Miranda Cook, Program Officer
With the new year now in full swing, we’re able to look back and reflect on the 2023 Cultural Facilities Fund Annual Report, showcasing a $9.3 million investment in the physical infrastructure of Massachusetts’ creative sector.
In Fiscal Year 2023 the Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF) made 109 grants to nonprofit cultural organizations, colleges, and municipalities that own or operate public cultural spaces. Planning and capital grants ranged from $2,500 to $200,000 to support projects in construction, restoration, and deferred maintenance.
According to Diane Pearlman, Executive Director of Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, “Careful planning is a vital stage of a capital project, yet very few private funders see the value of supporting these early steps. The Feasibility and Technical Assistance Grants provided by the Cultural Facilities Fund are crucial to the success of bold, ambitious projects like ours.”
CFF grant recipients have included community music schools, theater groups, botanical gardens, historic house museums, artist studios, libraries, and several other cultural institutions across every Massachusetts county.
“The Cultural Facilities Fund has been an essential funding source for the Narrows Center to expand and rehabilitate our facility. The Narrows Center is a small organization with limited resources. The ability to leverage CFF funds with our patrons has been helpful to our fundraising” said Patrick Norton, Executive Director of Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River.
An annual survey conducted by Mass Cultural Council captured the Fund’s impact on jobs and organizational spending. While grantees report that CFF has helped leverage funds from other sources to complete their projects, the need remains: 276 cultural organizations reported $1.6 billion in future capital projects over the next two to three years.
Check out the 2023 Cultural Facilities Fund Annual Report to view the full project list and learn more about the Fund’s impact. This grant program, typically funded through the Commonwealth’s Capital Spending Plan, is jointly administered by two state agencies: Mass Cultural Council and MassDevelopment.