Card to Culture

Application Process

Card to Culture partnerships make the power of culture accessible to a wider range of Massachusetts residents. Arts, humanities, and science organizations participating in these voluntary discount partnerships offer free or steeply discounted admission to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cardholders, Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program cardholders, and/or ConnectorCare health insurance cardholders. They also receive training, communications, and policy support from Mass Cultural Council. At the same time, the partner agencies administering these cards promote participating organizations to their constituents.

How to Participate

Organizations will have their listing(s) automatically renewed each year unless they opt-out by December 20.

Program Guidelines

Eligibility

To be a part of this program, organizations will voluntarily offer free or steeply discounted admission to Massachusetts-issued Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program card, and ConnectorCare health insurance card. Organizations choose the extent of the discount and which cards to accept. Visitors use these cards to identify their discount eligibility; the cards cannot be used for payment.

Discounts should be:

• For admission to every regular season performance or event.
• Available during all normal operating hours, and can be applied at any time.
• Available to the family or individual adult holding the accepted card.

Organizations set their own admission price (if any) and the number of people allowed per card or household for each discount. If an organization extends discounts to EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders, they may choose to offer the same or different discounts to each group. Special performances or exhibits may be exempt from the discount – if there is an extra fee or upcharge, organizations are not obligated to offer a discounted rate. Organizations may limit the number of spots available for discounted admissions if there is limited capacity for a class or performance. We also encourage organizations not to require photo identification.

Requirements

Participating organizations must:

• Consent to having their discount(s) and visitation information listed on the webpage(s) and in promotional materials of applicable partner agencies.
• Commit to offering the same discount(s) from the time of their sign-up through the end of each calendar year, and must honor the discount they have listed on the partner agency’s site for the duration of that time.
• Publish their discount on their website, referencing the Card to Culture Program, Mass Cultural Council, and the partner agencies administering the program.
• Train box office or admissions staff ahead of implementing the Card to Culture discount(s) to make the transaction and entry process as smooth as possible.
• Keep track of the total number of people admitted with the discount, tracked separately by each card type you accept, and report that number to Mass Cultural Council by February 10, 2023.

Organizations may apply to participate in Card to Culture at any time; however, partner agency websites are only updated quarterly.

Grants Management System

Organizations should submit their applications through the online system.

1. Check to see if you already have a user profile in the grants management system:
   • Go to the online application.
   • Click “Forgot Password”.
   • Once you submit your email address, you will receive an email with a temporary password and a link to the site.
   • Copy the password to use on the login page, you will then be prompted to create a new password.
2. If you do not already have a user profile, complete a registration in the grants management system:
   • Register as an Organization. You will select your organization using a search field or add it if it is not listed. The organization is the applicant, and you are the primary contact for the application.