- This event has passed.
Conversations on the Commons: History Funding from Local Cultural Councils
November 6, 2020 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
History Funding from Local Cultural Councils: Talking through and workshopping LCC grant applications
November 6, 2020, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
A Conversation with Ymelda Laxton, Assistant Curator at Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, and Heather Kowalski, Executive Director of the Bidwell House Museum.
SPECIAL GUEST: Lisa Simmons, Manager of the Local Cultural Council Program, Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Outside of Boston, Local Cultural Councils are a good source of funding for programming for history organizations. Applications are due on November 16. **Update: The deadline has been extended to December 14th.** What should you apply for? What makes an application likely to get funded? Join us for a conversation on cultural councils and their preferences. Plus, we’ll be workshopping applications! Bring your draft application as well as any priorities statements by your Local Cultural Council. (Check out online application information here!)
The conversation will be moderated by Penni Martorell, curator of collections at Wistariahurst Museum and Holyoke’s City Historian. Registration is free.
This Conversation will be livestreamed. We will do our best to monitor your questions and comments during the livestream. A recording will be publicly available in the Conversations on the Commons Archive.
-
- Heather Kowalski joined the Bidwell House Museum staff in the fall of 2015 after moving to the Berkshires with her husband and two children. She became Executive Director in 2017. Prior to working at the Bidwell House Museum, Heather served as Registrar for the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh for 11 years and before that she spent six year as Assistant Registrar at the Carnegie Museum of Art, also in Pittsburgh. Heather grew up in nearby Niskayuna, NY and holds a BA in Art History from Penn State University.
-
- Penni Martorell is curator of collections at Wistariahurst Museum and Holyoke’s City Historian. Martorell’s work at Wistariahurst includes managing and preserving collections and archive, organizing history exhibits and lectures; providing opportunities for community organizations, college classes, school groups and the public to engage with local history through presentations and workshops. She lectures on Holyoke’s industrial history, local textile and paper industries, and women history makers. She has lead workshops on preserving heirlooms, basic textile preservation and is an oral history trainer. Martorell served 5 years on the State Historic Records Advisory Board and has served 6 years as Vice President of The Pioneer Valley History Network. Her passion is book and printing history.
-
- Lisa Simmons is the Program Manager for the Community Initiative at the Mass Cultural Council which includes the Local Cultural Council Program. The Community Initiative works with 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts to support arts and culture in every community. In addition, Ms. Simmons was the former deputy director of the Mass Office of Travel & Tourism. She is the Artistic Director and Producer of the Roxbury International Film Festival (RoxFilm), now in its 23rd year whose mission it is to support filmmakers, and present films and film programs that celebrate people of color around the world.
Questions? Be in touch with Caroline Littlewood: commons@masshistoryalliance.org
Conversations on the Commons
Where people from Massachusetts history organizations get to vent, empathize, laugh, complain, think, collaborate, brainstorm, plan, and in general be up to no good.