Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll (pictured) joined Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment earlier this week in Easton, MA to celebrate FY24 Cultural Facilities Fund grantees. The Healey-Driscoll Administration released their second, five-year capital spending plan today, detailing more than $3.1 billion in spending in FY25 to address the Commonwealth’s critical needs. This plan sets Massachusetts on a path to invest nearly $15.6 billion over five years. Mass Cultural Council is grateful to note the Administration’s continued strong support for the creative and cultural sector’s primary capital gra ..read more

Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment leadership and staff are joined by Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, Sen. Paul Mark, Rep. Gerry Cassidy, municipal leaders from the Town of Easton, and Cultural Facilities Fund grantees at the Children’s Museum in Easton to celebrate the FY24 CFF awards. Yesterday at the Children’s Museum in Easton, MassDevelopment and Mass Cultural Council were joined by Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, local and state officials, and cultural partners to announce and celebrate a $6,159,900 investment into 88 nonprofit and municipal cultural organizations through the Cultural Facil ..read more

Artist Mekhi Mendoza selling his art at a community event. 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: Continued Progress: 2 New Equity Plans to Launch in FY25 Next month, Mass Cultural Council will roll out two new equity plans: a Native American & Indigenous People’s Equity Plan and a d/Deaf & Disability Equity Plan. These ..read more

The next step of the FY25 state budget-building process is the Conference Committee. Three members of the Senate and three members of the House of Representatives from the Chambers’ respective Ways & Means Committees have been tasked with negotiating any differences between the final House and Senate budgets. Once complete, their Conference budget must be adopted by both the House and Senate and then signed into law by the Governor. As a state agency, Mass Cultural Council is primarily funded through an annual state budget appropriation. Therefore, we are watching very closely the funding ..read more

Dance performance as part of a Boston Landmarks Orchestra event. Photo: Michael Dwyer. Warm weather is here (finally) and with it comes a multitude of festivals and cultural events to be hosted in communities across Massachusetts this summer. To help ensure your events center access for people with disabilities, here are 10 ways to think about providing an inclusive experience. This is by no means a comprehensive list – or legal advice – but merely a first step in the direction of access by design. Budget check Think of your budget as a moral compass. By anticipating a variety of needs, you ..read more

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