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Q&A: John Borders IV, Boston’s director of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment

"Conferences, conventions, entertainers, sports, large-scale sporting events. There’s a lot that Boston could be the face of shortly."

John Borders IV, Boston's director of tourism, sports, and entertainment has been in office for more than two months. Handout/City of Boston Press Office

By Eli Curwin

April 3, 2023

12 minutes to read

For John Borders IV, Boston’s director of tourism, sports, and entertainment, there has never been a moment like this before.

The Dorchester native, who has worked in positions across Boston and Massachusetts, was announced Jan. 24 to helm Mayor Michelle Wu’s office of fun, acting as a permit-giving and access-granting conduit for tourists, entertainers, and sports teams to the city.

That Matt Damon movie filming at Bova’s? The Office of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment worked with producers and location scouts to get the correct permits. If someone wants to close down a street for a block party, Borders IV is the guy to call.

But for the new director, the office’s impact goes far beyond approving concerts and sporting events. It is the opportunity to amplify marginalized voices, to cultivate a message that represents the lives and histories of all Bostonians.

From possibly expanding hours of public transit later into the night, to the creation of a patron-business council to advise on nightlife and tourist economies, roughly two months into his term, Borders IV already has a lot to discuss. Boston.com sat down with him recently to ask him about those topics, along with some questions submitted by readers.

This interview has been edited for clarity, length, and flow.

Boston.com: You’ve grown up here, you’ve lived here, and you’ve worked here. How would you say Boston has impacted you, and how do you want to give back to it?

John Borders IV: Boston has shaped me. Boston made me who I am. I want to give everything I can to the city. I want to see Boston exceed the expectation that some have for it. I see Boston as a place of refuge. A place of possibility. It’s a place that I am raising my family. It is a place I was raised. It’s a place my parents called home, and a place their parents called home. My grandparents migrated from the South, at a time where they sought refuge in the Northeast. And Boston was a place that they decided to settle, and to lean into the possibility of what the city could offer to them and their children.

So when some people talk about the racial dynamics of what Boston was, I’m very present to that truth, but also mindful of the safe haven that Boston offered many as well. And I want to amplify that, from this seat, with equity as the North Star, through the lens of tourism, sports, and entertainment.

What does that look like tangibly? You want to amplify these voices: Does that come from putting on certain events, encouraging certain venues to come here?

All of the above. I think Boston is an extremely inclusive place, and we have the opportunity to show how inclusive Boston is. It’s my job in this seat, it’s the job of my office, to assist constituents, the 700,000 people who call Boston home, with what they want this city to be, and to fill in the gaps where we see them.

They are some communities that have often felt marginalized. There are people and groups who felt ostracized. What does it look like to not just bring them to the table, but to really create space for them to show up authentically in this city? I think we have a really unique opportunity to do that through the lens of of tourism, sports, and entertainment.

And what kind of events specifically?

Good question … Stay tuned.

I do have some things planned. I just don’t want to show my full hand. I have to leave some some possibility … some optimism for you and others. I don’t want to overshare and have some things fall through that out of my control.

But I’m having very active conversations across the board. Conferences, conventions, entertainers, sports, large-scale sporting events. There’s a lot that Boston could be the face of shortly. Just stay tuned, stay tuned.

You’ve held a lot of positions in Boston. If you had to pick one that you would say impacted you the most, what position would that be, and why?

I can’t name one. I think there are — It’s almost like a relationship. Like, what was the greatest thing from the relationship, even though we ended up breaking up? There were certain things about myself that I learned and gained from every situation. I would say the same thing with with different jobs. I think the thing that I’ve taken from my career path, is that I love to serve. I love to leverage large-scale brands for social impact. I love giving back. And I love giving people the opportunity to see possibility.

There’s so much that we can do with access. I have a a tattoo of a skeleton key on my wrist, because I unlock things when I shake hands. Access means everything, and there are so many rooms that I’ve been in, [where] just being in the room changed my perspective. And I think we have a unique opportunity to do that here in the city, and especially with this office.

Last year the Anti-Defamation League reported hundreds of white supremacist incidents at events put on by the city. Massachusetts had the second most in the country. I know you talked a bit about amplifying voices, so how do you ensure that when you are amplifying certain groups, that you’re also keeping them safe?

