Mass Cultural Council Staff
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’s complete list of FY25 grant opportunities for the creative and cultural sector are now available at a glance.
- Creative Projects for Schools: Grants of $5,000 for school-based projects that foster creative learning experiences in the arts, sciences, and humanities for K-12 students. Deadline: Oct. 10, 2024.
- Local Cultural Council Program: Grants to support local cultural projects. Applicants apply directly to LCCs. Deadline: Oct. 16, 2024.
- Grants For Creative Individuals: Unrestricted grants of $5,000 to Massachusetts artists, culture bearers, and creative individuals. Deadline: Oct. 24, 2024.
- Cultural Facilities Fund: Grants to support the acquisition, design, repair, rehabilitation, renovation, expansion, or construction of nonprofit cultural facilities. Opens: Oct. 10, 2024. Deadline: Dec. 19, 2024.
Metro Credit Union Foundation’s 2024 Invested In Our Communities grant program is now accepting applications. The grant is open to nonprofit organizations with a mission or focus on community development, securing safe and affordable housing, financial wellness, and advancement. Deadline: Oct. 25, 2024.
New England Foundation for the Art’s Cultural Sustainability provides operating support to organizations for and by communities of color. These non-matching grants of up to $100,000 are available to arts organizations of color with annual operating expenses under $500,000. Deadline: Nov. 21, 2024.
New England Foundation for the Art’s Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant aims to support public artmaking that helps us see, feel, experience and imagine spatial justice now, while we are still on this journey towards realizing more just futures for our public spaces and public culture. Info session: Oct. 7, 2024. Deadline: Dec. 2, 2024.
Things to Attend
Join the Youth Arts Impact Network, EdVestors, and Mass Cultural Council for the Fall 2024 Creative Youth Development and Arts Education Convening. Connect with your peers and share what you have accomplished this summer and what you have coming in the months ahead. Oct. 10, 2024 from 4:30-6:30pm in Boston, MA.
Art Equity’s Finding the Keys is a workshop designed to provide real-life anti-racist recruitment and hiring solutions that can be applied across industries. The next training is Oct. 10, 2024.
Springfield City Library is hosting The BizGrow Conference, offering free legal support, networking, and a small business expo. Register in advance for a meeting for free legal support. Oct. 10, 2024 from 12-4pm at the Central Library.
Register for Berklee Music and Health Institute’s Boston Arts Activation 2024: Harmony and Healing an event bringing a global conversation to Boston to inspire collaborations and celebrate local initiatives. This convening of artists, thought-leaders, healthcare professionals, and arts-focused organizations features a full day of workshops, art experiences, performances, and conversation about the intersection of arts and health in the Greater Roxbury and Dorchester communities. Oct. 19, 2024 from 9:30am-6:30pm in Roxbury, MA.
Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is hosting the Creative Exchange Conference 2024, a day filled with inspiration, networking, and fun. Tickets are $50-$80. This program participates in Card to Culture, so individuals with an EBT card can attend for free. Oct. 23, 2024 from 8:30am-3:30pm in Barnstable, MA.
Join The Lewis Prize for Impactful Spaces and Places through Creative Youth Development, an online town hall where imagination meets intention in designing physical buildings and cultural spaces for the next generation. Discover how young people impact and shape the design of their environments through involvement in local community development initiatives and placemaking in their organizations. Oct. 24 from 4-5:30pm. Register online.
Register for the BEST Initiative’s Motivational Interviewing Training for those working with young people and looking to support behavior change. Their trainings focus on allowing participants to practice tools and activities to use with young people you work with. Registration is $250 per person. Oct. 29, 2024 from 9:30am-2pm in Boston, MA.
American Alliance for Museums is hosting the Future of Museums Summit, focusing on the themes of the pressures created by a second iteration of the culture wars, the implications of generative AI, addressing the climate crisis, and combating our epidemic of loneliness. Registration: $195 for members, $245 for non-members. Applications are available for subsidized registration rates of $25 for up to 75 individuals. This virtual event is Oct. 29-30, 2024.
Massachusetts Community Foundation Partnership is hosting a Community Foundation Summit on Oct. 30, 2024 in Sturbridge, MA.
Save the date for the Institute for Nonprofit Practice’s Well-being Report release and panel discussion, hosted in partnership with The Boston Foundation on Nov. 4, 2024. The in person event includes lunch and networking from 11:30am-12:30pm. The formal program (which will also be livestreamed) is from 12:30-2pm.
Other
The National Leaders of Color Fellowship is a transformative leadership development experience curated by Creative West (formerly WESTAF) in order to establish multicultural leadership in the creative and cultural sector – across all regions. New England Foundation for the Arts is a partner on this program and supports the New England cohort during the fellowship and has established a one-time award of $1,000 to New England LoCF Alumni for further support of their professional development. Deadline: Oct. 13, 2024.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is seeking organizations interested in exploring work-based learning for individuals with disabilities in joining regional arts organizations in a virtual Professional Learning Cohort that kicks off on Oct. 17, 2024. Focused on developing career-readiness programs for people with disabilities in cultural arts settings, this model is designed to support arts organizations in developing their own job training and career readiness program for people with disabilities. Participation in the cohort is free of charge. Learn more by contacting Charles G. Baldwin.
BTC and Broadway Across America are accepting applications for their Spring 2025 Regional Theater Administration Apprenticeship, a semester-long introduction to the business of touring Broadway, with paid positions in Boston and nationwide. Applications for this part-time apprenticeship position in Boston are open until Oct. 18, 2024.
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) is accepting bids from organizations to become a youth programming partner. DCR will award organizations, through an RFR (Request for Responses) process, the opportunity to be part of a Master Contract. Once you are an awarded vendor on this Master contract, you will be able to submit proposals for various youth programming opportunities. Be sure your organization is registered on COMMBUYS. Submit RFR materials no later than Oct. 18, 2024 at 4pm.
American Alliance of Museums is accepting 2025 Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo session proposals. Learn more about the theme, session tracks, proposal formats, and tips for submitting a successful proposal. Deadline: Nov. 1, 2024 at 11:59pm (PT).
Artists At Work (AAW) has partnered with the Springfield Cultural Partnership to regionalize with Springfield, MA. AAW is a national workforce resilience program that supports and values artists as investors in their communities, and uplifts culture for social impact. Learn more about this partnership and how the 12-month project will offer local artists compensation and benefits working with the youth within Springfield’s Mason Square neighborhood.
Read Previous Months’ Listings
If you have an opportunity or resource for cultural organizations that you’d like to pitch for our monthly round-up, please email us. Efforts to submit the opportunity in a format similar to our standard (see listings above) are deeply appreciated. Because space is limited, the best submissions are 60 words or fewer and include links to web pages with more information.