Power of Culture Blog
Card to Culture Shout Out – June
We are grateful to these 52 cultural organizations committed to a more accessible cultural sector
Mass Cultural Council Staff
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.)
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation’s Advancing Community Driven Mental Health will fund five community based organizations with grants of up to $100,00 a year for two years, starting in December 2025 to improve and increase access to community based mental health services for adults experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress and practical problems of daily living, and develop the skills of a non-clinical workforce. Deadline: July 24, 2025.
The Mass Department of Energy Resources’ Green Communities Division is offering:
Essex County Community Foundation’s new Community Response Fund is accepting applications to support nonprofit organizations now and in the future. The Foundation’s primary focus is first helping organizations that expand access to food, clothing, and shelter. Applicants can apply for up to $30,000. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
National Association of Realtors’ Placemaking Grants fund state and local REALTOR® association-led projects that create new, outdoor public gathering spaces and destinations in a community on unused or underused sites. Applications accepted through October 15, 2025, or until commitment levels reach 100%.
Trust for Public Land’s On Common Ground Grant supports parks and public space projects to foster social connection and bridge community divides. They are accepting proposals for community engagement projects that help community members connect across lines of difference. Deadline: Rolling.
MassDevelopment’s Brownfields Redevelopment Fund Rolling Round Program finances the environmental assessment and remediation of brownfield sites in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Eligible applicants include community development corporations, nonprofit organizations, EDICs, and municipalities and their agencies for publicly owned sites with an identified developer. Awards of up to $250,000 in site assessment funding, and/or up to $750,000 in remediation funding are available. Learn more about the application. Deadline: Rolling.
Mass Humanities invites you to attend one of the many 2025 community readings of Frederick Douglass’ influential address, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, in town squares, community centers, churches, museums, libraries, parks, and more.
New England Foundation for the Arts welcomes New England’s cultural sector to a webinar with Open Door Arts, Arts Access Hub: A New Resource for Cultural Accessibility on July 16, 2025 from 1-2:15pm. Open Door Arts will share an inside look at the Arts Access Hub—a groundbreaking, free digital resource designed to support cultural organizations across the country in their accessibility efforts. Launching in August 2025, the Hub will bring together over 50 web pages of expert-vetted content, a comprehensive self-assessment tool, curated rosters of accessibility experts, and more.
MASSCreative’s July Artivist Town Hall will focus on the artist displacement crisis in Massachusetts and what advocates can do to disrupt it. Join Ami Bennitt, Annis Sengupta, and Jim Grace to hear about their efforts to protect and grow creative maker spaces and strategies they have learned that other communities can replicate. Please register in advance to this virtual session. July 16, 2025 from 1:30-2:30pm.
Upcoming Nonprofit Learning Lab webinars:
Join the City of Boston at City Hall Plaza to march and roll to the Boston Common in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). July 23, 2025 at 12pm.
MASSCreative’s Create the Vote is hosting the Boston Mayoral Forum on Arts & Culture on July 30, 2025 at 6pm. This forum is your chance to hear directly from mayoral candidates Michelle Wu, Josh Kraft, and Domingos DaRosa about their visions for the creative workforce and economy. Registration closes on July 29, 2025 at 12pm. Questions? Contact Create the Vote.
Health Resources in Action and the Boston Public Health Commission’s Center for Behavior Health and Wellness have partnered to provide a free training opportunity for community-based organizations that serve youth in Boston. Participating organizations can earn up to $5,000. Identify up to two, ideally, full-time, permanent, staff — who wish to improve Boston’s ability to better support the mental wellness of our young people — to serve as Behavioral Health Champions. Apply by July 31, 2025, for Cohort 3 (October 2025) and Cohort 4 (January 2026).
Registration is now open for Health Resources in Action’s BEST Initiative Youth Worker Certificate Intensive (YWC) Training August 18-22, 2025. This training is a 32-hour in-person training where participants will dive into topics such as positive youth outcomes, trauma-informed practices, collective resilience, increasing youth participation and engagement, and other critical issues. This training is now eligible for full reimbursement through the Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund Express Program. If your organization is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit with fewer than 100 employees, it may qualify. Questions? Contact HRIA.
The Kennedy Center’s 2025 Leadership Exchange in Arts & Disability Conference is August 18-22 in Cleveland, Ohio. Registration rates go up August 4, so don’t delay. Half and full day workshops, plus the 3-day conference option are available, with exclusive discounts for Access/VSA Network members.
MCLA/MOSAIC invites applications from arts professionals with experience and credentials within the field of Arts Management to the Benedetti Teaching Artist-in-Residence Spring 2026 Fellowship, a five-month arts project and teaching fellowship. The Fellow will engage in a semester-long process of creating and/or completing a substantial arts project. The resulting work will be presented as part of MOSAIC’s programming season at the end of the residency period. While in residence, the Fellow will also teach a class at MCLA on a special topic within the field of Arts Management. The Fellow will also be expected to deliver an opening lecture to the college community, as well as one or more community-facing public workshops.
Redstart Works is a one-woman, MA-based knowledge management firm advising and training nonprofits, independent creators, and library teams on records/data management, data migration, archival preservation, and other knowledge management projects.
NEMA (New England Museum Association) has a number of Professional Affinity Gatherings (PAGs), which are informal networks of people with shared interests or roles in the museum field. Discipline-specific and volunteer-driven, PAGs are a key source of best practices, enlightened techniques, and practical wisdom. Different PAGs will have associated events through NEMA.
Commonwealth Corporation’s Workforce Training Fund Program Express Program provides employers fast, simple access to grant-funded training, helping businesses in Massachusetts respond to emerging needs. Eligibility: Massachusetts businesses with 100 or fewer Massachusetts W-2 employees may apply. In order to qualify, businesses must pay into the Workforce Training Fund. All for-profit companies pay into the fund.
MassDevelopment’s Small Business Resources Directory lists organizations throughout the state that offer various services to small businesses.
Read Previous Months’ Listings
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.
