Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced Thursday the Boston Cultural Council opened applications for the 2018 grant cycle, with over $400,000 in funding set to be released in 2018, according to a press release from his office.
The BCC, a council within the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, receives funds from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and allocates the money to various arts organizations, according to the release. The funding addresses goals outlined in the Mayor’s Boston Creates Cultural Plan, a community-wide project launched by Walsh to support and enhance the arts in Boston.
The MCC is a state agency, that receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment of the Arts, “with a mission to support the arts, humanities and sciences through grant programs, services and advocacy,” said Greg Liakos, an MCC spokesperson.
Liakos said the MCC reaches out to every city and town in Massachusetts through 329 local cultural councils. However, because Boston is the state capital and the largest city, its cultural council receives the most money to invest in programs to enhance the quality of life.
“With our work with the Boston Cultural Council, the Mass Cultural Council invests in programs and initiatives that build a community that fosters creativity and supports the particular needs of the creative sector in the city of Boston,” Liakos said.
Liakos said funding the arts in this manner is important because artists express themselves through their work, which in turn helps to inspire creativity in others.
“On the most fundamental level, the arts are a unique way for us as human beings to express ourselves, to share our most fundamental values, to understand our past and to express what’s important to us as people,” Liakos said.
Liakos said not only are the arts important to humans fundamentally, but to build and grow communities economically.
“What we’ve learned over the last few decades is that communities that invest in the arts tend to have stronger local economies,” Liakos said. “They attract visitors, they foster creativity, arts activities help retail, and hotels and small business development.”
Grant applications will be accepted through October 16, according to the release.
Several Boston residents said they think funding for the arts is important as it could benefit both the artists and the city itself.
Meaghan O’Brien, 25, of Brighton, said the grant would allow artists to further their goals and add color to the city community.
“There’s a really big arts community here, and it’s difficult for a lot of people to support themselves and pursue their arts,” O’Brien said.
Bryan Gallace, a senior at the Berklee College of Music, said the city could reinforce the local music scene through the grant.
“[Boston] doesn’t have a live music; it’s all kind of centered downtown,” Gallace said. “There’s no live music [on] Boylston [Street] or Newbury [Street] or anywhere; I think it would be cooler to extend that.”
David Pfeiffer, 29, of Brighton, said aside from supporting local businesses, funding local artists can set a more joyous ambience in the city.
“Any time you got money flowing towards people that are pursuing something other than the normal jobs that you would take, it definitely bolsters the economy because that’s what they’re going to be doing,” Pfeiffer said. “It just adds to the general happiness.”
