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“The arts are
integral to ensuring our city is a culturally vibrant place where everyone
is able to thrive,” said Mayor Janey. “These organizations have done
incredible work over the past year to engage our communities during such a
difficult time, and we are proud to support them as they continue to carry
out this much needed work.”
The Boston Cultural
Council works with the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture to annually
distribute funds allocated by the City of Boston and the Mass Cultural
Council for local arts and culture programming. BCC members are Boston
residents appointed by the Mayor, and serve for up to two consecutive
three-year terms. Council members are selected on the basis of their
demonstrated commitment to Boston's cultural community and their knowledge
of various arts disciplines.
This year, the Mass
Cultural Council contributed $245,900 and the City of Boston contributed
$250,000. The Boston Cultural Council received applications from
organizations across the entire city, representing a wide variety of
artistic disciplines. Here is a complete list of the 2021 grantees.
For the second year
in a row, grant amounts were determined by budget size. Organizations with
budgets under $2 million received grants between $2,000 and $5,000. This
funding strategy aims to better support small- to medium-sized
organizations. Organizations were evaluated on a series of criteria,
including diversity of the organization, service to historically
underrepresented populations, benefit to the public, and reflection of the
goals and ideas of the Boston Creates cultural plan.
The Boston Cultural
Council also awarded the Modeling Equity Organization grant for the third
year in a row. OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center, Little Uprisings, and DEAFinitely, Inc. were each awarded an additional $5,000 for
meaningfully addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership,
board, staff, and programming, and their ongoing work to serve historically
underrepresented groups.
“This award from the
BCC will invigorate DEAFinitely’s performing arts and mentoring programs as
we start a new chapter of empowerment and resolve after a year of isolation
and grave injustices,” said Jamie Robinson, Founder/Creative Director of
DEAFinitely, Inc., a 2021 Boston Cultural Council grantee and Modeling
Equity Organization award recipient. “We thank BCC for shining a light on
communication and Deaf cultural access as integral parts of diversity,
equity and inclusion for all Boston cultural organizations.”
In addition to
supporting arts organizations through Boston Cultural Council grants, the
City of Boston has also allocated $200,000 to supporting individual artists
through the Opportunity Fund. Artists can apply for $1,000 grants for
professional development experiences or community arts events. The deadline
to apply for funding in FY2021 is June 4, 2021. Interested artists can
learn more at boston.gov/opportunity-fund.
"We aim to make
opportunities to engage in the arts and creative expression accessible to
all, and one way we're doing that is by celebrating organizations that
represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the city, and lifting up those
who are going above and beyond in their own work to advance equity, access,
and social justice in Boston,” said Kara Elliott-Ortega, Chief of Arts and
Culture for the City of Boston. “We look forward to supporting all of our
grantees as we work together to make Boston a city that uplifts our
communities."
A virtual reception
celebrating this year’s grantees will be livestreamed to the Mayor’s Office
of Arts and Culture’s Facebook page (@ArtsinBoston) on May 20, 2021 from 6-7 p.m. To learn more
about the Boston Cultural Council, visit here. |
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