Power of Culture Blog
So Many Traditions, So Little Time
Reflections of a state folklorist
Bethann Steiner, Public Affairs Director
More than $51M available to support ongoing pandemic recovery needs
Mass Cultural Council has launched two one-time COVID recovery grant programs. One is intended to assist Massachusetts cultural organizations, collectives, and businesses with ongoing pandemic recovery needs. A second to provide similar financial assistance to Massachusetts artists, creatives, and gig workers.
“Mass Cultural Council is poised to invest a historic amount of public dollars into the cultural sector this year,” said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council. “With these one-time pandemic recovery funds cultural organizations and individuals can access unrestricted aid to support their ongoing economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we hope sets them on a path towards growth.”
On December 13, 2021 Governor Baker signed Chapter 102 of the Acts of 2021, An Act Relative to Immediate COVID-19 Recovery Needs into law. This multi-billion-dollar pandemic recovery spending plan invests both federal ARPA and state surplus revenue dollars into key economic sectors to spur activity and growth. The Act directs Mass Cultural Council to develop and implement new, one-time grant programs to assist Massachusetts artists and cultural organizations with their pandemic recovery, and funds this initiative with $60.1 million.
Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations offers unrestricted grants ranging from $5,000-$75,000 to Massachusetts cultural organizations, collectives, and businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mass Cultural Council proposes to award up to $36,080,000 in recovery grants to organizations through this program in Fiscal Year 2023.
Key dates:
Application opens: August 8, 2022
Information sessions: August 10 and August 11, 2022 (Watch the recording)
Applicant support: Office hours (various days) and one-on-one support (various days) are available.
Application deadline: September 28, 2022
Awards finalized; email notifications sent: Late January 2023
Contracts sent: February 2023
Questions? Contact staff
Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals are unrestricted $5,000 grants to Massachusetts artists, creatives, and gig workers to support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and set a path for growth.
The Agency expects to award a total of $15 million to 3,000 Massachusetts artists, creatives, and gig workers in FY23.
To apply for this grant, an applicant must be a full-year resident of Massachusetts, 18 years or older, and:
In all cases, the individual’s work should be independent/self-employed.
Key dates:
Application opens: August 15, 2022
Information sessions: August 23 and October 6, 2022
Office hours: Various days
Application deadline: November 1, 2022
Awards finalized; email notifications sent: Late January 2023
Contracts sent: February 2023
Questions? Contact staff
In May Mass Cultural Council and Mass Development jointly announced the recipients of the FY22 Cultural Facilities Fund grant round, which was supplemented with $5,568,500 in cultural sector pandemic recovery funds. The Agency expects to announce further pandemic recovery initiatives in the coming months which will fulfill the legislative directives contained within Ch. 102 of the Acts of 2021 and fully invest the $60.1M appropriated to Mass Cultural Council to spur COVID relief for Massachusetts artists and cultural organizations.
Apply for a Cultural Sector Recovery Grant for Organizations
