Funding available to support artists, schools, organizations for 2025
The Local Cultural Council (LCC) Grant Program is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) and the City of Somerville. Somerville LCC program grants are reviewed by SAC board members and local peers with expertise in the appropriate disciplines. Each year new panelists are convened to review new submissions. Grants are available for projects in the community, individual fellowships, and support to schools for art projects or cultural field trips.
Applicants must follow our local guidelines each new year but must submit via the MCC online portal by October 16th.
In reality submitting an LCC grant contains three steps:
1. Creating an account via the MCC portal;
2. Submitting a series of narrative questions;
3. Submitting support material to further explain your application.
Please review these steps in our guidelines.
Our 2025 guidelines are found here.
One frequent question: "How many applications can I submit?" Artists and organizations can submit only ONE application during a given fiscal year (Orgs only one project; Individuals either a project OR fellowship). Schools may submit more than one application, but individual teachers may submit only ONE application. A given project can only be the focus of one application per fiscal year; partners in a project cannot submit separate applications for the project under different applicant names.
Applicants may call the office and speak with Rachel Strutt, Cultural Director, who is available to assist with project design, facilitate collaboration between artists and organizations, and answer questions about the grant process, both before and after the Council makes its awards.
See tabs above for information on specific categories of the program. Please attend one of our grant information/workshop sessions to ask questions, to start to frame a project you might not know exactly how to start.