We have a strong relationship with the Boston Police Department. I think, working closely with those in public safety is a huge priority. Making sure our city is safe is a top priority of our administration, so we would never intentionally do anything to put anyone in harm’s way. I think, working closely with public safety to ensure the safety of our residents, visitors, tourists, and patrons, it’s the top priority.

So if for any reason we felt that there was an unmanageable threat, I think we would pivot to ensure public safety or do our best to ensure.

So, I want to turn to one of our reader-generated questions. How do you work to balance promoting established groups, like the Museum of Fine Arts or the Boston Symphony Orchestra, while also helping smaller venues?

I think it goes back to the objective. I think one thing that I’m trying to do is to ensure that there is a level of equity in terms of how resources are allocated from this office. So whether you are somebody who’s large scale and established, and you’ve been doing work for a while, or you’re a startup, and you have really cool ideas, and you need support — if there is something our office can do to support you, we will.

So I don’t think it’s an “either/or.” It’s all about our capacity. Our office is limited. We’re not a 30-person shop. We have a handful of amazing people who work really, really hard to serve all the constituents of Boston. But I think there’s an opportunity for us to serve both: To lean into the more established venues and support them, but also the smaller nonprofits, or budding entrepreneurs that want to get things off the ground. We have ways to help them.

Because there are limited resources, what kind of criteria goes into approving or declining events? Are there events that you would like to put on that, because of a lack of resources, you have to decline?

Our office has the ability to offer resources for free events for the community. If you are doing an event where you’re generating revenue, there are things we can do to support and approve your event. But how much we can lean into the active work, whether it’s sound, lighting, staging, barricading, like what we can actually do to offer free resources are limited, because it’s not a free community event. That is you starting a business, being profitable. There are certain expenses that you incur as a result. But when there are free events for the community, we have the ability to try to lean into those.

I think it’s really a matter of people applying, and where we are in the approval process. If somebody wants to do something at a location on a date, and they submitted their request before you did, the likelihood of them getting approved is higher, just because of the time of the submission. So it’s not like we’re going to say “no” to your event, just because there’s a possibility of someone else applying for a similar event at the same venue. No, that’s not how it works. If you and I both submitted applications at the same time, then I think there would be a a conversation to be had, and some sort of compromise to try to be offered.

But I think we also want to want to think from this office, what neighborhoods are being impacted? How many people are being impacted? And what does that look like? What is in the best interest of the city? And how can we support that?

I want to ask you about your first two months in office. What would you say you’ve learned? What would you say you’ve done, and where do you want to go from here?

What have I learned? How many people are unsung heroes that work in public service. There are some people you will never know their names, and they work so hard. They give so much of themselves to this work, to this office, to this city, and you have no clue who they are. I have a lot more respect for the people in this building, and how much they put into keeping our city going.

Things I’ve done so far? I’m actively staffing up for where we are headed. I’m establishing deeper partnerships with existing partners and new partners.

And where we are headed: I want to generate revenue for the city. I think there is a more active approach of us not being reactionary to people who want to come here, and a more outbound approach to how we’re going to move forward in pursuit of events that we think are reflective of the populations and demographics that we want to service and people that we want to draw to the city. But I want to generate revenue for the city. And in revenue generation, give businesses, communities, and people opportunities to benefit from what the city has to offer, as we invite the world to our doorstep.

On the topic of meeting with partners, you have already or will work with Meet Boston, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. How do you manage those interests along with the communities that you’re trying to amplify?

Find the synergy in what all parties want. A lot of people want the same thing.

Meet Boston wants to bring people to the city that have not experienced certain parts of Boston, that have never experienced Boston from a tourism standpoint. I’ll use them as an example, they want to connect businesses and entrepreneurs with opportunities to build coalition within the city. As well as how they can share best practices to grow their own businesses, so that when there is an influx or a large conference, or convention, or large-scale sporting events, and people come here, that their businesses are ready to not just attract, but support and take advantage of these opportunities.

I think the smaller businesses, the mom and pop shops, they started their business for a reason. They have something to offer for those in their community and beyond. And it’s our job to assist them, and be in the best position possible to impact those who want to take advantage of what they have to offer.

