NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Representative John Barrett III and the Northern Berkshire Cultural Council jointly announced the award of 63 grants totaling $72,500.00, for cultural programs in Northern Berkshire Communities. 

 

These eleven communities are comprised of ; Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Lanesborough, Monroe, New Ashford, Savoy, Williamstown, and the City of North Adams. A complete list of recipients and grant amounts can be found here. http://Www.mass-culture.org/ccnb

 

"It's the local volunteers who really make this system work," said State Representative Barrett. "They make limited resources go as far as possible, and they make the tough decisions about which projects should be supported. Thanks to them, the arts, sciences, and humanities are part of people's everyday lives in communities across the state."

 

The Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The LCC Program is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, sciences, and humanities every year. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.

 

Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers. The members of the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire are:

 

Arthur De Bow, Co-Chair - North Adams               

 

Lorna Gayle - Lanesborough      

 

Cecilia Hirsch, Co-Chair - Williamstown

 

Henry Klein - Adams     

 

Donna Motta - North Adams      

 

Barbara Proper - Cheshire          

 

Linda Rhoads - Adams  

 

Mark Siegars - Lanesborough    

 

Sally Sussman - Williamstown

 

Peter Traub - Savoy

 

Erica Jane Wetherell - Hancock

 

Maureen Riley Moriarty, Staff/Administrator

 

Statewide, more than $3.3 million will be distributed by local cultural councils in 2021. Grants will support an enormous range of grass-roots activities: concerts, exhibitions, radio and video productions, field trips for schoolchildren, after-school youth programs, writing workshops, historical preservation efforts, lectures, First Night celebrations, nature and science education programs for families and town festivals. Nearly half of LCC funds support educational activities for young people.

 

The Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire will seek applications again in the fall. For guidelines and complete information on the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, contact us at the email or number above.  Applications and more information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at www.mass-culture.org .  Applications are due Oct 15.