Boston Neighborhood Network News

0:00Good evening, Boston. Welcome back to B&N News. I'm Natalie Candler. Thanks for tuning in. Earlier this week, Mayor Wu and BPS launched a new program, the inaugural Boston Public Schools All-Star Marching Band. Aiming to support students in reaching their full potential and investing in the future of our community, the inaugural band will connect students to economic, cultural and social opportunities. We'll get compensated for their time in both practices and matches. Students will be able to connect their passion for music with future leadership and career opportunities. Formed by the Mayor's Office of Tourism, Sports and Entertainment and initially funded by Boston Legacy Football Club, the marching band will represent Boston at major events, as well as serve as the official in-house band at White Stadium for the Boston Legacy Football Club. The band was actually formed last year, and since then, students have been regularly practicing as individual school cohorts and as a full ensemble with the help of their music teachers

1:04and volunteer mentors. Now consisting of 75 students across 10 BPS schools, the program will expand over the next few years to include more students and offer elevated arts and cultural opportunities. On Monday at the substation in Roslanddale, Mayor Wu listened to the concerns of local business owners regarding the city of Boston's efforts to improve the process of permitting with the city. We know that restaurants in every neighborhood are the anchor for what keeps jobs and economic activity, but also fun and community-going, and historically it's been harder for restaurants to open in some parts of the city than others. So with our liquor license program, partnering with the city council in the state house, we had 225 new liquor licenses to award, and that's the biggest amount since prohibition. That's been going a long way to make sure that in every neighborhood there's access to those kinds of economic opportunities. Hospitality Group BCB3 talked in detail

2:09about confusion amongst business owners and city officials emphasizing their desire for equal rulings across the board. I am literally sweating for my tomorrow inspection with the health department because I reopened in a space that had been there for 25 years doing the same exact thing I'm going to do in the prep station that's been there since 1945 as a hotel, and they didn't want anything exposed. Meanwhile last night I had dinner in a restaurant where they had all the sprinkler pipes exposed, so which is it, right? So I think that that mentorship needs to come from the city, I strongly feel, because the city needs to then say, oh wait a second, things have changed, because even I couldn't tell you what the most up-to-date thing is because it could change tomorrow. So I think it's important for it to come from the city. Local business owners share their experiences with the permitting process, which is oftentimes frustrating and time

3:11consuming. In order to get a permit right now there's a lot of obstacles and one of the biggest thing is timing. It takes too long, sometimes it takes longer because as a business owner you don't know what they're looking for. So educating new business owners what they need prior to them starting their steps into the new business will help a lot. Those who came out to the discussion hope that feedback gathered at the roundtable and beyond will help shape further permitting reforms. Over 600 people attended advocacy day for the creative economy on Tuesday at the state house hosted by mass creative. The creative sector employs at least 135,000 people statewide. After talking with mass creative executive director Emily Ruddock in the studio last

4:13week, B&N was very excited to see the wide range of artists that expand throughout the commonwealth. Reena Labby has the story. While some residents might take it for granted, Massachusetts is the country's fourth most arts vibrant state, according to a report by Southern Methodist University's Data Art Center. Mass creative, a nonprofit focused on advocating for resources for the creative community, is committed to bringing the creative sector to the forefront of political and social discussions. On Tuesday, they brought the conversation directly to the state house. Artists from the Berkshire's to Boston gathered to showcase their diverse talents and visual arts and to show the importance of cultivating the arts. Zakiya Sutton, an artist change maker, performed her specialty, what she calls hip opera.

5:15I hope these conversations lead to some new policies. I want to see personally a much stronger infrastructure in the state where artists can thrive. A lot of the work that I do as a coach is about supporting artists who want to become full-time artists and have a sustainable career. But sometimes there's these obstacles that have to do more with the sector at large that really prohibit them from being able to do that. So I want to see a state that centers the arts where it's not just an afterthought and it's

6:17understood that the value of the arts is not just about entertainment, it's about literally what makes us human. Mass creative held the event as part of their week-long advocacy for the creative sector week to promote their creative economy legislative agenda in 2027 budget priorities. Because if we don't ask for the things that we need, we won't get them. Because essentially arts and culture and support for it doesn't happen by accident, it happens when we show up, when we ask for what we want and we tell our stories about the impact that arts make every day for every one of our communities. The nonprofit hopes their advocacy brings increased funding for the Mass Cultural Council, the state's tourism trust fund, public libraries, and cultural planning. For some, the success of these priorities is parallel to the success of the Commonwealth. It's extremely popular. We ran a recent asset inventory and it's much, much larger than people think. And it's very popular. A couple of years ago, people were very worried about domestic outnagration.

7:18Well, one area where people were still coming into the state was arts and cultural workers. A lot of people have, you know, think about art as just being something that's decorative or not really helpful. But study after study has shown that the arts sector has really increases the economy and helps things in many different sectors. So for that reason, the stuff that I do is handling challenging social issues by using humor in art. It's usually a lot easier to talk about more difficult things. Using art and humor the past year and a half, funding for the arts and humanities in general has gone through the floor federally. So anything that we can do here at the state level to get information to get out there and show the kind of things that we're doing is really helpful for getting grants and independent sponsors. The creative sector accounts for 4% of Massachusetts' economy and is also home to the country's only independent public college of art and design, MassArt. I mean, I think the arts and the creative sector in general are really important in cultivating

