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Date: 2/11/2020
RUSSELL – Dale Oleksak, chair of the Russell Cultural Council, announced the award of 13 grants totaling more than $5,000 for cultural programs in the town of Russell.
This year’s grants will go to the Community Fair Association of Chester, Chester Hill and Littleville Inc. for the Littleville Fair; the Chester Theatre Company; Ken Longstreeth, for a free concert by Jeff Gavioli and his Bad News Jazz and Blues Orchestra; the Blandford Fair Art Show; Carrie Florek for a canvas art painting workshop at the Russell Council on Aging; David Maloof for concert/music education; Deborah Danoff-Hoppe, Russell Geneology Club guest speaker; John Root for a workshop on attracting birds, butterflies, bees and other organisms to the community; and to the North Hall Arts Association.
Several grants were also awarded to Gateway Regional School District teachers for their projects, including middle, junior and senior high music teacher Beth Guertin for a performance by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and for a guest artist performance series for junior and senior high students. Elementary and middle school music teacher Renee Mosher was awarded a grant for a Woodwind Quintet concert in the Gateway Performing Arts Center for Littleville and Chester elementary students,; and to art teacher Mark Donovan was given a grant for a field trip to MassMOCA museum and gallery.
The Russell Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 local Cultural Councils serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth. The 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 Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.
Decisions about which activities to support are made at the community level by a board of municipally appointed volunteers. The members of the Russell Cultural Council are Dale Oleksak, Jackie Decker, Nancy Mezger, Shelley Messenger and Sue Maxwell.
The Russell Cultural Council will seek applications again in the fall. For guidelines and complete information on the Russell Cultural Council, contact Oleksak at 531-3328, or Decker at 316-0289, or by email at culturalcouncil@russellma.net.
Applications and more information about the Russell Cultural Council are available online at www.mass-culture.org/russell.