Privacy Policy
Welcome to the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s (“MCC,” “We,” “Us,” “Our”) website (“site”). This site has been developed by the MCC to provide You with information about Us and the services that We provide. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) covers how We collect, process, and use information collected and received through use of this site by users like you (“You” or “Users”). Our site is directed only to Users in the United States and specifically to residents of Massachusetts, as they are the only parties eligible to receive financial grants from the MCC.
This Policy may also apply to and be incorporated into other sites that We own or with which We are directly affiliated, including but not limited to, ArtSake, Seen & Heard, massfolkarts.org, creativeyouthdevelopment.org, and creativemindsoutloud.org. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS POLICY, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE ALL OF THE SITE’S FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY.
We also use various Third Party Service Providers (“Providers”), as set forth below, to assist Us in the operation of this site so that We may provide and enhance Our services to You. We may use Providers to furnish or manage platform, portal, web-hosting, and/or analytical services, for example. This Policy only applies to how the MCC treats Your information and not Our Providers. Please consult the privacy polices of Our Providers, which are separate from this Policy, to learn how they may collect, process, and use Your information.
By using the site You consent to Our collection, processing, and use of Your personally identifiable information, as defined below, as well as its disclosure in certain instances in accordance with this Policy. We are informing You of Our privacy practices, including:
1) What personally identifiable information is collected from You through Your use of this site and how We do this;
2) How Your information will be collected, processed, used, and retained by Us;
3) With whom the information may be shared or disseminated, and under what circumstances this can occur;
4) The type of security measures that are in place, if any, to protect against the disclosure, loss, misuse, or alteration of Your information;
5) How You can access and correct any inaccuracies in the information collected about You in certain instances; and
6) Who to contact if You have any questions regarding this Policy and use of Your information.
General Privacy Considerations
As a general matter, the MCC takes what We believe are reasonable precautions and makes reasonable efforts to protect Your privacy, when appropriate and within Our direct control, depending upon the nature of the information to be protected. However, due to the character of the Internet, computer systems, communications networks, and numerous other factors, We cannot and do not guarantee absolute privacy or complete security and that Your information will never be lost, misused, altered, missent, or that no unauthorized third party will ever obtain access or receive it.
In addition, as the MCC is a publicly-funded state agency, information provided by You to Us through use of this site may be made available to members of the public pursuant to access and disclosure laws such as the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. Chapter 66, Section 10 and other applicable laws or orders as described herein. For reasons set forth below, this particular site does not take any security measures or safeguards regarding Your use of the site and the information collected by Us. Our Providers, however, may take certain security measures.
This Policy only applies to this site and to those sites directly associated with Us which have incorporated Our Policy. It does not apply to the privacy practices of other state agencies or their Providers or agents. Websites developed by other agencies may operate differently and have different privacy practices in effect. Any inquiries regarding these other practices must be directed to the appropriate agency. We will not answer any questions about another agency’s privacy policy or practices. Also, to the extent that Our site contains any content posted or provided by Us which conflicts with the terms of this Policy, this Policy shall control.
What Information We Collect and How We Do It
Information can generally be collected in three ways: (1) Information that is and voluntarily input into Our system directly by You, such as is in response to particular prompts or fields, whether provided by Us, Our Providers, or other users (collectively, “Voluntary Information”); (2) information that is collected automatically and indirectly based upon Your interaction with Our site, or from the device or browser You use to access it (collectively, “Indirect Information”); and (3) information that is collected automatically when You are not interacting with the site (collectively, “Non-interactive Information”). We collect Voluntary Information and Indirect Information as stated below. We do not collect Non-interactive Information at this time, but Our Providers may do so. Please consult their privacy policies, which are separate from this Policy, to learn if they collect, process, and use Non-interactive Information.
Mere use and viewing of this site does not require You to input any “personally identifiable information” in response to particular prompts or fields. We use the term “personally identifiable information” (“PII”) in this Policy to mean any type of information which could be utilized to identify or be readily associated with You, the User of the site. Examples of PII include, but are not limited to, Your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, or any combination thereof.
If You decide to use particular functions or features on the site, You may be required to input certain PII at various times. While You can sometimes choose what information to provide to Us, We may require certain information from You, including PII, to provide the desired service.
Voluntary Information
For example, if You decide to submit an electronic grant application to Us through the site, You will be required to disclose certain PII about Yourself and/or Your organization to Us, through Our Provider, so We can process Your application. If You do not give Us permission to do this, You would be ineligible to receive a grant from the MCC. This would be a voluntary disclosure by You of Your PII.
