Wakefield Cultural Council Grant Deadline Extended

Press release from the Town of Wakefield:

November 6, 2020

The Wakefield Cultural Council has extended the deadline for organizations, schools, and individuals to apply for grants that support cultural activities in the community. The new deadline is Monday, December 14, 2020. According to Council Chair Caroline Lieber, these grants can support a variety of artistic projects and activities in Wakefield -- including exhibits, festivals, field trips, short-term artist residencies, or performances in schools, workshops, and lectures.

The Wakefield Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils (LCC) serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The LCC Program is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, sciences, and humanities every year. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.

The allocation amounts are contingent on the FY21 budget set by the Legislature. Previously funded projects include: Whimsical Weavings and Plaza Jazz at the Lucius Beebe Library, art preservation at the Wakefield Historical Society, Delvena Theatre Productions, Music Around the World at the Americal Civic Center, and many enrichment programs for the schools of Wakefield.

The State Legislature approved another one-month operating budget through the end of November. This additional delay in setting the annual state budget means that the earliest possible time the Mass Cultural Council can determine and announce LCC allocations is January. If any additional one-month budgets are passed, it would delay that further. Because of this delay, difficulty of LCCs securing virtual meeting spaces, and applicants navigating new guidance around virtual programs, the Mass Cultural Council has made the decision to extend the FY21 LCC grant application deadline to December 14, 2020 at 11:59 EST.

This change will allow not only applicants more time to review and prepare their applications around new guidelines, but also allow Local Cultural Councils more flexibility to make any changes to their local priorities and to publicize the grant cycle and do additional outreach to and support of applicants.

For local guidelines and complete information on the Wakefield Cultural Council, contact Caroline Lieber at culturalcouncil@wakefield.ma.us or 781-224-3079. Application forms and more information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at www.mass-culture.org.

For specific information about pandemic-related considerations, please see the release from the Mass Cultural Council.

This press release was produced by the Town of Wakefield. The views expressed here are the author’s own.