Lillian Lee, Program Officer
Mass Cultural Council is pleased to announce the recipients of the FY24 Gaming Mitigation Fund grant round.
Fifty-eight nonprofit and municipal performing arts centers will receive a total of $3,662,200. This year, the minimum grant award was raised from $5,000 to $6,000. Awards range from $6,000 to $200,000 and are based on a formula that considers the percentage of performances featuring touring artists, and the amount of fees paid to those artists.
Mass Cultural Council administers this program at the direction of the state Legislature. As established by MGL Section 59, chapter 23K, this program provides grants to Massachusetts nonprofit and municipal performing arts centers to spend on touring shows or touring artist fees. These awards are a source of mitigation and aim to provide state assistance to those most directly impacted by the operation of resort-style casinos in the Commonwealth.
Over the past decade, non-profit and municipal performing arts centers have been priced out of the touring market, even with acts they have hosted many times before. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had lasting impacts on the field of arts presenting. With the advantage resort-style casinos have, to not only book national and international touring acts, but also to offer luxury housing for the artists they book, public funding for nonprofit and municipal performing arts centers is imperative.
More than $10 million has been awarded over the past three Gaming Mitigation Fund grant cycles to more than 50 organizations across the Commonwealth. As the arts presenting field continues to shift and navigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, these funds will be crucial in allowing for continued recovery and growth.