Pursuant to the Fair Information Practices Act, Chapter 66A, Section 2(l), We do not collect or maintain more PII than what is reasonably necessary for the performance of the MCC’s statutory functions. Further information about these practices may also be found in various Massachusetts Executive Orders issued by the Governor’s Office and/or at the Executive Office of Technology Service and Security. If You provide Us with PII, We may match, link, supplement, or aggregate this with other information and data about You that We already have in Our possession.
The transmission of an e-mail voluntarily initiated by You to Us can also transmit PII about You. Your e-mail address can be considered personally identifiable in some instances (e.g., “john.doe@gmail.com). Moreover, if You include Your name, telephone number, and other information in the body of the e-mail, this information is personally identifiable. You should not send PII to this site via unencrypted e-mail, particularly information that You deem to be sensitive or confidential. This information could be publicly disclosed in certain circumstances as well.
Indirect Information
The automatic collection of Indirect Information refers to information collected from You that does not require You to intentionally provide information in response to particular prompts or fields when interacting with the site.
For example, a site may use “cookies.” A cookie is a small unique text file automatically placed on Your computer’s web browser by a site that is used to recognize users who have previously visited the site. In general, cookies are either persistent and may reside on Your computer for a period of time after You last accessed the site—or even indefinitely until You manually delete or otherwise dispose of them—or on a temporary session basis, which usually terminate when a User closes their web browser. We and/or Our Providers may use both session and persistent cookies on the site.
Cookies by themselves do not tell us Your PII unless You choose to provide this information to Us by registering to use the site. However, once You choose to furnish Us with PII, this information may be matched, linked, and aggregated to the data stored in a cookie. We and/or Our Providers use cookies to, among other things, understand and evaluate site usage, to personalize Your experience on the site, and to save Your password in password-protected areas. While many browsers are set to accept cookies and other tracking technologies by default, You may be able to set Yours to refuse or disable them or to alert You prior to accepting them. However, refusing or disabling them may prevent You from accessing all of the site’s features. Please refer to Your browser’s instructions to learn more about these functions.
Like many current and standard website servers, We and/or Our Providers automatically gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. These files may contain data such as Your internet protocol (“lP”) address, browser type, device identifier, operating system, internet service provider, date/time stamps, and other data. This information, among other things, allows us to track statistics, site usage, and trends on an aggregate basis.
Your IP address is a unique series of numbers that identifies each computer connected to the internet. It can be used to provide information such as the date and time of a User’s visit, the availability of certain requested files, the popularity of various site functions, and the amount of information transmitted to each User from a site. We and/or Our Providers use Your IP address for, among other things, addressing the frequency of Your visits to this site and determining how often certain pages and functions are accessed.
As a particular computer is identified rather than a particular User, no PII is disclosed. However, We and/or Our Provider may match, link, or aggregate Your particular IP address and other Indirect Information to any PII that You provide to Us. For example, in instances where We, in Our sole discretion, suspect or determine that the site is being used for any unacceptable, inappropriate, or illegal purposes, PII and other information relating to Your use of this site may be disclosed to other parties as We deem appropriate. Such information may also be disclosed pursuant to an authorized law enforcement investigation, regardless of whether it was initiated by Us or another party, or through other legal processes or procedures.
We and/or Our Providers may also use “web beacons” (also known as “action tags,” “single pixel gifs,” or “clear gifs”), which are similar to cookies, in order to gather information about the site. These help Us to identify and track the performance of web pages on the site and allow Us to measure the site’s performance. In addition, We may use web beacons in e-mails. This allows Us or Our Providers to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications by determining if Our e-mails have been opened. We and/or Our Providers may also use tracking links as well, which help to identify and track the performance and effectiveness of certain communications and interactions.
We do not collect geolocation data from Users through the devices they use to access the site, but one or more of Our Providers may do so. Geolocation data is information gathered through a device about Your actual physical location. It can be considered PII in some instances. Please consult the privacy polices of Our Providers, which are separate from this Policy, to learn if they collect, process, and use this information.
How We Use Your Information
All of the information collected at this site may be stored in Our database for an indefinite period of time even if You cease being a User of the site. We may match, link, supplement, or aggregate the information collected on the site with information from Our own database and from other MCC or governmental sources for, among other things, producing reports for the legislature consistent with Our statutory mandate, and to fulfill any requests made pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. Chapter 66 or other laws or orders. We may also do so in some instances when providing information to certain Providers, as set forth below.
In addition to any other uses discussed in this Policy, We may use information collected about You from the site to:
Dissemination of Your Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
We do not sell or license any PII or other information that We collect from You when using this site to any party. Please review the privacy policies of Our Providers for more information about their specific practices.
