Haverhill Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Arts and culture organization Creative Haverhill will receive a $28,000 state Adams Grant, while other city non-profits will share $25,300 in other Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) grants this fiscal year.
The Adams Arts Program grant was again awarded Wednesday to Creative Haverhill, according to Haverhill Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. The grant is aimed to “encourage economic development and tourism to the Riverfront Cultural District, connect local artists to educational and economic opportunities and to promote visibility and visitation to Haverhill’s cultural treasures.”
“These grant will assist Creative Haverhill and the Haverhill Cultural Council in continuing the great work they do providing opportunity for our local artists and outstanding cultural programming for Haverhill residents,” Dempsey said in a statement. “It’s important that we support and our local creative economies and continue to bring cultural investments to Haverhill.”
In addition, MCC has allocated a $25,300 grant amount to Haverhill Cultural Council. The local council is expected today to launch an online application process for individuals, schools or cultural organizations to tap into this money “to directly support local arts and history, fund school field trips and sponsor local concerts and exhibitions.”
Dempsey was joined by Reps. Diana Dizoglio and Linda Dean Campbell, both of Methuen, as well as Sen. Kathleen A. O’Connor Ives of Newburyport, in Wednesday’s announcement.
“These critical grants will contribute to the ongoing cultural revitalization of Haverhill,” Campbell said. “They will also ensure that Haverhill continues to attract families and young people from throughout the Merrimack Valley.”
“The Haverhill Cultural Council and Creative Haverhill are tireless champions of artistic and cultural initiatives in the city, and will use these state grants to support enrichment programming and events that boost the local creative economy and other businesses by attracting visitors to Haverhill,” O’Connor Ives said.
Creative Haverhill, a former arm of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, moved in August, 2015, to its current offices within the Downtown Cultural District at 22 Wingate St.
Last May, as WHAV reported, it had lobbied for support to a funding plan, proposed by City Councilors Andy Vargas and Thomas J. Sullivan, in which the city would contribute five percent of meals tax and parking fine revenues through an “ACT! Haverhill” fund. The proposed city contribution to Creative Haverhill, estimated at $45,000 per year, was to be matched by corporate sponsors “to promote arts, culture and tourism, as a tool for Haverhill economic development,”
The City of Haverhill once supported Creative Haverhill through its Community Development Block Grant program. In 2013, the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce turned away $15,000 in continuing city grant money.
I apologize for the typos. Another comment… while these guys are trying to improve Haverhill businesses, the city has done a terrible job with road work downtown. They are limiting the amount of traffic businesses are getting because streets are always closed and detours make it so people go around and can’t get where they want to get. If enough people complain about it maybe things will change. This is hurting locaL businesses.
Jack with another tough guy comment as always. How about we focus on Andy Vargas and Brian Dempsey trying to improve the community? They have a focus on revitalizing Haverhill and bringing new business here. I think it’s a good thing that they have been successfulin allocatin these funds. Now we need to focus on homelessness and the drug problem in the city.
Dan, vargas is a hack liberal who supports a racist agenda. Let’s hope he’s one and done. Although his team haverhill friends are trying hard to keep him around.
Focus on Vargas? Okay.
In 1994, when Acorn Andy was 2 years old, the City of Haverhill experienced a nightmare when a little boy was kidnapped by an illegal criminal trespasser from another country (someone who had been deported several times) and killed him and stuffed his body in the trunk of a car in a junkyard. You’d think that would be a wake up call to liberals in this city, but it made no impact what so ever. Since then, the social and economic impact on Haverhill police and schools of open border policy and out of control liberalism has been staggering. But Acorn Andy doesn’t see it that way. He’s an outspoken advocate of more of the same, to the point where in a recent meeting discussing public policy he assisted an illegal trespasser in this country to actually comment as if that person has any rights even being in such a meeting. But there was Andy, doing what he can as a community organizer by assisting a criminal in any way he can. The irony Dan, is that Andy was assisting a woman who wasn’t even a citizen of this country while at the same time saying absolutely nothing as an elected public official about a woman being raped in a city public park by two illegal trespassers. Why do you think that is? Don’t women who are “actual” citizens of this city have rights that Acorn Andy is interested in protecting? Protecting the liberal agenda is much more important to Andy and all the other looney democrats in this city like mayor failurentini and especially Daly O’Brien. So much so, that Day O’Brien actually got an award recently for being an outstanding democrat. See how it works Dan….liberal democrats give out trophies for NOT doing anything.
Dan, I know you don’t like the “out of control liberalism” examples that I often provide here. There is just no denying FACTS. I welcome your opinions to the contrary.
Any time there is taxpayer money flowing back to actual taxpayers all the hacks line up to take credit. Even those that never even step foot in the City of Haverhill.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Dizoglio, Dean Campbell, O’Connor Ives and award winning liberal democrat Daly O’Brien showed as much interest in women being raped by criminal illegal trespassers in the city as they do for taking credit for spending taxpayer funds?.
“They will also ensure that Haverhill continues to attract families and young people from throughout the Merrimack Valley.” –
The reason why Haverhill is attractive is because everyone is too poor to live anywhere else. Incomes continue to decline as well as home ownership, now in freefall in Massachusetts, meanwhile home price is being pushed by higher-end buyers, and continues to go higher.
“Creative Haverhill will receive a $28,000 state Adams Grant” –
They should have got more. I mean, when Brian dempsey can cut a $70 million dollar taxpayer paid check and hand it directly to The Fish Family with a wink/nod/handshake, $28K seems like chump change, maybe even insulting. Even more insulting because the State Budget is being balanced by more debt issuance, roughtly a Billion dollars this time around, and continues going further. What’s a few hundred-thousand extra in bond issuance when you reach this point of debt service?
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=6VnJ