The Grant Cycle
Guidance in Response to COVID-19
This page is meant to provide guidance to Local Cultural Councils (LCC) and their grantees on how to manage the LCC grant cycle in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Circumstances are changing quickly. We will do our best to keep you abreast of any policies changes.
FY23 Local Cultural Council Program Guidance
This page section is meant to supplement the updated, FY23 Local Cultural Council Program guidelines. LCCs will be notified by email of any changes made and posted here.
Is virtual programming considered public benefit in FY23?
Programs do not need to be in-person to provide public benefit. Virtual and remote programming are also effective ways to make programming available to the public while supporting efforts to maintain and promote public benefit.
Examples include: Virtual art activity at a senior center that is taught over Zoom or community cable channel. A music class that engages local youth via a streaming platform. An art show that is mounted outside where people can either walk or drive through. An in-person class for a few (because of guidelines) that is also streamed for others to participate in. The creation of a video series that is offered to your community to view via public access or a local venue.
In looking at the requirement of applicants to offer public benefit to a community, LCCs should look towards responses from their community input process to better inform their council priorities.
Can we provide funding for operating support?
Yes. The impact COVID-19 has had and continues to have on the cultural sector, based on community input and community need, Local Cultural Councils could consider shifting from project-based support to operating support to allow organizations more responsive, flexible support.
Operating support-based funding can help the cultural sector in a year when projects and programs will be facing great uncertainty and many restrictions.
Examples of operating support: Funding expenses for artist residencies, funding supplies for arts and culture programming, funding ticket subsidy programs, funding for the day to day operations of an organization that provides arts and culture programming, funding for individual artists materials to do their work, funding for streaming platforms for virtual programming.
How flexible should we be on venue and timeframe of applicants?
Because COVID-19 has made it difficult to determine if venues will be available within the FY23 granting period, LCCs should be flexible in their request for applicants to provide a definitive venue for their programs. In addition, it may be particularly difficult for applicants to procure letters of support while municipalities and organizations remain closed during the grant cycle. LCCs should be open to allowing applicants to be considered for approval if the support letters are not available. LCCs can always approve eligible applicants with a conditional approval to obtain letters of support closer to the date of programming.
Applicant does not show that their program is accessible, should we deny it? All events and programs funded by LCCs must consider access for persons with disabilities, including the facility or event location as well as the content of the program. To ensure equitable access, an applicant’s first step is a candid assessment and identification of barriers (physical, virtual, cultural, communication) followed by a bold and innovative plan for improvement
If an applicant puts forward a proposal for a project with strong potential for public benefit, but the Local Cultural Council has concerns about access for persons with disabilities, the LCC may choose to award a conditional approval. This would allow the applicant the opportunity to address the concerns and improve access as a condition of receiving the grant.
Again, LCCs can provide a conditional approval to the applicant contingent upon creating an accessible plan for their program.
If a person with a disability requests accommodation to complete the application, what are ways in which we can provide reasonable accommodation?
You may provide one-on-one assistance to support an applicant, including walking through the application sections by section, helping an applicant copy and paste text to go into the sections, and in providing assistance in whatever way they may require within reason. You may also allow as an LCC to accept video or audio files from applicants with disabilities where the current application is inaccessible. Please check with your Mass Cultural Council staff contact for additional guidance.
We still cannot meet in-person, how will we hold a voting meeting?
On June 16, 2021, Governor Baker signed into law An Act Extending Certain COVID-19 Measures Adopted During the State of Emergency. This Act includes an extension, until March 31, 2023, of the remote meeting provisions of his March 12, 2020, Executive Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law. The new law has two major parts.
First, the new law allows public bodies to continue providing live “adequate, alternative means” of public access to the deliberations of the public body, instead of holding meetings in a public place that is open and physically accessible to the public. “Adequate, alternative means” may include, without limitation, providing public access through telephone, internet, or satellite enabled audio or video conferencing or any other technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the public body in real time.
Second, the new law authorizes all members of a public body to continue participating in meetings remotely; the Open Meeting Law’s requirement that a quorum of the body and the chair be physically present at the meeting location remains suspended.
This means that your LCC does not need a quorum of members physically present to hold a decision meeting, however it does not eliminate the requirement for a quorum.
However, the public must still have access to the virtual meetings. As a result, do not hold any virtual meetings until you seek and receive permission and guidance from your city/town. The municipality will determine the process by which municipal boards and commissions can hold virtual meetings, and/or if they can hold them at all. All other aspects of Open Meeting Law are still in place such as the requirement to give notice, post an agenda, and keep minutes of the meeting.
Review the updated guidance on holding meetings pursuant to the Act Extending Current COVID-19 Measures for additional information.
Do we need two LCC members to sign reimbursement or grant agreement forms to approve payments?
The Mass Cultural Council has changed the LCC Program Guidelines regarding the policy requirement for two signatures. The guidelines now state:
“… a sub-committee of a minimum of two council members must approve the payment. Both members can sign the form to indicate approval, or one member can sign the form on behalf of both members if the decision is documented and reported to the full council at the next meeting.”
At least two members need to review and agree to payment request, which can be done via email. Only one person needs to sign the form and forward it to the city or town for payment. In order to preserve a record of the decisions, notes from the review should be kept or a copy of the email from the second member should be printed and kept with the reimbursement request. If it is not possible to print, then a copy of the email should be saved electronically as part of the LCC’s records.
What do we need to pay grantees? Do we have to have signed, original, documents?
Reimbursements: The LCC Program guidelines state that in order to approve payment to a grantee two LCC members need to “sign the form and forward it to the municipal treasurer.” As noted above, due to a temporary modification to the guidelines only one LCC member’s signature is required in order to limit the need for LCC members to have in-person contact with each other. The LCC Program guidelines do not specify that the signature on the forwarded reimbursement form must be an original, “wet” signature. If you need to change the way you are forwarding reimbursement forms to your municipal treasurer, you should ask them what they prefer – mailed, emailed, etc. – and decide on an approach that both keeps payments moving and supports social distancing.
Direct Grants: Likewise, the LCC Program guidelines state that once an LCC receives a completed Grant Agreement Form they should “forward a copy of the executed agreement, which will serve as an invoice, to the municipal fiscal officer so that funds can be authorized and released.” The program guidelines do not specify that the signature on the forwarded Grant Agreement Form must be an original, “wet” signature. If you need to change the way you are forwarding Grant Agreement Forms to your municipal treasurer, you should ask them what they prefer – mailed, emailed, etc. – and decide on an approach that both keeps payments moving and supports social distancing.
