Catarina Ferreira, a 2024 recipient of a Cultural Sector Recovery Grant for Individuals. Photo: John Spaulding. Mass Cultural Council believes that the Commonwealth thrives when its cultural sector is healthy and supported. We are thrilled to announce that 138 additional applicants to last year’s Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals program will receive $5,000 awards this Spring. These grants represent the remaining $690,000 in available funding for COVID-19 relief. The Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals was a one-time COVID-19 relief program, created by an act of the L ..read more

Watercolor painting by Will Dowd, a past Mass Cultural Council grantee, featured on the ArtSake blog. In Spring of 2022, Mass Cultural Council was preparing to launch our Cultural Sector Recovery Grants. The Recovery Grants were a one-time, $60 million investment in Massachusetts cultural organizations, artists, and cultural workers to help chart a path for growth from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our staff worked hard to recruit applicants. We made a special effort to reach people who hadn’t applied for grants from us before. It was during one of these early meetings with artists and cultural worke ..read more

When Governor Healey announced that she was recommending an increase in state budget funding for Mass Cultural Council in January, during Creative Sector Advocacy Day, we were thrilled to see her $25.5 million recommendation for the Agency in her FY25 H. 2 budget. Recognizing state revenues had not met expectations for months, this 2.17% increase to Mass Cultural Council’s operating budget, which supports our program and services, was well-received. This is the figure we urged the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ways & Means to embrace as they began to craft their spending plans. In April ..read more

Children look on at a demonstration at the Ecotarium. 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: Operating Grants for Organizations – Unrestricted general operating grants for Massachusetts-based, nonprofit cultural organizations with y ..read more

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