WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute recently received a Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) grant as part of its Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations program. 

 

The Clark received $75,000 to help maintain programs and operations. The grant program was funded from the $8.7 billion provided to the Commonwealth from the American Rescue Plan Act.

 

The Clark is one of seventy-two Berkshire-based organizations among the 1,218 cultural organizations that have received a combined $51,063,350 grant funding from the MCC. Over 1,000 organizations and 4,000 artists, creatives, culture bearers, and gig workers across Massachusetts received awards from MCC through the one-time Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations and Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Individuals programs.

 

"The Clark is fortunate to have received one of these grants, which will help to support our ongoing efforts to rebuild our visitation to pre-pandemic levels and, at the same time, to attract and engage new audiences," said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. "Unrestricted funds such as these are particularly important here in the Berkshires, where cultural tourism is such an important part of our economy. We are very grateful to MCC."

 

The Cultural Sector Recovery Grants for Organizations program offered unrestricted grants, ranging from $5,000 to $75,000 to Massachusetts cultural organizations, collectives, and businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. MCC received 1,359 applications from cultural organizations, both non-profit and for-profit, to this program, of which 1,218 were deemed eligible and recommended to receive funding. A total of $31,063,360 in pandemic assistance was awarded to these organizations.

 

"This is the largest grant announcement the Massachusetts Cultural Council has ever made," said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director, Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). "It is with great pleasure and pride that we celebrate more than $51 million in pandemic recovery monies being equitably distributed throughout the creative and cultural sector today. These awards will help propel the sector forward economically and chart the recipients' paths towards growth."

 

On March 31, MCC Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt joined regional state and local elected officials, and cultural sector stakeholders from across Western Massachusetts in a special celebration held at the Clark to commemorate the $9 million in pandemic recovery funds going to the creative and cultural sector of Western Massachusetts.