Latest news with #MassCulturalCouncil
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mass. artists receive grants, concerns remain
BOSTON (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Cultural Council gave out nearly 450 grants to artists at the State House on Monday. While the event primarily celebrated the $5000 unrestricted grants, speakers touched on the challenges of paying the bills for creative sector salaries. The cultural council's leadership explained that the median income of people working in the creative sector is well below the living wage in the Bay State. He used the example of dancers, whose median income from dancing is just $7000 per year. Despite these challenges, the event emphasized the importance of the artist's work and the organization's commitment to continue to provide grants and other support. 'This is about investing in bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and the cultural momentum that drives progress, and that is all of you,' said Michael Bobbitt, Executive Director of the Mass Cultural Council. Another speaker, the state treasurer, spoke to artists in the audience about keeping their heads up, even as federal funding for programs deemed 'wasteful,' like many arts programs, is cut or eliminated. 'Don't let them get you down. We're in difficult times. It isn't going to get easier to get funds, but to quote my mom, 'grim perseverance,'' said Treasurer Deb Goldberg. Lawmakers at the event promised onlookers that Massachusetts' government values the arts and will continue to fund opportunities for artists to thrive. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
GrubStreet's executive director to step down
'We have grown and flourished beyond my wildest expectations,' she said in a statement. 'With success at our backs and a bright future ahead, the time is right for me to pass the baton.' Under Bridburg's direction, GrubStreet expanded from a small organization with two classrooms into a writing center that has worked with nearly 60,000 adult students over the years, awarding more than 4,000 scholarships. Advertisement The organization also raised some $8 million to build out its airy new location in the Seaport, where Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But the Seaport move coincided with what was perhaps the organization's biggest controversy: Fallout from The article roiled the nonprofit, prompting its board to announce it would hire an independent expert to review the situation. 'Bluntly, we are appalled by the disconnect between GrubStreet's stated values and the alleged behavior by some that has come to light,' the board's executive committee wrote in an email at the time. 'GrubStreet is meant to be a nurturing and supportive environment.' Advertisement Four years later, board chair Sharissa Jones praised Bridburg's leadership. 'Under Eve's direction, GrubStreet has revolutionized how we think about access to writing education and how we teach it,' she said in a statement. 'I am confident that we will find another amazing leader to chart our evolution in the years ahead.' Michael Bobbit, executive director of the Mass Cultural Council, called GrubStreet 'one of Boston's most important cultural resources.' 'GrubStreet's mission of ensuring that all voices are heard and that every human story is respected is even more urgent in these times,' he said in a statement. The writing center has worked with thousands of teens over the years, and offered year-long novel and memoir incubators. 'I've watched GrubStreet grow from a scrappy, DIY writing center to a huge and thriving community of teachers and storytellers,' Steve Almond, an author, GrubStreet instructor, and occasional Globe contributor, said in a statement. 'It's supported me and other writers, allowed us to teach thousands of students, and created a space where writers of all sorts have come together to feel more inspired and less alone.' Malcolm Gay can be reached at
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CitySpace offers free venue, stipend for western Mass performers
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Western Massachusetts performers and arts organizations have a unique opportunity to access free performance space, financial support, and professional development through CitySpace's Pay It Forward program. Applications for the program, now in its fourth year, are open until April 10, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. The initiative, aimed at artists in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties, provides selected performers with free use of CitySpace's Blue Room in Easthampton's historic Old Town Hall. In addition to venue access, participants will receive a $1,000 stipend, event support, proceeds from ticket sales, and opportunities for artistic and career growth through workshops and peer-learning cohorts. Pay It Forward is designed to support performers who often face financial challenges in bringing their work to the stage. According to a 2024 Mass Cultural Council study, artists in Western Massachusetts earning more than half of their income from the arts make 28% less than the state's living wage. Musicians, actors, and dancers are among the lowest-paid in the program seeks to address these financial disparities by providing artists with both tangible resources and the tools to build sustainable careers. 'After working directly with Pay It Forward artists last year, I saw over and over again exactly why this program is so important—especially now,' said CitySpace Arts Programming and Venue Manager Zoë Fieldman. 'Not only do participants see the financial impact their art can have, but they also build an artistic community and gain skills that help them grow their practice in sustainable and empowering ways.' Since its launch, Pay It Forward has given artists thousands of free hours of rehearsal and performance space. The program supports a variety of creative disciplines, including theater productions, music concerts, and dance performances. The program is open to individual performers earning $65,000 or less annually, as well as arts organizations based in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin counties. Those facing barriers to access are encouraged to apply. For full eligibility details and to submit an application, visit their website. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
29-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘A huge shock to the system': Mass. arts and culture leaders react to Trump order to pause federal funding
Sebastian Belfanti, director of the West End Museum, which suffered severe water damage in 2022. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In his first nine days in office, Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders aimed at reversing progressive policies on immigration; the environment; transgender rights; and diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI — areas that are commonly addressed through arts programming in Massachusetts. 'I'm not shocked that something like this is coming,' Belfanti said, regarding the funding freeze. 'Do I think that our project is probably going to get killed? Yeah, of course.' The proposed pause includes federal agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) — three prominent funders of local arts and culture nonprofits. According to data from the most recently available fiscal years, NEA promised Advertisement The new administration's stance is in contrast to the Biden White House, which encouraged funding art that shared 'the stories of those in underrepresented communities,' said Emily Ruddock, executive director of It's not just nonprofit arts organizations that are in a holding pattern. State agencies, like the 'Like all who receive federal funding, Mass Cultural Council is troubled by today's announcement and is actively seeking to learn and understand what steps may follow this decision,' Michael J. Bobbitt, the agency's executive director, said in a statement on Tuesday. 'While details are still emerging, we caution a long-term freeze in federal grant-making will significantly and negatively impact many in the Commonwealth's cultural sector.' Michael Bobbitt, executive director of the Mass Cultural Council, photographed in Roxbury before a tour of the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center at Forest Hills. Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe Grace Kennerly, executive director of the Jamaica Plain chamber orchestra Historically, a large portion Advertisement the Boston-based chorus and period instrument orchestra, was recently announced as a 2025 NEA grantee to the tune of $40,000 to help finance performances of 'Crossing the Deep,' a choral drama based on the history of the Atlantic slave trade during the time of one of the orchestra's namesakes, 18th-century composer George Frideric Handel. Spoken-word artist Regie Gibson performing in "Crossing the Deep" with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Anthony Trecek-King. Sam Brewer 'Any disruption to funding for the arts is concerning and destabilizing,' said H+H CEO David Snead in a statement. 'The potential loss of $40,000 from NEA to produce 'Crossing the Deep' limits our ability to provide Boston audiences with programming that connects us all with our shared humanity. When public funding is uncertain, we are forced to fill that gap with private contributions. We are monitoring the situation and hope this funding pause is just that.' Bobbitt of Mass Cultural Council is optimistic arts funding will be sustained. 'We are hopeful the Trump Administration's review of federal spending will be expeditious and any and all previously committed funds are delivered without long delay,' he said. But Trump's track record on arts funding hints toward a different outcome. In every year of the president's first term, he proposed a federal budget that 'The zeroing out of the NEA felt largely symbolic from the Trump administration. However, that was under a different Congress,' said Ruddock. 'It's very hard to be able to estimate what the next moves will be.' Advertisement Julian E.J. Sorapuru is an Arts Reporter at the Globe and can be reached at
