$359,000 Granted to 48 State-Designated Cultural Districts

Luis Cotto, Program Manager

Cultural Districts

In Fiscal Year 2021 Mass Cultural Council invited its Cultural Districts to apply for up to $7,500 in assistance to support rebuilding and renewal efforts in their communities and ultimately awarded a total of $359,000 to 48 districts. Fifty-six percent (56%) of those grants were earmarked for artists and other creatives, investing directly into a sector devastated by the pandemic, Cultural Districts also used the grant to supplement COVID-19 safety interventions in their spaces.

Cultural Districts were especially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as cultural assets and traditional brick and mortar stores were closed for months. For Cultural District managers, this was a trying time as they worked to not only make each entity aware of the relief opportunities available, but also to serve as the point people locally working to raise spirits of the surrounding communities.

Investments made in this grant round include:

• In the Springfield Central Cultural District, the Springfield Cultural Partnership will mobilize creatives and trusted community influencers to create culturally relevant and representative public health messaging that leads to the outcome of stopping the spread of COVID and increasing immunization rates.
• In Haverhill, Creative Haverhill work with local stakeholders in the Riverfront Cultural District to hold a monthly downtown Haverhill Art Walk from May – September highlighting local businesses, creatives, underutilized spaces and encouraging tourism through displays of plein air painting, art exhibitions, demonstrations, and performances.
• On Martha’s Vineyard, the Aquinnah Circle Cultural District will use funds to provide extra staff time and supplies needed to maintain COVID-safe public bathrooms, and for extra infrastructure required for safe activities to support the annual Native American Artisans Market.
• The Framingham Centre Common Cultural District looked to create a more safe pedestrian experience by using funds to create a lighting plan for its historic Centre Common.
• Gloucester’s two districts, the Harbortown Cultural District and the Rocky Neck Art Colony partnered to hold summer-long, Thursday night art strolls and charter a water taxi to ferry visitors back and forth across the harbor.

Mass Cultural Council administers the Cultural Districts Initiative on behalf of the Commonwealth, established in 2011 through an act of the state Legislature. This program enables state-designated Cultural Districts to drive economic growth, strengthen the influence of distinctive local character, and improve the quality of life across Massachusetts in our communities. There are currently 51 state-designated Cultural Districts helping our cultural communities thrive statewide.

FY21 Cultural District Grants

Cultural Districts