8:22commonwealth. That is inclusive of everyone and is vibrant and allows for culture to really be at the forefront. And so I think being part of this event feels really empowering to be able to advocate for those needs that we need as creatives to really engage and make Massachusetts a better state. Many artists and attendees were thankful for the opportunity to not only perform for the captivated audience, but also to be surrounded by their fellow creatives. Jarebel Karbu, a fashion designer and co-founder of Waves New Age, said that visibility is crucial. I feel like for them to be here is so important for them to show their faces and honestly, for them to let people know, especially these people in the in the chairs at the state house, that we are here and regardless of like supporters and money, we're still going to create regardless. So honestly, we're showing up regardless of anything and we are here whether it's creative or whether it's not. So just to let them know we're here and we're going to create

9:23regardless of anything. The featured artist's performances range from musical theater to guitar ballad to a fusion of Chinese peepa and EDM and we're a perfect example of Massachusetts as cultural diversity and the product of its investment in the arts. Artists from across the Commonwealth gathered underneath the Golden Dome to advocate for more funding for Massachusetts's creative economy. Advocates hope that the conversations they had today stay with lawmakers as they begin working on the fiscal year 2027 budget. For BNN, I'm Rina Labi. On this year's National Day of Action, a group of educators, parents and city leaders took to the streets and demonstrated their determination to protect student safety on campus and defend

10:27crucial funding for schools, bringing community members together to stand strong amid mass deportations and federal education funding cuts. BNN reporter Ella Carrillo has the story. On Wednesday, educators at the Curly K-8 School stood alongside dozens of school representatives from the city, united to demand more for their students and armed them with crucial knowledge regarding their rights. As a parent and a grandparent, I'm very concerned about the environment that our children have to deal with in today's world, whether it's fear of ice, whether it's inappropriate or inadequate funding. We as community people need to stand strong and in solidarity with people who are struggling to ensure that our children and have the best future and the best education. The Boston Teachers Union and community allies convened to protest major federal funding for education. Boston's large turnout for this National Day of Action represented Boston's

11:30stake in a call to action happening all around the country. Massachusetts president of the American Federation of Teachers Jessica Tang was there to deliver an impactful message. We're here at the Curly and at schools across Boston and Massachusetts actually because we know that we need to protect our students and schools right now. Our families are facing unprecedented anxieties and challenges our enrollment is down it's actually causing a fiscal crisis along with our our ability to just have our students focus on being able to come to school every day and learn instead they're worrying about things that they shouldn't have to worry about. It's called a National Day of Action to protect our kids, our families and our communities. The students lack of well-being amid mass deportations pushed educators to take action. At the same time, teachers face cuts in funding as the federal administration continues to slash the education dollars spent on our kids. Fear of not having enough teachers materials for an extra with all the budget cuts. Fear of

12:33maybe not being able to see their parents a lot of our Hispanic and immigrant students are scared that ice will be outside. They're scared to even go outside in the playground sometimes to play and things like that because they say that they're going to grab them and things like that. My students should feel safe they should feel safe and loved. They always had a very high immigrant community and for the most part people could come to school with feeling that they were not going to be harassed by government agents that their parents were going to be there when they got home from school so this is a change and it's a change for the worse. Concerned educators in their allies are standing up and hoping that worse only gets better for our children. Last weekend, B&N correspondent Adele Chang stepped into a world of imagination and creativity at the youth book fair in hibernian hall where young people from all around the city

13:35got their chance to connect with authors and explore the world of reading. Take a look. What's up Boston? I'm Adele Chang and we're here at the hibernian hall in Roxbury for the youth book fair. Today we're celebrating our city's young authors where they get to read, learn, write and of course exchange books. So let's get into it. The youth book fair is an opportunity for our young folks to be able to be celebrated and acknowledged for the impact of literacy has been brought in their own lives whether it's creating books, writing books or the power of just reading. Literacy is a lot bigger than just this idea of reading a book. It's also the application of what reading brings and so one of the things that reading brings is knowledge and wisdom of our past ancestors and allows us to see what they've done in order to lead to social justice, lead to liberation and freedom that allows for us to take those same actions forward

14:37in this modern day need but also have opportunities to utilize the skills of reading to begin to create and imagine and do new things like creating new textbooks for example new books that kids can read about and be able to share laughs together and community together. That's what Detroit for readers all about. Hibernian Hall and Ms. Valerie Fox have been collaborating on a youth book workshop for the last three years and the last one we had two young authors write and publish their own books and we're here today to celebrate those authors and many many other young authors. I was nine when I made my first book called Marissa's Secret Powers. A tip that I would give to aspiring authors is to make books that relate to other people and people that surround you. I think it's really nice to see little kids even if they're not inspired like to do a book but especially when they are I feel like it just shows like the type of person you could grow up to be and it's just a good thing to see. It makes me happy if truly does. Looking at Pedro,

15:39Eliana and Eric especially when they got the citations it kind of felt like passing the torch kind of and watching them go through the same experiences that we did when we were younger. It's really important to celebrate our young authors to continue inspiring them to write, to tell their stories because ultimately if we don't tell our stories then somebody else will and it's important for us to have that power. It feels like an opportunity for us to all come together to support each other to get to know each other and to continue pushing forward. Hibernian Hall and Madison Park is here to provide any resources, anything that they need. If you have a story to tell hibernian Hall is the place to tell it. Today, Boston's young authors got a citation from the city. That just goes to show that age is never a barrier to achieving your dreams. Thanks for tuning in Boston. I'm Madal Chang and I'll see you next time. Thank you for watching Boston. That's our broadcast for tonight. You can also hear us on the

16:42radio on WBCA 102.9 Fries at 7.30 p.m. and Monday Food Thursday at 9.00 p.m. And remember, you can catch new episodes of B&N News every Wednesday and Friday, starting at 5.30. We also want to give a big B&N shout out and congratulations to our incredible news reporter, Ella Coreo, who will be leaving us to become a news producer for WMTW in Portland, Maine. Congrats and good luck, Ella. For B&N News, I'm Natalie Kimler. I'll see you next time.