^{“They may become artists, they may become scientists, they may become who knows? But there's something to an arts education that teaches you so much about yourself, about how to look at problems from a thousand different ways and know that you can solve them most of the time.”}

Creativity comes to life beyond the page.

Erin Muirhead McCarty

Erin Muirhead McCarty is Executive Director of the Community Art Center (CAC), an arts, childcare, and community center in The Port in Cambridge.

Our conversations with Erin helped us understand the value of arts education for children and teens – and how much bigger it is than craft or technique. She reminded our team that creativity comes to life in all sorts of ways, beyond the page or the wall, in how people tell their stories, approach a challenge, and care for each other.

^{The project: We got to deep dive into CAC’s work as part of a project to explore the professional journeys of BIPOC folks in creative careers to identify opportunities for investment and collective change.}