DALTON, Mass.— The Cultural Council has started reviewing grant applications to allocate funds received from the state Local Cultural Council Program. 

 

The state Cultural Council awarded the town council $8,000 for the 2026 fiscal year, however, they also have a carryover of $1,000 from last year. 

 

The town received 41 applications from venues across the Berkshires, including organizations in Becket, Sheffield, Pittsfield, and, of course, Dalton. 

 

The winners will be selected sometime in November and September. Applicants have 15 days to appeal the councils decision. On Jan. 16 everything will be submitted to the state. 

 

With a substantial number of grant applications on the table,  many of which outstrip the council’s available funds, the group agreed to prioritize projects that directly benefit Dalton residents. 

 

"The grant process can be very, very long, but what we learned to do is not go through every single grant," Councilor Mary Ferrell said. 

 

"We're only really looking for the Dalton grants and the Dalton grants are way more than what the money is that we have."

 

For many of the councilors, this is the first time selecting grant winners for this program. The committee is filled with new members, with Ferrell being the only member from last year. 

 

Another thing to consider is that some events that are taking place in Dalton may not necessarily be linked to Dalton, said Jeannie Ingram, who was voted chair earlier in the meeting. 

 

The committee should consider events or projects that benefit Dalton residents, even if it is in a border town or in Pittsfield, she said. 

 

The first thing that struck Executive Assistant Lori Venezia about the grant applications is that some have ties to the town’s community health needs assessment, which is a document that highlights the priorities in the community. 

 

"What crossed my mind was, which ones of these go above and beyond and actually hit some of these underserved populations, or actually move a needle on a community need," she said. 

 

"So, based on some of those thoughts, I came up with what I thought could be some guiding priorities for this year." 

 

Before the next meeting, the councilors will independently review the applications and score each applicant on the following criteria, with each criterion receiving a score between zero and 5.

 

The criteria is as follows: Whether the program or event ties in with the town’s Community Health Needs Assessment, if there are measurable outcome, whether it focuses on one or more target populations, if they have financial support from other nonprofits or community organizations, whether the event takes place in Dalton, and whether the event benefits Dalton residents. 

 

"I think that that would help us identify which ones we could focus on, and give us the opportunity to talk more about ones that we care more about or have a stronger interest or have questions about," Venezia said. 

 

In preparation for next year, the council will need to think more in depth about its priorities when allocating grant funding, including creating a priorities document, Ingram said. 

 

The document would be shared on the town’s cultural council website prior to the application deadline, so that the applicants can gauge whether their events align with the council’s mission, she said. 

 

"Right now, we're just kind of functioning under the MCC guiding principles, because there wasn't a body of us to kind of do anything different," she said.