There are so many resources out here. And I think it’s our job to almost bridge the gap, and to assist the enterprising companies and corporations with the growth and scaling of the small businesses. The entrepreneurs, the solopreneurs, there’s opportunities for everyone to win, for everyone to prosper in this city, and I think one of the roles of our office is to try to remove some of those roadblocks to ensure that people know what they can take advantage of.

Now a few more of our our reader generated questions.

We have The New England Revolution in Foxborough, and we all see a lot about the Bruins, the Celtics, the Patriots, and the Sox. What can we do to better advertise our MLS team?

I’m in discussions with the with the Revolution to figure out what that looks like moving into next season.

Will you be working with the Director of Nightlife Economy, Corean Reynolds? What does that look like?

The director and I have a weekly meeting. We’re already connected, and yes, we’ll be working very closely together. There are a multitude of initiatives that she’s trying to launch, and there’s a lot of intersection between who we are reaching. We are in the process of establishing almost like a council of sorts, to best inform us of what we may not know about the field, and how we can gain a better understanding of what these industries can offer. And that will be a mix of patrons and business owners, who are a part of this council.

There will be a diverse representation of voices on that council that will assist us in kind of shaping what this next phase of, not just the nightlife economy, but entertainment as a whole has to offer the city.

Are there concerns that with struggling transportation infrastructure, it will be difficult for tourists or visitors from outside of Boston to access the city?

It is a priority of this administration to better the transit system. It will take not just our local support — I believe there will be some federal support that will also be needed, as well as extended, to ensure that the first public transit system in the U.S. is thriving. So I think there are a lot of considerations; a better public transit system is a huge priority for our administration. And there will be more public discussions, and there will be more forward facing solutions to come.

I think our mayor has done a great job of actively pursuing what those solutions look like. Offering free transportation in some of the most trafficked areas in our city. Actively working to provide exclusive bus lanes in different communities to help expedite transport. I think even looking at extending the hours of public transportation is also on the table. So there are a number of different active solutions that our administration is working toward, and I believe they can’t happen fast enough. So we’re mindful of that. But these are all considerations as we are actively pursuing large-scale events, and trying to make the city most accessible for all.

And now, just to wrap, up a few lightning-round questions.

Out of all the Boston and New England sports teams, which one are you most passionate about?

I’m biased because I used to work for the Celtics, but I love any and all things. Boston sports.

Favorite movie or TV show that takes place in Boston?

It’s a tough one. I grew up off Blue Hill Ave., so I’ll say [the 2001 movie] “Blue Hill Avenue.”

Favorite thing to do in Boston?

Explore the city with my family.

Favorite tourist attraction?

What is my favorite tourist attraction?

I guess it’s hard when you’re not a tourist to think of one.

Yeah, because when people come to the city of Boston, what am I encouraging them to do? They have to eat and try foods at different restaurants. They have to go to a sporting event — we’re the city of champions. If there’s a game happening, you have to go it, whether it’s the B’s, the Sox, the Pats, the Rev’s, you got to do something. Even local college teams, you have take advantage of those too.

I would say, from a tourism standpoint, checking out a game would probably be [my recommendation]. The Duck Tours, you have to do a Duck Tour.

Being from the city, it’s difficult to think of what a tourist has to do. Everybody comes to Boston for something different. So I think depending on why you’re here, there are cool opportunities for you to lean in and take advantage of what the city has to offer.

If you had to spend the rest of your life in one Boston neighborhood, which neighborhood would that be?

I’m biased man. I’m from Dorchester, so I would say Dorchester. Dorchester is the most diverse neighborhood in the city. So if you had to think of how to take advantage of what the city has to offer, I would say start with Dorchester.

Is there anything else that you think our readers should know?

I’m hoping that people see my hire and the intentionality of this administration as a moment of optimism and opportunity for the city. We’ve never had a moment like this in the history of this city. I don’t think there’s anywhere else where you’ve seen women and people of color in leadership roles the way you do right now in Boston and in Massachusetts. From the mayor, to the governor, to the lieutenant governor, to the AG, across the board, this this feels different. And I think there are immense opportunities ahead for people to take advantage of what this opportunity offers to the city.

There are different perspectives that have influence, that have not been in these seats before. And I think we won’t see the magnitude of this moment until we’re removed from it.

Q&A: John Borders IV, Boston’s director of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment