By Vicki.Amalfitano
State Representative Dave Rogers, State Senator Will Brownsberger, and Belmont Cultural Council Chair Vicki Amalfitano recently announced the award of 10 grants totaling $9,100, for cultural programs in Belmont during 2025.
The Belmont Cultural Council (BCC) has focused largely on supporting Belmont organizations which enrich the Belmont community with music, fine arts, interpretive science, and humanitarian initiatives, as well as applicants sponsored by a Belmont organization, in awarding grants for 2025.
The 2025 grantees are:
- Belmont Art Association, Transforming Belmont 2025, $1,400
- Belmont Celebrates AAPI Heritage Month 2025, $700
- Belmont Community Chorus, $750
- Belmont Porchfest, $1,800
- Belmont World Film’s 22nd Family Festival, $500
- Tanya Bartevyan, Music of Florence Price and Dianne Rahbee, $750
- Deborah Boykan, Influence of African American and Native American Folk music on Antonín Dvorák and other European and American Music, $500
- Ellery Klein, Community Irish Céilí, presented in collaboration with Powers Music School, $700
- 2025 Boston International Asian Music Festival Belmont, $800
- Payson Park Music Festival, $1,200
- “These programs take place in Belmont locations, outdoors, in schools, at the Beech Street Center and other local venues,” stated Vicki Amalfitano, BCC Chair, “to foster a richer cultural life in Belmont.”
Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a council of municipally appointed volunteers who are all Belmont residents. BCC members are: Chair Vicki Amalfitano; Katherine Creagh; Curtis Eames; Treasurer Annette Goodro; Emily Kennerly; non-voting member Nancy Linde; Marianne Lynch; Sue Morris; Secretary Gloria Pimentel; non-voting member Rebecca Richards; and Vera Savage.
The BCC is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s network of 329 Local Cultural Councils (LCCs) 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. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.
State Representative Dave Rogers stated, “I am grateful to the members of the Belmont Cultural Council for their hard work and dedication to advancing Belmont’s great cultural programs. The BCC’s support is often a key lifeline for organizations that enrich our community, with 10 different grants benefiting Belmont this year. Working with Senator Brownsberger, I am pleased to have helped secure another year of funding for the BCC.”
“I so appreciate the contributions that Belmont artists make to the community, and I am grateful for the work of the cultural council in supporting Belmont artists,” commented State Senator Will Brownsberger.
Statewide, LCCs award $7.5 million supporting 7,500 cultural programs that include everything from field trips to lectures, festivals, and dance performances. Grants support grass-roots activities: concerts, exhibitions, radio and video productions, school and youth programs, writing workshops, historical preservation efforts, lectures, First Night celebrations, nature and science education programs, and town festivals.
The BCC will seek applications again in September 2025. For guidelines and complete information on the BCCl, visit its website at www.belmont-ma.gov/cultural-council or email Belmontculturalcouncil@yahoo.com.
Applications and information about the Local Cultural Council Program are available online at massculturalcouncil.org/communities/local-cultural-council-program/.
Vicki Amalfitano chairs the Belmont Cultural Council.
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