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

 

Great Barrington

 

Lenox

 

Pittsfield

 

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:

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