The Boston Cultural Council voted to approve grants for more than 150 local artistic and cultural organizations during a meeting Monday night.
The council — a division of the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture — funds programs in the arts and humanities through a series of yearly grants. An official announcement of this year’s grantees will follow soon, according to a spokesperson from the council.
This year’s funding is composed of around $489,000 in grants from the council’s annual budget, leaving just under $7,000 available for later use. Applicants included local writing contest Boston in 100 Words, City Ballet of Boston and Chinatown’s Pao Arts Center.
“We’re thrilled to support over 150 local organizations doing incredible work to make Boston’s arts community more diverse, accessible, and vibrant this year, especially at a time when the arts sector has faced numerous challenges throughout the pandemic,” Chief of Arts and Culture Kara Elliott-Ortega wrote in an email statement.
Applications go live annually. Eligible organizations must conduct art programming in one or more categories including music, literary arts, theater, film and social and civic practices.
“These organizations have found creative ways to keep Boston residents of all ages and from every neighborhood engaged, connected and inspired,” Elliott-Ortega said. “We look forward to seeing them continue to uplift our communities in the coming year.”
The BCC is made up of an independent board of volunteers, according to a representative from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Members range from arts columnists, to nonprofit advocates to local artists.
Grants can go toward general operating expenses for organizations that are either based in Boston or have programming enhancing arts, culture and the quality of life in the city, according to the Mayor’s Office.
Grants range from $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the organization’s budget.
BCC recently changed funding rules to allow organizations with budgets below $2 million to apply for grants. Those organizations tend to need the most funding, while doing some of the most important equity work within Boston’s communities, according to the representative.
The BCC will give out additional grants to three organizations as a part of the council’s Model Equity Organization award. That award, which comes on top of the other grants, will be decided in the next few weeks, according to the representative.
They added that diversity, equity and inclusion are goals of the program, and the grants aim to support smaller programs that may lack the resources available to larger organizations.
Applicants are typically asked how they are making programming equitable and accessible as well as what programs are on the horizon for the coming year.
This year’s application process included additional questions on how applicants were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the representative.
Grantees will likely be notified within the week or so following the meeting. Usually, the Boston Cultural Council formally announces the organizations during a reception in the spring honoring the grantees’ accomplishments.
This year, the City will look at ways to recognize grantees virtually, according to the representative.
A previous version of this article named the source from the Mayor’s Office. That source spoke to The Daily Free Press under the presumption they would be not be named. The article has been updated to correct this error.
