In the News

Grants awarded from arts program that may get eliminated

Boston Globe February 2, 2005

BY LOUISE KENNEDY

Nearly $1 million in grants will go to Massachusetts arts projects this year from a program that Governor Mitt Romney's proposed budget for fiscal 2006 would eliminate. The Massachusetts Cultural Council yesterday announced the grants for fiscal year 2005, to 22 projects across the state.

In Boston, Chinatown Heritage Partners will receive $65,000 from the John and Abigail Adams Arts Program for Cultural Economic Development for a plan to develop a historic walking trail, a community storytelling center, a community radio station, and support for neighborhood artists. The 2005 Boston Cyberarts Festival will get $47,500 to expand its programming, and the Hyde Park Arts Initiative will receive $15,000 to promote the arts and economic revitalization in Cleary Square.

Statewide grants include $30,000 for a Massachusetts College of Arts plan to create a professional development and business training program for visual artists, $60,000 to the Massachusetts Motion Media Initiative for filmmakers and videographers, and $60,000 to the New England Foundation for the Arts to develop technology-based analytical tools for the cultural community. Grants in other cities and towns, including $75,000 for a multimedia series in Lowell, $50,000 for the arts in Somerville's Union Square, and $65,000 to develop Pittsfield's image as an arts destination, will be formally announced at conferences around the state. A complete list appears on the MCC website, massculturalcouncil.org.

"The people of Massachusetts are not aware of how deeply entwined and valuable the arts are to our communities," said Dan Hunter at yesterday's press conference. Hunter directs Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, (MAASH) which MCC director Mary Kelley credited for persuading the state Legislature to fund the Adams grants this year, the program's first.

"I'm disappointed that the governor did not fund this specifically" for next year, Hunter said. "The demand is there," he said, from businesses and municipal governments that see the arts as an engine of economic growth. MAASH is asking the Legislature to double the Adams program's funding for fiscal year 2006.

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