Photo: Awards are announced by the Belmont Cultural Council

State Representative Dave Rogers, State Senator Will Brownsberger and Nancy Linde, Chair of the Belmont Cultural Council, have announced the award of eight grants totaling $8,370, for cultural programs in Belmont during 2021. At this difficult time of world-wide pandemic, the Cultural Council looked largely to support those long-standing institutions that have enriched the Belmont Community with music, fine arts, interpretive science, and humanitarian initiatives throughout the years.

The 2021 Grantees are:

• Belmont Gallery of Art: Nesting, a Bird-Themed Public Art Project, $725
• Belmont World Film’s International Film Series  $925
• The Dorothy & Charles Mosesian Center: Visual and Performing Arts for local children $450
• The Benton Lending Library  $925
• Powers Music School: Online Community Outreach  $925
• Habitat/Mass. Audubon (2 Grants): Sensory Friendly Days ($700) and Birding in Belmont ($420)
• Belmont Art Association: Beautifying Belmont’s Transformer Boxes $3,300

Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers who are all Belmont residents. The members of the Belmont Cultural Council are: Vicki Amalfitano; Jenny Angel (Secretary); Evelyn Corsini; Volkan Efe; Annette Goodro (Treasurer, non-voting member); Juliet Jenkins (Non-voting member); Nancy Linde (Chair); Haixi Liu; Millie Rahn; Rebecca Richards; and May Ye.

The Belmont Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The LCC Program 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 state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.

State Representative Dave Rogers says of these grants:  “The Belmont Cultural Council plays a large role in enriching our community, and these grants will help individuals and organizations tremendously. The public health emergency has impacted the arts community profoundly. Now more than ever, we need to support the cultural arts, sciences, and humanities education.”

Meanwhile, State Senator Will Brownsberger reaffirms his support of the local artists and cultural organizations across the state: “Now, more than ever, as we struggle to understand a changing world, the insights offered by art are essential.  I’m grateful to the Belmont Cultural Council for their hard work to identify and support promising artists.”

The Belmont Cultural Council will seek applications again in the fall. For guidelines and complete information on the Belmont Cultural Council, visit the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BelmontCulturalCouncil), the website (www.belmontculturalcouncil.org/) or email at belmontculturalcouncil@yahoo.com. Applications and more information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at www.mass-culture.org.