The Watertown Cultural Council (WCC) is one of 355 Local Cultural Council Programs and serves Watertown. WCC is part of the largest grassroots cultural funding network in the nation annually supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, humanities, and sciences. WCC is funded in large part by the state through the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
The mission of the MCC is “to promote excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.”
Watertown individuals, schools, and cultural organizations are eligible to apply for project support from WCC. Since its establishment in 1982, the WCC has distributed over $200,000 and funded over 500 programs that have enriched the lives of tens of thousands of community residents. Examples of the grants include musical programs in nursing homes, theater and dance performances in the schools, summer concerts in Saltonstall Park, family programs at Gore Place, dramatic readings at the library, artistic and photographic displays in area galleries, and poetry workshops for children. Our support has provided opportunities to strengthen and celebrate the town’s many diverse communities, through programs such as a hip-hop dance performance at the Perkins School for the Blind, displays in the Armenian Library and Museum, a collection of folktales from the Kurdish population, and a performance of Klezmer music at the library.
We value Watertown’s unique past, vibrant present and exciting future by funding “living history” projects in the schools and library, and by helping artists create works that speak to our town’s multicultural diversity.
