Berkshire Organizations Awarded Cultural Council Grants

08:06AM / Monday, December 09, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Mass Cultural Council awarded $7.2 Million to 394 nonprofit cultural organizations statewide for operating support, many from Berkshire County.

This funding provides unrestricted operating support to the recipients through two programs, Operating Grants for Organizations and the Cultural Investment Portfolio.

In Berkshire County:

Adams

Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum: $9,000

Great Barrington

Center for Peace Through Culture: $14,700
The Du Bois Freedom Center: $9,000

Lenox

Ventfort Hall Association: $15,300

Pittsfield

Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative: $9,000
Kids 4 Harmony: $12,200
Roots Rising: $9,100

As the Commonwealth’s independent state arts agency, Mass Cultural Council is charged with bolstering the creative and cultural sector, thereby advancing economic vitality, supporting transformational change, and celebrating, preserving, and inspiring creativity across all Massachusetts communities.

Mass Cultural Council has long provided unrestricted operating support to cultural organizations through the Cultural Investment Portfolio. First launched in 2009, this program provides multi-year grants to cultural nonprofit organizations that provide public programs in the arts, sciences, and humanities. Following the adoption of the Agency’s new equity plans in 2021, the Agency paused applications to conduct a review of the program.

The result of this review was the decision to sunset the Cultural Investment Portfolio and launch a new organizational support grant program for cultural nonprofits, Operating Grants for Organizations.

In designing Operating Grants for Organizations, the Agency solicited feedback from key stakeholders and the cultural sector at large to ensure that the values that are important to grantees would be maintained, while also centering equity in the evaluation and program revisions.

FY25 is the first round of investment through Operating Grants for Organizations.

Mass Cultural Council is awarding unrestricted operating support to 56 more organizations in FY25 than FY24. In total, 155 organizations will receive funding through the Operating Grants for Organizations program, in addition to 239 organizations that will continue to receive funding through the Cultural Investment Portfolio.

Funding lists detailing the organizations receiving FY25 support from Operating Grants for Organizations and the Cultural Investment Portfolio are available online.

In this first round of Operating Grants for Organizations, when reviewing the 155 grantees, Mass Cultural Council notes that:

129 are receiving operating support from Mass Cultural Council for the first time
54 are BIPOC-Centered Organizations
66 voluntarily participate in the Card to Culture Program

Organizations receiving awards from the Operating Grant for Organizations program expressed support for the new program.

Tags: Mass Cultural Council,

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Pittsfield School Committee Sees Budget Calendar, Chapter 70 Concerns

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:28AM / Monday, January 19, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Public Schools kicked off its fiscal year 2027 budget calendar, and are again facing uncertainties with state Chapter 70 funding.

During the first meeting of the new term on Wednesday, the School Committee OK'd an FY27 budget calendar that plans the committee's vote in mid-April. Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips stressed the importance of equity in this process.

"It's really important for us through these next couple of months to look at our different schools, our different needs, different student demographics, and really understand, are we just assigning resources equally, or are we really assigning them based on what different groups of students need?" she said.

The district could lose up to $5 million in Chapter 70 funding from declining enrollment, specifically of low-income students. This is a similar issue that PPS saw in 2024, when the discovery of 11 students meeting those income guidelines put the district in the higher funding category and added $2.4 million to the school budget.

"We are in a funding category, Group 11, for a district with a large percentage of low-income students, and that number could fluctuate depending on who exited the district," Phillips explained.

"So we're going to do our best to understand that, but ultimately, these numbers will impact the budget that is proposed to us by the governor."

According to the budget calendar, a draft budget will be presented in March, followed by a hearing in early April, and the School Committee is set to vote on the budget in mid-April. The City Charter requires it to be adopted before May 1, and a meeting with the City Council must occur no later than May 31.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Bonnie Howland provided an overview of the Chapter 70 funding and budget process. The budget calendar, she said, is designed to really support transparency, coordination, and legal compliance.

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