PITTSFIELD, Mass — Berkshire Community College (BCC) announced that Assistant Professor of English Liesl Schwabe has been awarded a Mass Cultural Council Grant for Creative Individuals for $5,000. 

 

The funding will support Schwabe as she works to complete a collection of essays, largely pulling from the research and reporting she conducted while serving as a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in Kolkata, India, during the 2024-2025 academic year. Schwabe's previous writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Review of Books, World Literature Today, Words Without Borders and LitHub, among other publications. 

 

"While essential federal funding for the arts is cut or eliminated entirely, it is all the more important to recognize Massachusetts for its ongoing support of and advocacy for individual artists and our communities," Schwabe said. "I am tremendously honored to receive this Mass Cultural Council grant, which provides both material support and vital professional encouragement." 

 

Mass Cultural Council adopted a $34 million spending plan for the current fiscal year, allowing the agency to award at least 2,200 grants totaling approximately $26.2 million to the Commonwealth's creative and cultural sector. This funding derives primarily from public dollars, including the agency's $26.9 million state budget appropriation and support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The agency also runs the Mass Cultural Facilities Fund in partnership with MassDevelopment. 

 

Mass Cultural Council funds reach every community in the Commonwealth. Its mission is to advance the Commonwealth's creative and cultural sector by celebrating traditions and talents, championing its collective needs, and equitably investing public resources.