LENOX, Mass. — State Representative Smitty Pignatelli and Arlene D. Schiff, chair of the Lenox Cultural Council, have announced the award of 22 grants totaling $13,178, for cultural programs in Berkshire County.

 

"It's the local volunteers who really make this system work," said Smitty Pignatelli. "They make limited resources go as far as possible, and they make the tough decisions about which projects should be supported. Thanks to them, the arts, sciences, and humanities are part of people's everyday lives in every community across the state."

 

Grants have been awarded to the following programs: Back Room Boston, Inc’s Klezmer Band at Kimball Farms; David R. Bates III’s Halloween Harvest Performance for Seniors; Berkshire Children’s Chorus, Inc.’s Ukulele Lessons; Berkshire Music School’s 2023 Lenox Loves Music Series; Berkshire South Regional Community Center’s Berkshire Ukulele Band and Berkshires Sings!; Cantilena Chamber Choir Corporation’s Town of Lenox December Festivities; Christmas/Holiday Sing along by the Fanfare Brass Ensemble; Elijah T. Grasshopper at the Mount; Festival Latino of the Berkshires; Gaia Roots World Music Ensemble at the Lenox Library; Greenagers, Inc.; Hip Hop Dance Chair Exercise for Seniors; Marney Schorr’s It’s My Body: Art for Social Change; Mary Jo D Maichack’s In the Wee Small Hours Cabaret Concert; Olga Dunn Dance Company Lecture and Demonstrations in the Lenox Public Schools; Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park; SculptureNow at The Mount 2023; Shakespeare & Co’s 2023 Fall Festival of Shakespeare; Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center’s Olivia’s Outlook Hike;  The Stockbridge Sinfonia, Inc.; Tom Truss III’s ReWritten and WAM Theater.

 

The Lenox 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 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 2023.

 

The Town of Lenox also provided funding to the Lenox Cultural Council for this grant cycle. 

 

Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers. 

 

The Lenox Cultural Council will seek applications again in the fall. Applications and more information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at www.massculturalcouncil.org.