Acknowledging Mass Cultural Council Support
Cultural Investment Portfolio grantees are required to participate in advocacy on behalf of the nonprofit cultural sector.
All other grantees are encouraged to participate in advocacy on behalf of the nonprofit cultural sector. See our Advocacy section for details. We also strongly encourage you to send personalized letters to the leadership of the State House and your state representative and senator, thanking them for the state appropriation for the Mass Cultural Council and your grant award. Find Your Legislator.
a) Mass Cultural Council Credit Logo: The Council must be credited for the support it provides by using the Agency’s credit logo. The logo must be produced as a unit without alteration.
b) Online Materials: Use the credit logo prominently in online materials (including web sites, blogs, electronically distributed releases, and social media/networking channels) regarding all activities to which your grant contributes. The electronic logo should also link to www.massculturalcouncil.org. Please do not include the logo on surveys.
c) Programs/Playbills: Credit must be given on all programs printed by a grant recipient in a type size not smaller than 7 point.
d) Exhibition Signage: For any exhibition presented with funding from the Council, the wall text must include the Council listed with other major public, private and corporate sponsors, in proportional order of the size of contribution.
e) Verbal Credit: When written credit is not applicable, as in the absence of printed materials, verbal credit shall be given prior to performances.
Wall plaques or advertisements that acknowledge the Contractor’s annual or ongoing support from corporations and/or foundations must also acknowledge the Council.
Organizations that are official collaborators with the primary grant recipient must comply with these requirements. The Contractor is responsible for informing said collaborators of this policy and ensuring they fulfill these obligations.
Programs that are “co-sponsored” will have additional, specific publicity requirements, dependent on the program at the time of negotiation. Contractors must seek written consent from the Mass Cultural Council before stating or implying that its programs and/or activities are “sponsored,” “co-sponsored,” or “presented” by the Council.
For more information about this policy, contact your staff contact or the Mass Cultural Council Public Affairs Director.
*This section is excerpted from your Mass Cultural Council grant contract and explains legal and crediting requirements. Our agency is referred to as “Mass Cultural Council” or as “the Council”; your organization is “the Contractor”. Compliance with these requirements will be reviewed in your grant reports and future grant requests.
We urge you to inform the press about your grant. Please note that your legislators have already been notified of your grant, and often they will make the first announcements.
To help legislators understand the impact of public funds for cultural activities, you are strongly encouraged to contact your State House Senator and Representative for a quote to include in your own press releases relating to programs supported with public monies. Funding for the Mass Cultural Council is dependent on the support of the Governor and the Legislature. You may want to draft a quote for them to review and approve in your press release.
Remember: Although you are receiving a Mass Cultural Council grant now, a feature article may be best approached several months later about your organization or a particular program once it is up and running. Please acknowledge the Mass Cultural Council in these articles.
Sample press release about Mass Cultural Council grant
Date
Organization Contact Name
For Immediate Release
Contact Telephone Number
The (name of organization) has received a grant of $______ from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, through its ________ Program.
This grant signifies that (name of organization) provides significant public value through its programs and services. [Describe in more detail the public programs and the numbers of people who will be served by this grant/your organization. Give the amount of private dollars this grant leverages.]
[Quote from legislator: Draft statements on behalf of your state Representative and Senator for them or their staff to review and approve. For example, the legislators may comment on how public support enables your organization to reach new audiences/foster community development/provide quality programming/develop models for integrating the arts into school curriculum, etc.]
For this fiscal year, Mass Cultural Council has adopted a $44 million spending plan, allowing the Agency to award 2,600 grants totaling approximately $38 million to the Commonwealth’s creative and cultural sector. This is funded primarily through public dollars, including the Agency’s $25.9 million state budget appropriation and support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The agency also runs the Mass Cultural Facilities Fund in partnership with MassDevelopment.
Mass Cultural Council funds reach every community in the Commonwealth. Its mission is to advance the Commonwealth’s creative and cultural sector by celebrating traditions and talents, championing its collective needs, and equitably investing public resources.
