterfront, developers need to secure a Chapter 91 license, which protects the agreed-upon public benefits for anywhere from 30-96 years. Agency analyzed existing licenses and compared them to strengths and challenges identified in the inventory to understand how existing Chapter 91 license language does or doesn’t support the city’s goals. Finally, Agency identified and mapped all anticipated and projected future FPA spaces across the city.
Agency and Isenberg Projects then crafted recommendations to support an improved process for arts and cultural non-profits who are or hope to be tenants of FPA spaces, as well as developers pursuing Chapter 91 licenses.
Both non-profit tenants and developers struggle with lack of consistency and standardization in the FPA process today. The City can work with the State to develop standard language around the desired outcomes and requirements for civic and cultural FPA space. This would make it easier for developers to provide the desired public benefits and more appealing and accessible to the arts community looking for office, studio, gallery space and more. MOAC can work to demystify the FPA process and make the application workflow more accessible to potential non-profit tenants. Finally, our study identified the need to embed climate resilience requirements and considerations into the Chapter 91 licensing process.
You can read the full report here.
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