However, once PII is collected through Your use of this site, its dissemination becomes subject to certain laws and policies, including, but not limited to, the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. Chapter 66; the Fair Information Practices Act, M.G.L. Chapter 66A; and other laws or orders. Consequently, any of Your PII that You submit to Us could be disseminated to the public in response to a public records request.
We also have certain disclosure obligations to the federal government due to Our involvement and association with the National Endowment for the Arts (“NEA”) and other federal agencies which may allocate funds to Us through various grants or programs. The collection, processing, use, and retention of Your PII and other information would be subject to NEA or agency policies and/or applicable federal law, regulations, or directives. We make no assurances, representations, or warranties pertaining to how the NEA, other agencies, or the federal government will use and disseminate Your information.
In addition, any of the information that is submitted by or collected from You can be disclosed to employees or officials of, or those under contract to, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who have a “need to know” such information for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities, legal obligations, contractual duties, or for rendering assistance to You. In some instances, We may provide information submitted by You via e-mail to the person or company that is the subject of Your inquiry or to a local, state, or federal government agency responsible for the matters referred to in Your communication.
Moreover, as set forth below, Our Providers may disseminate Your information in accordance with their own privacy policies or practices.
Website Security
This is NOT a secure site and We have not employed any security measures to protect data. We have not implemented any protective safeguards regarding the access, use, processing, encryption, disclosure, or authentication of any information available on this site or that You make available to Us through the site. However, as set forth in this Policy, our Providers may implement security and other protective measures.
Third Party Service Providers
Our Providers presently include, but are not limited to: (1) Liquid Web, to host Our site; (2) SmartSimple, to provide Our online grant application process; (3) MailChimp, to manage Our e-mail services; (4) Google Analytics, to track Our site performance and User engagement; and (5) Linode, to assist with Our site-testing and development. Please contact Us directly if You would like to know whether We use the services of other Providers not listed here or if We have changed or replaced Providers. We reserve the right to add or change Providers at any time in Our sole discretion.
Some Providers such as MailChimp may have required You to provide PII and other information in order to receive e-mails from Us. We may have also provided MailChimp with Your PII when You enrolled to receive e-mails from Us. While You may opt-out of receiving Our e-mails or discontinue using the site and Our service altogether, MailChimp and other Providers and vendors may still continue to retain and use Your PII and other information.
If You have any questions about Liquid Web’s, SmartSimple’s, MailChimp’s, Google Analytics’, or Linode’s privacy practices or security measures, please review their privacy and other policies at https://www.liquidweb.com/, https://www.smartsimple.com/, https://mailchimp.com/, https://analytics.google.com, and https://www.linode.com/ or contact each of the companies directly. We do not answer any questions about a particular Provider’s privacy policies or practices; kindly direct Your inquiries to that Provider. Please note that by visiting these sites, a cookie or other tracking mechanism may be placed on Your web browser.
Accessing and Correcting Your Information
If You provide PII to Us through Our online grant application process, We will provide You with access to correct any information that You deem to be inaccurate, incomplete, or out-of-date until the deadline date for that application or until You electronically submit Your application to Us. After that date or submission occurs, You will be unable to correct or update Your information but You can still update Your User profile. If You send e-mail to Us, We may provide access to Your e-mail under certain circumstances. In general, the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. Chapter 66 and the Fair Information Practices Act, M.G.L. Chapter 66A, provide certain rights to You when obtaining Your information in Our records.
Children’s Information
We do not actively market, target, or direct Our efforts to, or knowingly collect PII from, children under the age of thirteen (13) years.
Policy Revisions
We have the right at any time and without notice to modify the terms of this Policy. Any revisions made to this Policy will take effect immediately upon its posting to Our site. Any information collected under the current Policy may remain subject to those terms and conditions, but We cannot guarantee it due to potential changes in the law, administrative procedures, reporting, or disclosure requirements; technical considerations; or other factors. Your access to or use of the site after the date the amended Policy is posted or added shall be deemed to constitute Your acceptance of the amended Policy. No modification made by You shall be binding upon Us unless it is made in writing and signed by a MCC agent with expressly designated authority to do so.
Links to Other Web Sites
This site may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible or liable for the content, transmissions, data collection, or privacy practices of such sites. Any questions that You may have regarding another site’s practices must be directed to the appropriate party at that site. If the link is provided by a User or other third party in those areas of Our site where outside content can be posted, You may also direct Your questions to the party that provided the link, if possible.
Contact Information
For any questions about this Policy or Our information collection practices, please contact Dawn Heinen.
