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$3.57M Awarded through Gaming Mitigation Fund

Lillian Lee, Program Officer

photo of a dark theater with performers dressed in Baroque attire dancing. The musicians playing in front of the stage can be seen in silhouette.
Performance of Octavia at the 2025 Boston Early Music Festival. Photo: Kathy Wittman.

Mass Cultural Council is pleased to announce the recipients of FY26 Gaming Mitigation Fund grants. Fifty-one organizations will receive a total of $3,568,500.

The Agency administers the Gaming Mitigation Fund at the direction of the state Legislature and provides grants to Massachusetts nonprofit and municipal performing arts centers to spend on touring shows or touring artist fees.

Awards range from $6,000 to $200,000 and are based on a formula that considers the percentage of performances featuring touring artists, and the amount of fees paid to those artists.

Since the program began, more than $20 million has been awarded to more than 90 organizations across the Commonwealth.

The Gaming Mitigation Fund underwent a redesign in FY25 to expand eligibility and better align with the Agency’s equity goals.

As part of that redesign, we asked organizations to report on the impact that these funds have on their organization as well as the challenges they are facing in today’s market:

  • 82% of organizations cited an increase in costs as a primary challenge.
    • 39% of organizations noted the increase in booking and artist fees.
    • 34% noted the lack of availability and rising cost of housing hired artists.

Even with the challenge of cost increases:

  • 41% of organizations reported that they were able to expand their programming with Gaming Mitigation funds.
  • 34% reported that they were able to maintain their level of programming.

Both organizations that were able to expand and maintain their level of presenting work noted that Gaming Mitigation funds allowed them to look beyond their typical roster. This included bringing in new and emerging artists, more diverse voices, international artists, or touring entities with larger fees than they would normally be able to afford.

  • 29% of organizations reported that because they had dedicated support to cover fees for touring entities, they were able to utilize funds from different sources to expand their work in other areas (e.g., education work, community programs, partnerships with other organizations, and free and/or low-cost initiatives for events).

These impacts reflect the Gaming Mitigation Fund’s goal to help organizations compete in today’s marketplace and the Agency’s goals of supporting creativity, public service, and inclusion.

The next cycle of the Gaming Mitigation Fund will open in FY27.

 

See the Funding List


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