ACC seeks grant applications

Date: 10/12/2011

Oct. 12, 2011

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Editor

AGAWAM — The deadline for schools, groups and individuals to apply for grants to support programs in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences is just a few days away, and Agawam Cultural Council (ACC) President Bob Kadis is hoping for a response that rivals last year’s requests.

“Last year we had 29 grants submitted and granted out 16,” Kadis said. ‘I’d like to see as many as 29 or 30 [this year].”

Kadis said that to be considered for funding, all grant requests must be postmarked by Oct. 15, per order of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which provides money for the ACC grant program.

Information about and guidelines for the Agawam grant program is available on the MCC Web site at www.massculture.org/Agawam. Standard grant applications are available at www.massculturalcouncil.org/applications/lccapp.doc; field trip grant applications are available at

www.massculturalcouncil.org/applications/passapp.doc.

State Rep. Nicholas Boldyga’s office recently announced that the town’s cultural council would be receiving $8,480 from the MCC to support its grant initiative this year.

“I’m pleased to announce that the [town of] Agawam has received state grant support for the arts, humanities, and sciences,” Boldyga said in a press release about the funding. “MCC grants help to ensure that cultural resources in my district and across the Commonwealth are accessible to the residents of Agawam.”

The $8,480 awarded to Agawam was part of the MCC’s $6.5 million statewide investment in the nonprofit cultural sector.

Kadis noted this year’s funding award was equivalent to what Agawam received in fiscal year 2011. He added that the ACC has already contacted the organizations that submitted proposals last year — including all of the town’s schools.

“What we try to do is try to give something to every one of the schools that asks for a grant, the library, the senior center and any other organization in town that might submit a grant,” Kadis said.

Last year those programs included a speaker that showed the fourth grade classes at Benjamin Phelps Elementary School the steps a novel takes from idea to publication, the children’s summer reading program finale —a performance by a magician and juggler —at the library, and a theater production by members of the senior center.

“It has to be in the arts, humanities or interpretive sciences,” Kadis said of grant proposals.

This program is separate, Kadis noted, from the Applause Series of cultural and arts programming hosted by the ACC every September through April Those programs, he said, are supported by the non-profit organization’s annual fund-raiser, which this year features Jimmy Mazz and his “Viva Las Vegas” show at the Senior Center. The performance is slated for Oct. 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets can be obtained by calling Andrea LaPlace at 786-6753

For more information on the annual fund-raiser with Jimmy Mazz, or the grant program, individuals can also visit the ACC Web site at www.agawamcc.org.

Debbie Gardner can be reached by e-mail at debbieg@thereminder.com