Episode 64: Michael Bobbitt (Mass Cultural Council)

Meet Michael Bobbitt! He's a Watertown resident and the Executive Director of the Mass Cultural Council along with being a distinguished theater artist in many ways himself (see long bio here). In this conversation we talk about how art saved him in his early years, his early successes from being the "best Hansel" to touring nationally to perform, his time in children's theater and building Adventure Theatre in the DC area from 15,000 patrons to 100,000 patrons, co-writing musicals with Bob Marley and Jim Davis, and eventually making his way to New Repertory Theater in Watertown and his current role at the Mass Cultural Council. We dig into topics such as the challenges of arts advocacy in Massachusetts, how and why the arts sector needs to change its beliefs, values and behavior, possible policy changes such as STEM to STEAM, how the arts in Massachusetts are saving healthcare money with the first in the nation arts prescribing program, his thoughts on Watertown arts, how the MCC has redesigned their grant programs to make them more accessible for all artists, and what's the day-to-day like for an executive director while also juggling his personal artistic projects.Learn more about the Mass Cultural Council at massculturalcouncil.orgSee what's going on with Watertown Arts and Culture at watertownmaculture.comAnd listen to Arts and Culture Roundtable and Creative Chats episodes.(Photo Credit: Kris Studios) Support the showHead on over to www.littlelocalconversations.com to check out all the episodes, events, and everything else going on. Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter Follow on Instagram: @littlelocalconversationsUpcoming events! Click here to see upcoming live podcast events.