Grants Help Keep Reading Cultured

The Reading Cultural Council is inviting individuals and organizations interested in seeking funds for 2015-2016 projects to submit an application for funding.

The Reading Cultural Council has been awarded a $6,400 grant through Massachusetts Cultural Council’s FY2016 Local Cultural Council Program. Projects should support cultural activities in the Reading community.

The postmark deadline for applications is October 15, 2015. Application forms are available online at http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/applications/lccapp.pdf. Forms are also available at Town Hall.

According to Reading Cultural Council chair Donna Schenkel, these grants can support a variety of community-oriented arts, humanities and science projects and activities serving Reading residents, including school field trips, in-school and after-school programs, concerts, festivals, lectures, theater, dance, music, film and more and can take place in schools, the library, the senior center, elder care facilities, town hall, parks, and wherever the community comes together. Projects should serve Reading residents but cannot be used for capital expenditures. Grants are reimbursement-based, meaning the applicant expends its own money and if approved for a grant, submits paperwork for reimbursement.

In 2014-2015, the Reading Cultural Council awarded over $5500 in funding support to nine Reading organizations for arts and humanities programming:

• 5th grade field trip to the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Creative Arts for Kids, Inc. Theatre for Young Audiences Series
• The Reading Human Relations Advisory Committee Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
• North Suburban Child and Family Resource Network Children’s Song and Singing Games Concert
• The Reading Art Association Fall Art Exhibit and Sale
• The Reading Community Singers holiday concerts
• The Reading Symphony Orchestra Inaugural Concert of the new Director
• The Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts workshops
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading Ivy Chord Coffee House

About the Reading Cultural Council

The Reading Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 Local CulturalCouncils (LCC) serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. This is the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, sciences and humanities every year. The Massachusetts state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.

Members of the Reading Cultural Council are volunteers appointed by the Reading Board of Selectmen. Individuals interested in joining the ReadingCultural Council can visit the Reading Cultural Council page on the Town of Reading website [readingma.gov/cultural-council], contact Donna Schenkel, chair, [readingculturalcouncil@gmail.com] or the Reading Town Clerk.