Fitchburg Cultural Council

Amount Available for Granting in FY 2013

$22,117

Applications for field trips are accepted. (Formerly known as PASS applications.)

LCC Program Guidelines (PDF)

The postmark deadline for applications is October 15

Local Guidelines

Fitchburg Cultural Council Guidelines for Consideration of Grant Proposals

For an application to be considered, it must meet the following MCC and LCC criteria:

Massachusetts Cultural Council Criteria

• Proposed activities must be related to arts/humanities/interpretive sciences.
• Project must have public benefit.
• Public programs must be accessible to persons with disabilities, including the facility or event location as well as the content of the program.
• Proposal may not be to replace public funding that is the responsibility of the city (e.g., salaries/stipends for employees of the school system/library/parks department/municipality; capital expenditures, which are items with a life expectancy of more than three years and a total cost of more than $500 such as books, audio visual materials, equipment, uniforms, instruments).
• Funds will not be used on programming that discriminates or discourages participates on the basis of race, gender, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation or age
• The funds will not be used to purchase food/refreshments.
• The applicant must reside in Massachusetts.
• The applicant or person leading the project/program should have been engaged in the kind of activity for which funds are requested for at least one year.

Fitchburg Cultural Council Criteria

• Applicant must live in Fitchburg or have a letter of support from an organization in Fitchburg.
• Project must be done in Fitchburg, be about Fitchburg, or benefit Fitchburg residents.
• The event must have specific date, audience, and venue. Application must have date and venue confirmation in the form of a letter or approved reservation form from the venue host.

If the application meets the above MCC & FCC criteria, then the following factors are considered:

• Target audience – special consideration will be given to activities that provide maximum public benefit to Fitchburg residents (e.g., event that is free and open to all Fitchburg residents, legacy projects that have a long-term benefit to residents, projects that involve collaboration between individual artists and community groups).
• Artistic excellence (as indicated by supporting resume, letters, videos, printed materials).
• New projects/proposals that have not received prior funding from FCC will be given priority over proposals for activities that have been previously funded by FCC. Organizations should not rely on the FCC to sustain their project – organizers should be encouraged to seek alternate funding support.
• The committee will try to balance the proposals that are funded to include a wide range of cultural activities (e.g., music, art, dance, theater, literature) to reach a wide audience, including special populations that may be underserved.

Field trip Proposals

• Tickets/admission costs for students (but not chaperones) may be funded.
• Transportation costs will not be funded.
• Should have description of how project fits into the curriculum.
• The committee will try to distribute funding to maximize the number of students who benefit from funding. Therefore, when there is more than one field trip proposal for a particular group of students, the committee may decide to fund only one of such proposals.