Lowell Cultural Council
The Lowell Cultural Council’s (LCC) mission is to promote excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences to improve the quality of life for all Lowell residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of this community through the re-granting of public monies awarded to the LCC by Mass Cultural Council (MCC). The Lowell Cultural Council is an agent of Mass Cultural Council, which receives funding from the Massachusetts Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. Distributions are based on a local aid formula devised by the state and are not determined by the individual municipality.
Contact
Erin Duffey, Administrator
culturalcouncillowell@gmail.com
978-674-1483
Address
375 Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA 01852-5909
Application Information
FY25 Allocation
$138,600
FY25 Local Priorities
Lowell Cultural Council Priorities
Priorities for the 2025 year are based on the responses from a city-wide survey. Based on those results, the LCC will give extra consideration to grants with a focus on:
-Performing Arts (theater, spoken word, open mic) & Music Performances
-Visual and mixed media
-Youth Programming
This does not preclude grants being awarded to individuals and organizations applying from all other Arts & Culture disciplines, and we welcome creativity and diversity.
FY25 Local Guidelines
Lowell Cultural Council Guidelines for 2025
Because the application process is competitive, it is imperative that applicants familiarize themselves with Council guidelines. Applicants must ensure that they follow the guidelines in the application process and then, if the application is successful, follow the guidelines for publicity and reimbursement.
Applications will be accepted for projects taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
Deadline for receipt of online applications is 11:59 pm, Monday, October 16th. Early submission is strongly recommended.
Lowell Cultural Council restrictions:
The Lowell Cultural Council will accept no more than two applications per lead individual, lead organization, or under the umbrella of the same program serving the same or overlapping audience. For further clarification, please attend one of the online grant workshops. We do not fund semester-long residencies in the Lowell Public Schools. Please apply to Mass Cultural Council’s STARS Residencies, which are grants to schools to fund this type of project.
Available funding and high demand for support may result in an award smaller than the funds requested. Indicate on the application how this may affect your project. In 2024, LCC awarded over $135,000 to 31 project grants ranging in size from $692 to $15,000 to individuals and organizations seeking to enrich Lowell with arts, cultural and social science programming.
Because of the number of grants received each year, the Council cannot guarantee the ability to award grants over $10,000.
Grant recipients are required to:
-Complete their project according to the accepted proposal submitted during the application process,
-Submit receipts for reimbursements no later than December 31st, 2025
-Credit the Lowell Cultural Council with appropriate and approved branding images
-Failure to comply with these requirements will result in the requester’s ineligibility to apply for a new grant for two years unless a Grant Amendment/Forfeiture Form is submitted to the Council prior to December 1st of that Fiscal Year. (December 1st, 2025)
Electronic applications will be available online at https://massculturalcouncil.org/ on September 1, 2024.
For assistance with creating an application, a video walkthrough from MCC is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD7mPcAroKI
For more information on the grant application process, visit https://massculturalcouncil.org/communities/local-cultural-council-program/application-process
The Lowell Cultural Council requires that the following documentation MUST accompany the application:
1. Resumes of all individuals engaged in leadership roles in the project.
2. Written letters of support from partner organizations/individuals.
3. Written letter from venues confirming participation in/acceptance of the project if necessary.
4. Public art projects must have written permission from the property owners and a Public Art Permit authorized by the City of Lowell. If Public Art projects are to take place in Historic Districts and/or Lowell National Historical Park, letters of support from the Historic Board and/or Lowell National Historical Park must accompany the application. If the Public Art project is a permanent installation, a maintenance plan must accompany the application. If the Public Art project is a temporary installation, an installation and removal plan must accompany the application. City of Lowell Public Art Permit application can be found at: https://www.likelowell.com/public-art
5. All applications that anticipate gatherings of over 50 people or those that will be held outdoors are strongly encouraged to provide an alternative plan and/or venue should pandemic restrictions or weather require modification of the original project.
6. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that persons with disabilities have access to public programs or services on an equal basis with the rest of the public. Federal law mandates that any programs or services that receive federal or state funding must be accessible to persons with disabilities and there must be reasonable accommodation made to provide an accessible environment. All events and programs funded by the Local Cultural Council (LCC) 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 LCC 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.
