PEABODY — The Peabody Cultural Council is seeking funding proposals for fiscal year 2023 to support a variety of artistic projects and activities in the community, including exhibits, classes, festivals, field trips, short-term artist residencies, performances in schools, workshops, and lectures.
“This year we are expecting about $27,000 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council through their Local Cultural Council Grant Program to allow us to support cultural activities for the residents of Peabody,” said Lisa Greene, a spokesperson for the council. “Each community has their own set-aside, so our funds can only go toward Peabody activities or projects that can make a good argument in their application that they are serving Peabody residents.”
The Peabody 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, according to Greene.
“The application process is fairly straightforward, with questions about who will benefit, what the budget will be, and what the cultural benefit is,” Greene said. “Most years we receive requests in amounts totaling 3-4 times the amount we have to award so typically the awards we make are small. However, if there was ever one really amazing project who knows?”
Projects previously funded by the Peabody Cultural Council include the city’s Summer
Concerts on the Commons, classes in painting, theater, and woodcarving for seniors, and school field trips to the Peabody Essex Museum, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and numerous theatrical performances throughout the region.
“The primary goal of the Peabody Cultural Council is to encourage and promote the arts in Peabody for our residents and each year we see new ideas of how to do that,” Greene said.
The council will accept proposals from Sept. 1 to Oct. 17.
Dorothy Irrera can be reached at [email protected]
