Pandemic-Funding to Franklinites Announced by Mass Cultural Council

Wednesday, the Mass Cultural Council celebrated a historic $51,063,360 public investment into the Commonwealth’s creative and cultural sector by announcing the 5,218 recipients of two pandemic recovery grant programs at the Massachusetts State House.

Joined by more than 300 grantees, legislators, community leaders, and cultural sector partners, Mass Cultural Council publicly recognized the 1,218 cultural organizations and 4,000 artists, creatives, culture bearers, and gig workers across Massachusetts who received awards from the one-time Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations and Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals programs.

“This is the largest grant announcement Mass Cultural Council has ever made,” said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council. “It is with great pleasure and pride that we celebrate more than $51 million in pandemic recovery monies being equitably distributed throughout the creative and cultural sector today. These awards will help propel the sector forward economically and chart the recipients’ paths towards growth.”

Franklin Recipients

ORGANIZATIONS

INDIVIDUALS

Mass Cultural Council, an independent state arts agency, is charged with bolstering the Commonwealth’s creative and cultural sector. The Agency’s efforts advance economic vitality, support transformational change, and celebrate, preserve, and inspire creativity across all Massachusetts communities.

In December 2021 a $4 billion pandemic recovery package was approved by the Legislature and signed into law. This Act, Ch. 102 of 2021, directed Mass Cultural Council to develop and administer grant programs to assist cultural organizations and artists recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and operate more efficiently moving forward. Mass Cultural Council received $60.1 million in surplus state revenue funds to support this effort.*

Developing guidelines and securing the approval of the Agency’s governing body to launch two new programs took five months, while conducting deliberate outreach and recruitment efforts to engage with new applicants and under-resourced communities was a major staff undertaking that began in June 2022 and continued throughout the application period.

Early in 2022 Mass Cultural Council solicited public comment from stakeholders on what sort of recovery program would be most impactful. Staff used that feedback to develop the programs between February and May. The Agency’s governing Council approved the program guidelines on May 23, 2022, and they were published in early June. Applications were due from cultural organizations on September 28, 2022, while the deadline for individuals was November 1, 2022.

The scale of these recovery programs reinforces the historic nature of this funding. For comparison, in Fiscal Year 2022 Mass Cultural Council received a total of 3,655 applications across all grant programs and approved 1,847 grants. This year the Agency received a record-breaking 8,592 applications to these two pandemic recovery programs alone, and today celebrates 5,218 pandemic recovery awards.

“Planning, designing, launching, recruiting, and administering these two programs was an ‘all hands-on deck’ undertaking,” said Bobbitt. “I am so proud of our team for pulling together to make these programs a success while still working on our slate of annual programs and services as well.”

Mass Cultural Council anticipates that by the end of Fiscal Year 2023 approximately 7,000 awards will be approved across all Agency programs, totaling nearly $100 million in grants supporting the Massachusetts creative and cultural sector.

Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations

The Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations program offered unrestricted grants, ranging from $5,000 to $75,000 to Massachusetts cultural organizations, collectives, and businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mass Cultural Council received 1,359 applications to this program, of which 1,218 were deemed eligible and recommended to receive funding. A total of $31,063,360 in pandemic assistance was awarded to these organizations today.

“I am thrilled to note that 42% of these cultural organizations are receiving their very first Mass Cultural Council award today,” said Bobbitt, “And, even more exciting, is the fact that every eligible organization who applied was approved to receive an award from this program!”

The cultural organizations receiving pandemic recovery awards today differ in size and scale and are located in every region of the Commonwealth. Fifty-one percent of the grantees report annual budgets of less than $100,000, and 15% self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) Centered organizations.

Funding by County

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The funding list for the Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations is available online.

Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals

The Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals program provides unrestricted $5,000 awards to Massachusetts creatives and gig workers to support ongoing pandemic recovery and set a path forward for growth.

Mass Cultural Council received an unprecedented 7,593 applications, and today celebrates 4,000 awards to creative professionals working in all regions of the Commonwealth, totaling $20,000,000.

The grant recipient pool represents the vibrant diversity of those who make up the state’s creative and cultural sector, as well as a significant advancement towards Mass Cultural Council’s equity goals, as:

27% self-identify as a person who is Deaf or has a disability.

55% live in priority, under-resourced communities (as defined by the program guidelines)

59% self-identify as People of the Global Majority/BIPOC

“I am simply stunned. Ninety-eight of today’s individual grant recipients are receiving their first Mass Cultural Council award today,” said Bobbitt. “I am deeply grateful that this program empowered the Agency to engage with and support thousands of new creatives across Massachusetts.”

The program guidelines defined eligible individuals as an artist or cultural practitioner active in any artistic discipline or cultural tradition, such as those working in community-based arts, crafts, dance, design, digital, film/video, folk/world/traditional arts, literature, music, performance, photography, theater, and visual arts.

Teaching artists, interpretive scientists, and humanists were also eligible to apply, meaning an educator who works in schools, libraries, or other educational/community settings to promote cultural education for people of any age.

Lastly, and for the first time, Mass Cultural Council also allowed cultural workers in the arts, humanities, and interpretative sciences who may not identify as an artist, but whose efforts are very much part of the creative and cultural sector, such as lighting technicians, art conservationists, editors, and frontline staff to apply for funding.