Being thanked

Last week, the Massachusetts Cultural Council invited members of local cultural councils and arts councils to come to the State House in the morning and tour the new ICA in the afternoon. About 350 of us took them up on the invitation, and were treated to an interesting and inspiring day. It was fun to meet people from other councils and compare notes, learn some of the history of the MCC and of the State House, and get a sense of the scale of the LCC project. The highlight for me was having a number of legislators, MCC staff, and other speakers all thank us for our work on our local councils.

I’m actually used to being thanked by name by authors and editors in their prefaces, and I’m occasionally called out at a conference whose proceedings I’m publishing. I’ve also received some wonderful personal notes from authors I’ve worked with. It’s gratifying to be recognized for my work, which I like to think I’m good at and which I believe helps my academic field. But the LCC project is larger (even if my role in it is infinitely smaller), and this day at the State House made me really proud to be a part of it. Gallup reportedly did a research poll recently that asked for the first time what made people satisfied with their communities. The first and second most important factors they found were aesthetics and how welcoming the community is. As Anita Walker, the executive director of the MCC, pointed out, our work in supporting and promoting performances and fairs and concerts and lectures and classes and field trips has a real impact on both of those factors, and helps make Massachusetts a place where people want to live. That’s a good feeling, and being thanked for helping out makes it even better.