The Fifth Middlesex District Receives Performing Arts Grant

Boston – Representative David Linsky (D-Natick) announced today that the Mass Cultural Council Has awarded The Center for the Arts in Natick $57,500 in grant funding from the FY22 Gaming Mitigation Grant. The Gaming Mitigation Grant program was established by the Legislature in the Expanded Gaming Act and is funded through casino revenues (2% of revenues). This award helps to mitigate the outsized impact casinos can have on the ability of local arts organizations to competitively book touring artists.

“These funds provide capital to assist important organizations like the Center for the Arts in Natick” said Representative Linsky. “I want to thank the Mass Cultural Council for awarding TCAN with this grant that will help protect non-profit performing art centers.”

Mass Cultural Council administers the Gaming Mitigation Program at the direction of the state Legislature. As established in the Massachusetts Expanded Gaming Act, two percent of casino revenues are dedicated in part to mitigating a direct threat to the sustainability of non-profit and municipal performing arts centers. These funds provide capital to preserve these centers’ ability to compete with resort-style casinos to secure touring artists. Resort-style casinos have the advantage in booking national and international talent because they can cover increasing talent fees, as well as offer luxury housing for the artists themselves. In recent years, non-profit and municipal performing arts centers have been priced out of the touring market, even with acts they have hosted many times before.

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