Applying
Guidelines
Recipients

Deadline for
Grant Applications
October 15, 2008!

ArtsMeet
Monday, March 10

7:00p - 9:00p
The Arsenal Center for the Arts
Mezzanine Rehersal Hall
321 Arsenal Street, Watertown

		WCC Members Rena Baskin Marcia Ciro Lisa Cohen Laurie Coiley-Massing Rebecca Curtiss Treasurer Jennifer Downing Lisa Feltner Fran Forman Co-Chair Shaunna Harrington Sandy Jaffe Ryan McKittrick Janet Mendelsohn Rick Mohr Co-Chair Sarah Newhouse David Sprogis Chris Viklund If you are interested in becoming a member of the Watertown Cultural Council please contact us.

Watertown Cultural Council

ArtsMeet The Grants and Networking Event for Watertown Artist, Writers and Performers Join other Watertown artists for an evening of networking, entertainment, and information about the MCC grant program. The program supports visual arts, music, creative writing, dance, arts education, and performance projects. Individuals and organizations can apply. All past and prospective grantees are welcome; refreshments served.

About the WCC

The Watertown Cultural Council (WCC) is one of 355 Local Cultural Councils (LCC) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funded by the state through the Mass Cultural Council (MCC).

The mission of the MCC is "to promote excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusettes residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities."

As a volunteer town board, the WCC funds projects that support programs in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences that benefit Watertown residents. Grants are provided to individuals, schools, and nonprofit organizations. We also accept and review applications from schools and youth groups through a ticket subsidy program called the PASS Program, which funds cultural field trips to museums, exibits and performances. We are committed to ensuring cultural access to all segments of the Watertown community.

The WCC is funded in two ways:

1. Like all of the 355 Local Cultural Councils around the state, we receive an allotment of funds each year from the MCC. The money allocated to each community is determined by using one of the state's Local Aid formulas established by the state Legislature. The formula is based on population and equalized property values in order to provide low-income communities with relatively larger allocations.
2. We are funded by money that we raise through fundraisers and donations from individuals and community organizations interested in benefiting the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences of Watertown.

Since its establishment in 1982, the WCC has distributed over $200,000 and funded over 500 programs that have enriched the lives of tens of thousands of community residents. Examples of the grants include musical programs in nursing homes, theater and dance performances in the schools, summer concerts in Saltonstall Park, family programs at Gore Place, dramatic readings at the library, artistic and photographic displays in area galleries, and poetry workshops for children. Our support has provided opportunities to strengthen and celebrate the town's many diverse communities, through programs such as a hip-hop dance performance at the Perkins School for the Blind, displays in the Armenian Library and Museum, a collection of folktales from the Kurdish population, and a performance of Klezmer music at the library. (see list of past grants).

We value Watertown's unique past by funding "living history" projects in the schools and library, and by helping artists and sculptors to create works that recount times gone by. We also recognize Watertown's special location on the Charles River by providing grants to individuals who have photographed and catalogued the flora and fauna by its banks.

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