There’s no way around it: Salem and witches just go together in the public imagination. But for the past decade, the city best known for the spooky and supernatural has been consciously and creatively nurturing another side of its personality, establishing its identity as a destination for artists and art-lovers.
“There’s a preconceived notion of what Salem is and isn’t,” says John Andrews, founder and president of Creative Collective, a Salem consultancy that helps artists develop sustainable businesses. “But I can walk down the center stretch of this community and always run into something cultural.”
Salem got serious about making itself known for art in 2013, when it released its public art master plan, which outlined strategies for integrating the arts
