Dover Cultural Council tabling with youth member Antonio Saenz. The purpose of Mass Cultural Council’s Local Cultural Council Program is to provide access to cultural activities for all segments of the Commonwealth’s population. Each year LCCs are responsible for making decisions on how to award public funds locally that will best serve their community’s needs. One way LCCs can ensure they are serving all segments of a community’s population is to include people from a variety of populations in the work of the LCC. This includes young people. Over the past few years, we’ve seen various cities ..read more

Beacon Hill has turned its attention to building the next state budget, with today’s release of House Ways & Means FY25 budget recommendations. Mass Cultural Council is extremely pleased and grateful to the House Committee on Ways and Means for including a record high $25,895,000 appropriation for the Agency’s operations next year. This figure represents a 3.58 percent increase to Mass Cultural Council’s current FY24 $25M operating budget, and is $348,803 higher than what the Governor proposed for the Agency in her FY25 H2 budget recommendation! We are thrilled with this appropriation, as ..read more

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has released new data showing arts and cultural industries hit an all-time high in 2022, contributing 4.3% of gross domestic product, or $1.1 trillion, to the U.S. economy. However, growth was not sector-wide, with performing arts organizations, non-government museums, and arts-related construction among the arts industries that have yet to reach their pre-pandemic levels of economic value. These findings and more come from the Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (ACPSA), a product of the NEA and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis that tra ..read more

Son Rompe Pera performing at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity. Each month Mass Cultural Council shares a round-up of grants, trainings, technical assistance resources, and opportunities for creative and cultural organizations (a companion to our Useful Links page). This list is not meant to be exhaustive but a glimpse of what is on offer in the coming weeks. (We also publish a weekly Artist Opportunities listing.) Funding Mass Cultural Council grant opportunities: Festivals & Projects – Grants of $2,500 for organizations to fund activities that provide public benefit through the use of ..read more

Festival Latino of the Berkshires At Mass Cultural Council, we believe that festivals and projects play a vital role in building community and celebrating the vibrant cultural landscape of the Commonwealth. Earlier this year, the Agency proudly announced 740 Festivals & Projects recipients, totaling $1,850,000. The next grant round of Festivals & Projects will fund activities that provide public benefit through the arts, humanities, or sciences taking between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. These awards of $2,500 will support cultural celebrations, concert series, film festivals, publ ..read more

Pieces created during artmaking session at Keys to Belonging, and Systems Change at the Creative Youth Development and arts education convening at the ICA Seaport Studio. “From the moment they step through the door, they are seen and valued. Always – no exception. It’s a practice that sends a powerful message: You Belong Here.” – Creative Youth Development practitioner, YAIN convening, October 2023. The Youth Arts Impact Network (YAIN), facilitated in partnership with EdVestors, has spent the past ten years supporting Creative Youth Development (CYD) organizations to maximize their effective ..read more

Dan and Claudia Zanes performing at the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center. In 2021, Mass Cultural Council launched a three-year Racial Equity Plan outlining some of the internal and external steps we will take to support and encourage an anti-racist cultural sector in the Commonwealth. As part of the plan, the Agency has committed to sharing our progress on this work each quarter: Jan-Mar 2024 Racial Equity and Access Work Highlights d/Deaf & Disability Equity Plan: Mass Cultural Council staff worked with Open Door Arts and Art-Reach to develop a series of recommendations contributing ..read more

No-No Boy performance at Twenty Summers Mass Cultural Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the FY24 Gaming Mitigation Fund grant round. Fifty-eight nonprofit and municipal performing arts centers will receive a total of $3,662,200. This year, the minimum grant award was raised from $5,000 to $6,000. Awards range from $6,000 to $200,000 and are based on a formula that considers the percentage of performances featuring touring artists, and the amount of fees paid to those artists. Mass Cultural Council administers this program at the direction of the state Legislature. As established ..read more

Young people examine an exhibit at the Tsongas Industrial History Center. Photo by Meg Moore/Megpix, courtesy of Tsongas Industrial History Center. Mass Cultural Council believes that creativity is a vital part of a thriving society, and that cultural organizations are a key component of a vibrant creative sector. We are proud to announce our Operating Grants for Organizations, which we hope will advance creativity throughout the Commonwealth. This new program offers multi-year, unrestricted operating grants to nonprofit cultural organizations and cultural affiliates that enrich cultural ..read more

Massachusetts Poetry Out Loud State Champion Ailin Shaw (center), with 2nd place winner Calysa Alba (right), and 3rd place winner Anna Popnikolova (left). Photo: Erik Holmgren. Yesterday the state finals for the Massachusetts chapter of Poetry Out Loud were held at the Old South Meeting House in Boston. Poetry Out Loud is a national recitation contest that celebrates the power of the spoken word and a mastery of public speaking skills while cultivating self-confidence and an appreciation of students’ literary heritage as they take poetry from the page to the stage. It’s administered locally by ..read more