The New Bedford Cultural Council (NBCC) funds programs that promote excellence, access, education, and diversity in the Arts, Humanities and Interpretive Sciences to improve the quality of life for New Bedford city residents.
Donor Name: Mass Cultural Council
State: Massachusetts
City: New Bedford
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/17/2022
Size of the Grant: $4,000
Details:
2023 Local Priorities
Local cultural council (LCC) funds are used to support programs in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences. This definition includes the study, pursuit, performance, exhibition, and appreciation of cultural activities in the broadest sense. Each year the New Bedford Cultural Council (NBCC) adjusts its guidelines and criteria based on responses to a community input survey.
To be considered, the proposed project must either take place in New Bedford or directly benefit the citizens of New Bedford. The New Bedford Cultural Council will give priority to grants that have a measurable impact on the New Bedford community through the following:
- Projects that provide free or low-cost events and programming
- Projects that provide opportunities for education, enrichment, and skill-building. These include but are not limited to the subjects of nature, science, the environment, and local history and diversity
- Projects offering outdoor concerts and festivals, public art and performances, and gallery/museum exhibits
- Projects that provide opportunities and offer support to individual, emerging or established visual and performing artists.
Funding Information
- Grant amount: $140,200
- Grant requests may not exceed $4,000 per application.
Eligibility Criteria
- Types of grants. A Local Cultural Council may approve grants for a broad range of projects and programs, such as operating support, ticket subsidies, field trips, artist residencies, public art, fellowships, community events/programs, site specific projects, and other activities, based on local priorities. Each Local Cultural Council determines its own local eligibility requirements based on a community engagement process.
- Program eligibility. Applicants may apply for grants for programs that take place during an 18-month window of eligibility from July 1, preceding the application deadline in October, through December 31 of the following year. This means that applicants may apply for projects that have already happened or which happen prior to grant announcements, with the knowledge that funding is not guaranteed. Local Cultural Councils are authorized to establish a smaller window of eligibility; if they do so, they must publish the eligible dates in their council guidelines.
- Applicant eligibility. Applicants must reside or be located in Massachusetts. Local Cultural Councils may accept applications from anyone included in the following list:
- Individuals
- Incorporated private nonprofit organizations
- Unincorporated associations that can establish a nonprofit objective
- Public schools, libraries, other municipal agencies, and the Local Cultural Council itself
- Religious organizations.
2023 Local Guidelines
- The NBCC will only accept applications submitted online. No paper applications will be accepted.
- This is a reimbursement program; no money is given up front. Award money will be available to you only after you have completed your project.
- The NBCC looks more favorably on applicants who pursue additional funding sources to support their projects. Food, lodging, and fund-raising are not funded by NBCC.
- If the budget includes salaries or stipends, attach a detailed breakdown of the allocation of funds for salaries on a separate page. Project locations (i.e. performance venue/gallery space) must be secured in advance of the application. Please attach confirmation letters from the venue or any letters of support for your project.
- If individuals or an organization collaborate on a single application, one member of the collaboration must be designated as the lead applicant for fiscal management purposes.
- The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) and the LCC must be credited by using the MCC’s credit logo or credit line. They encourage grant recipients to use both the MCC logo and the credit statement, but you are only required to use one. Logos are downloadable from this site. The logo must be produced as a unit without alteration.
- The credit line is as follows:
- “This program is supported in part by a grant from the New Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.”
For Schools that are Applying
- Any field trip that fits with your class curriculum is eligible to be funded. Some examples of trips they’ve funded in the past are: trips to shows at the Zeiterion, the Rotch-Jones-Duff House, the Museum of Science in Cambridge, etc. In your application, please describe how this trip/program directly connects or relates to classroom learning.
- Schools organizing the field trip are eligible to apply, as well as cultural organizations hosting the field trips.
- There is no set maximum on the amount that a given school can receive for field trips. However, the amount that they will be able to give to each school will depend on the number of overall requests and the amount of money they receive.
For more information, visit MCC.
