09.15.2026

$3.4M Invested in Creative Experiences Across Massachusetts

Creative Experiences Team

Creative Experiences

Mass Cultural Council is excited to announce $3,442,500 in Creative Experiences grants to support 738 festivals, residencies, performances, and other cultural activities across the Commonwealth. Thirty more grants were awarded this year over last! These one-year grants of $2,500 or $5,000 each fund accessible and engaging programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Creative Experiences is designed to bring cultural moments directly into communities and schools all year long. The awards support projects that elevate creative expression, spark public engagement, and enrich the cultural life of local neighborhoods.

This year’s program drew 1,730 applications from nonprofits, schools, for-profits, municipalities, community groups and creative businesses – a testament to the strong public desire to create vibrant cultural programming.

Priority Areas & Highlights

• 97% of grantees are hiring and compensating cultural workers from Massachusetts.
• 93% of grantees are voluntary participants in the Agency’s Card to Culture program or are otherwise providing activities/experiences that are entirely free.
• 67% of grantees are organizations new to funding or have not been funded recently.
• 49% of grantees are BIPOC-Centered Organizations or BIPOC majority schools.
• 39% of grantees are located in priority communities.

These investments reflect the Agency’s belief that cultural experiences are essential to the well-being of our communities – opportunities that inspire, educate, and bring people together.

Creative Experiences Across the Commonwealth

There are many different kinds of experiences supported through this program, so the list below is just a small example. Make sure to check the full funding list to find experiences near you.

Educational Experiences

STEAM Discovery Fair 2027 – Collegiate Charter School District of Lowell ($5,000)
For a one-day, school-wide and community-facing event where students in grades K–12 will design and present projects that investigate real-world problems, such as energy use, community health, biotechnology, and engineering design challenges. Families and community members will engage directly with student work through hands-on activities and a structured feedback process, including audience voting and dialogue with presenters.

Community Garden and Hands-On Workshops at 18 Degrees Family Resource Center – Heart & Soil Collective in Pittsfield ($5,000)
To re-build and expand the Community Garden at 18 Degrees Family Resource Center and hold two hands-on workshops in the space. The first workshop will be making wildflower seed paper using recycled materials gathered from the FRC, and the other will be building ‘fairy garden’ container gardens with strawberry plants families can take home.

Experiences for Creators

LaunchSpace Mobile Makerspace & Creative Workshop Series – Leverett Library ($2,500)
To provide a fully stocked and staffed traveling makerspace where people of all ages and abilities explore and create art. Workshops feature both traditional and modern artistic mediums like leather tooling, block printing and rug braiding.

Create Your Own Podcast: From Idea to Episode – Clarksburg Town Library ($2,500)
To guide participants through the full lifecycle of podcast creation, an interdisciplinary process that incorporates audio storytelling and performance, narrative development, communication, cultural expression, sound recording, and editing. Each participant will produce their own original podcast episode by the end of the program.

Creativity in the Stacks – Shutesbury Public Library ($5,000)
For a flexible community program of hands-on arts and crafts classes. Workshops include: Intro to Inkscape and 3D Print Design, Screen Printing, Rug Braiding, Clay Projects, Leather Tooling, Glass Fusing, Watercolor, Woodcarving, and Mosaics.

Concerts

Gather Hear Prison Project – Gather Hear, Inc. in Boston ($5,000)
For two concerts in prisons (MCI-Framingham & MCI-Shirley) and one public concert in Boston, “Across The Prison Walls,” which will share voices from inside the prison.

Two Opening Doors Project Community Concerts and Conversations – Belmont Against Racism ($5,000)
For two free community-building events hosted by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and co-founder of The Opening Doors Project, Alastair Moock.

Artists-in-Residence

Framing Belonging: Portraits of Migration and Identity – Champion High School in Brockton ($5,000)
For an Artist-in-Residence experience that engages students in portrait photography, working with a professional photographer to learn the artistic and technical foundations of photography, including composition, lighting, framing, and visual narrative. The residency includes experiential learning at cultural institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, where students study professional portraiture and contemporary visual storytelling.

Experiences Promoting Access

Creative Connections Series – Sunshine Village in Springfield ($2,500)
For a structured, four-part workshop hosted at Make It Springfield which engages adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities – including those on the autism spectrum – in artistic exploration, including visual arts, music production, textile arts, and 3-D printing.

Living Memories Art Experience – Ralph Froio Senior Center & Pittsfield Council on Aging ($5,000)
To provide engaging, person‑centered therapeutic activities to enhance the well‑being of low‑income older adults living with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other disabilities by within the Supportive Day Program and Memory Café.

 

See the Complete Funding List

The application for the FY28 Creative Experiences grant cycle opens March 2027.

Creative Experiences