The Belmont Cultural Council announced the award of 15 grants totaling $5450 for cultural programs in Belmont. The funded grant applications were chosen from a highly competitive field of applications. The Council hopes you can attend these wonderful programs, which are organized by date here:
Winter 2018 Events
- Belmont High School Performing Arts Company Improve Troupe – workshops bringing in outside professional, Comedy Sporz, and engaging Chenery Middle School students in a program run by the High School Troupe. January/February 2018
- Powers Music School – Free musical story telling at the Belmont Public Library for pre-school/early elementary-aged children and their caregivers. January/March 2018
Spring 2018 Events
- Jambo Africa presentation for Wellington Elementary School 2nd Grade. April 2018
- SETU Stage Ensemble Theater Unit – NEW RECIPIENT – Theater production of The Fire and the Rain by Indian playwright Girish Kamad at Belmont Town Hall Theatre. April 2018
- Armenian Senior Music/Dinner – partnering the Armenian Cultural and Education Center in Watertown with the Beech Street Center/Council on Aging in Belmont.
- Belmont Art Association Art Demonstrations – including drawing, painted floor cloths, and beading at the Belmont Gallery of Art, Homer Building on Sunday afternoons.
- Birds and the Bees w/ Naturalist Carole Smith Barney – NEW RECIPIENT – Slideshow on view at the Belmont Public Library; guided walks available at Mass Audubon Habitat for adults and children over age 10.
- Beech Street Center Intergenerational Nature Workshop – provided by naturalists from Mass Audubon Habitat during School Vacation Week. April 2018
- Belmont Public Library Free Musical Performance by Mike Block – stand-up cellist, winner of the 2017 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album.
- The Adventures of Goopi Gayine and Bagha Bayine – NEW RECIPIENT – An all-ages musical and dance drama by Belmont’s own Shonool Malik and members of the Das Tabla School at Belmont Public Library and the Beech Street Center. Dates TBD
- Bugology Program for Butler Elementary School 1st Grade – May 2018
Summer 2018 Events
- Payson Park Music Festival – featuring MA native and American Idol finalist, Ayla Brown
- Mass Audubon Habitat Science Programs – at the Belmont Farmers’ Market
Fall 2018 Events
- Belmont Porchfest – NEW RECIPIENT – a day-long community-wide event occurring throughout different neighborhoods, featuring various forms of music. Late September 2018
- Arlington Belmont Chamber Chorus – NEW RECIPIENT – concert in Belmont’s Payson Park Church. December 2018
The Belmont Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 local cultural councils serving all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. The LCC Program is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, sciences, and humanities every year. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community. Statewide, more than $3.3 million will be distributed by local cultural councils in 2018.
The Belmont Cultural Council will seek applications again in the fall, which are available online at www.mass-culture.org and are due in October 2018. For entry guidelines or more information, please contact Juliet Jenkins, Chair of the Belmont Cultural Council, at (617) 365-2464 or julietbjenkins@gmail.com.