Power of Culture Blog
$7.2M Invested in Cultural Organizations Statewide
394 unrestricted grants have been awarded through our Cultural Investment Portfolio and Operating Grants for Organizations programs
Dawn Heinen, Digital Communications Manager
Check out these episodes of Creative Minds Out Loud, Mass Cultural Council’s podcast:
Eileen McCaffery, Executive Director of Community Music School of Springfield, and Julie Jaron, Director of Visual and Performing Arts for the Springfield Public Schools, discuss their work over five years on the Sonido Musica program, a partnership that aims to reduce Springfield’s high school drop-out rate through student engagement, leadership, and performance opportunities. What started with three public schools and 60 students has grown to 18 schools and nearly 1,000 student musicians! Their goal was not to have the Community Music School replace music education in the public schools, but rather to help principals and administrators see the power of the arts working every day in their school.
There’s more to New Bedford than just whaling. Lee Blake, President of the New Bedford Historical Society, discusses how the city’s residents are pulling their history together to create a new conversation about what New Bedford did to end slavery, and how that history can inform and inspire a more progressive social agenda.
Discovery Museum is a hands-on museum that blends science, nature, and play, inspiring families to explore and learn together. Neil Gordon, CEO, discusses how universal design and User/Experts informed their recent expansion to a 16,000sf accessible building. He also shares their efforts to integrate parents into the exhibit experience. He says that in the museum’s new exhibits for children ages 0-3, the parental education that’s incorporated is as important as the child’s play.
