SAUGUS — The town’s Cultural Council met on Monday evening inside Saugus Public Library to approve grant applications for FY24.
Established as a branch of the Mass Cultural Council, Saugus’ council aims to “enhance opportunities in the town of Saugus by promoting and funding programs that celebrate community life and connect residents from all ages and their cultural influences” according to its page on the Mass Cultural Council website.
The council promotes and funds community events by allocating grant money to individuals and organizations through the Mass Cultural Council. Each grantee is reviewed during a grant application process before being accepted annually by the town’s Cultural Council.
For FY24 $14,900 was allocated to the Saugus Cultural Council from MCC, with the remaining $3,733 rolling over from last year’s budget.
In FY23, 26 different grants were given to 10 different organizations.
This year, the council reviewed 43 applicants who met the criteria to be awarded grants and had a total of $18,633 in funds available. Cultural Council member Tori Darnell noted that the funds requested by the organizations were “well beyond” the council’s funding.
“We will have to be strategic in reviewing each of the applicants and seeing how we are able to fulfill the majority of these,” Darnell said. “That’s our goal at the end of the day to give out as much money as possible.”
After deliberation, the council decided it would allocate all of its available funds to roughly half of the organizations that met requirements for FY24.
Acceptance letters will be sent out to awardees before the end of the year.
Darnell said that starting in the new year, organizations or individuals can begin the application process for FY25. According to Saugus’ page on the Mass Cultural Council website, priority is given to “programs that are accessible to the public and in exploring the visual arts, education, dance, drama, science, the environment, literature, music, public art, and wellness.”
It also “strongly encourages” applications from Saugus-based “organizations, individuals, organizers, and more importantly, programs that take place in our community.”
