Representative Jay Barrows along with Pam Atanasoff and Jared Craig, co-chairs of the Foxborough Cultural Council have announced the awarding of 16 grants totaling $5100 for cultural programs in and around Foxborough. A complete list of recipients can be found below.
The Foxborough Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. 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 Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.
Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers. The members of the Foxborough Cultural Council are: Pam Atanasoff, Jared Craig, Julie Jaberi, Sam Jaberi, Julie Pritchard, Alyne Ricker, Lidy Chan, Leila McNeff, Julie Philibert, Cathy Hickey, and Student Rep Katie Burke (non-voting member).
“The local volunteers deserve the credit for making this system work,” says Jay Barrows. “The volunteers are able to make limited resources last, and make the tough decisions regarding the projects that should be supported. It is due to them that the arts, sciences, and humanities are a part of the community and a part of people’s everyday lives.”
Statewide, more than $3.3 million will be distributed by local cultural councils in 2017. Grants will support an enormous range of grass-roots activities: concerts, exhibitions, radio and video productions, field trips for schoolchildren, after-school youth programs, writing workshops, historical preservation efforts, lectures, First Night celebrations, nature and science education programs for families and town festivals. Nearly half of LCC funds support educational activities for young people.
This year’s grant recipients include:
- Stephen Lewis
- Friends of Foxboro Conservation Commission
- John Root
- History at Play
- Doolittle Home
- All Stories Theater Company
- Hallie Wetzel
- Kirk Whipple
- John J. Ahern Middle School PAC
- Neponset Choral Society
- Un-Common Theatre Company
- Nicole Vachon Hanlon
- Foxboro Recreation
- FHS Theater Guild
The Foxborough Cultural Council will seek applications again in the fall. For local guidelines and complete information on the Foxborough Cultural Council, contact Pam Atanasoff or Jared Craig at foxborocc@gmail.com. Application forms and more information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at www.mass-culture.org.
Applications will be due October 16, 2017.