Please note that the online application limits the number of pages of attachments for supplemental materials. Additional pages of supplemental materials should be sent as an attachment to the Council via the Council’s Gmail account (culturalcouncillowell@gmail.com).
Grant Evaluation
Grant applications are reviewed by all current Council members and during an existing Council meeting, discuss each application to determine whether or not there are questions for the applicant. If there are, then the Administrator contacts the grant applicant and gives a timeline to respond to the questions.
At the following Council meeting, after all answers are received, each council member then anonymously provides a score for each of the five major areas below.
There are five major areas considered by council members in evaluating each grant application: 1) quality of project, 2) community benefit, 3) budget and funding, 4) planning, and 5) leadership. Each area has a rating scale of one to five for a total of 25 points.
The criteria used to evaluate these areas and determine a grant’s success include:
1. Quality of Project – Is it creative, unique? Does it have a specific focus and is that focus well defined? Is it engaging? Is it collaborative? Will the project enhance the cultural life of the city? Where will the project take place? Are dates and times included?
2. Community Benefit – How well does the project serve the residents of Lowell? What is the audience to be served? Does the project reflect priorities developed from the community survey? Is the target audience an underserved population? Has this program been previously funded by Lowell Cultural Council and how many years has the program been held? (Please note – an applicant who has received funding for three successive years will have a lower priority in the fourth year)
3. Budget and Funding Support – Does the budget balance? Is the budget appropriate and clear? Are there other sources of funding or is LCC the sole source of funding? If the project is only partially funded, can it be modified and completed successfully? Does the budget include a line item for assistive support for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind or physically disabled? What provisions have been made for marketing to reach the intended audience?
4. Planning – Are there well-defined goals / targets/ benchmarks and has the applicant made those clear? Has the applicant provided enough detail including accessibility, proposed venue, rain date plans, intended dates, and desired results? Is there a letter of support from the venue and/or from outside presenters being brought in by the applicant?
5. Leadership – Does the leadership / staff have experience? Do personnel qualifications match the project’s needs? Who is involved in the planning process for the project? Are specific individuals/organizations and their contributions listed? Is there evidence of past success in executing a similar project?
Timeline for Lowell Cultural Council Grant Cycle
MCC online application goes live September 1, 2024.
Online applications are due no later than 11:59 pm on October 16, 2024.
Applicant Review Procedure
Council members review each grant application. Members then submit questions they have regarding your grant to the Chair. Applicants will receive an email from the Cultural Council by Wednesday, October 23, 2024 and if there are questions on the applications, responses must be submitted via email by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Council members are not experts in every field and the questions allow members to fill in their knowledge gaps. While there is no standard set of questions, all questions are based on the application. Questions tend to fall into one of the following categories:
– Asking for information that was missing in the application.
– Clarification about the project description
– Details about the planning process
– Explanation of community benefit
– Strategies for marketing and promotion
– Qualifications of project leaders
– Clarification of budget details
Responding to these questions is strictly voluntary and is strongly recommended.
The Voting Meetings
The scores from all voting members are then compiled and each grant receives an average score. The Council then distributes the funds starting with the highest scoring application down, until all funds have been exhausted.
Anytime a sitting member has an association with an applicant, the member must disclose the relationship and recuse themselves from the process. The recused member is required to leave the room during council discussion. They are barred from casting a vote and excluded from the scoring process for that application. Per MCC Guidelines, Council meeting minutes will note who recused themselves and from what application(s).
Denials and Approvals
Applicants who are not approved for funding will have 15 days from the date of notification to contact Mass Cultural Council for reconsideration. Please note, reconsideration can be requested if, and only if, it is believed that the Council did not follow published state and local guidelines in the grant making process.
Applications that do not receive grant funding in this cycle will receive notification before the end of the calendar year.
Once the reconsideration period has passed, and the Lowell Cultural Council has received the allocation for 2025, the Council will send out approval letters to successful applicants.
The Council will not send approvals before January 6, 2025.
How Grant Recipients Are Paid
Reimbursement Grants
FY25 Funding List
A grant list will be published here after January 17, 2025 and once the Local Cultural Council has finalized their decisions.
