In 2022, the Town of Needham received a technical assistance grant from MAPC to create an Arts & Culture Action Plan. The Plan will outline the vision and values for arts and culture in Needham, highlight cultural assets within the town, and provide recommendations to support a thriving arts and cultural community within Needham that is accessible to all.  

This project is the Town's first cultural planning process and emerges from the Town’s recently adopted Select Board Goals for an arts and culture strategic plan. MAPC is working in partnership with the Town of Needham’s Office of the Town Manager’s Economic Development Manager and the Needham Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) to launch this town-wide cultural planning process.  

MAPC will support Needham’s cultural planning process, including forming and facilitating a Cultural Planning Working Group to guide the visioning for arts and culture within Needham and broadening community engagement. This process will utilize cultural asset mapping, informed by a town-wide survey and focus groups facilitated by MAPC. Additionally, community engagement will include two public meetings for Needham residents to review preliminary findings and provide recommendations for the Needham Arts and Culture Action Plan. 

In November 2023, MAPC Presented the Draft Plan to the Select Board and is finishing up drafting the final Needham Arts & Culture Action Plan.