Power of Culture Blog
Advancing Equity & Investing in More Organizations
A change in how the Agency will distribute grants to cultural organizations this year
Each month Mass Cultural Council shares a round-up of grants, trainings, technical assistance resources, and opportunities for creative and cultural organizations (a companion to our Useful Links page). This list is not meant to be exhaustive but a glimpse of what is on offer in the coming weeks. (We also publish a weekly Artist Opportunities listing.)
Mass Cultural Council’s Local Cultural Council Program provides grants for thousands of community-based arts and culture projects. Public programs to be supported in every community in Mass. Application opens: September 1. Deadline: October 17.
Philanthropy MA is offering Fundraising Essentials for Executive Directors, running from September 12 – November 15, 2023. Application deadline: August 4.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is offering a panel discussion How the Supreme Court Ruling on Race Affects Nonprofits and Foundations, which is ideal for foundation and nonprofit leaders, DEI officers, and those responsible for strategic planning. August 10 at 2 pm (ET):
Americans for the Arts is hosting a Public Art Resource Panel on August 10 at 2pm (ET). Learn about different resources and organizations that engage and support the public art field, including Forecast Public Art, CODAworx, and WESTAF‘s Public Art Archive. This event is free and virtual. Register now.
In case you missed it: New England Foundation recorded their webinar series to help creative businesses, cultural organizations, and artists to create full and complete profiles in Creative Ground, their dynamic regional directory of the creative ecosystem.
The National Council of Nonprofits offers Ten Planning Tips for Leadership Transition.
Unitil and United Way of North Central Massachusetts in partnership with New England Farm Workers’ Council are hosting an energy assistance forum for area nonprofits on August 10 at Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg at 8:30am. To attend, RSVP to Lisa Normandin.
Project for Public Spaces takes its long-running “Placemaking: Making it Happen” training online, featuring new content along with the enduring lessons and examples from the original in-person training. Sessions run September 5-21, 2023. Register by August 31.
Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism hosts a statewide calendar of events and invites cultural organizations to contribute their events.
Cultural nonprofits may qualify for the Internal Revenue Service’s Federal Employee Retention Credit. File for the 2020 credit ($5K/employee) by April 15, 2024 and for the 2021 credit ($21K/employee) by April 15, 2025.
T-Mobile’s Hometown Grants are investing $25M in 500 rural towns over 5 years to jumpstart projects and build stronger communities. This grant opportunity is for communities with a population of less than 50,000 people. Next deadline: September 30, 2023.
Planning your fall arts education programming? Teaching artists shared their strategies and insights for successful school residencies with Mass Cultural Council.
Community Collections Grants from the American Folklife Center fund contemporary cultural field research and documentation within diverse communities. Available to Individuals and Organizations, the grants offer up to $50,000 each to support projects within their communities to produce ethnographic cultural documentation, such as of interviews with community members and audio-visual recordings of cultural activity, from the community perspective. Deadline: August 18.
If you have an opportunity or resource for cultural organizations that you’d like to pitch for our monthly round-up, please email us. Efforts to submit the opportunity in a format similar to our standard (see listings above) are deeply appreciated. Because space is limited, the best submissions are 60 words or fewer and include links to web pages with more information.