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Massachusetts Cultural Council staff review FY26 work and outline FY27 priorities
Summary
Programs Committee reviewed FY26 grant activity, heard staff plans for FY27 program priorities and outreach, and approved minutes from the prior meeting. Acting Executive Director highlighted statewide outreach and upcoming events including a June 25 virtual grant celebration.
Co-Chair Cecil Barron Jensen called the Massachusetts Cultural Council Programs Committee to order and opened a presentation reviewing FY26 activities and FY27 priorities led by Jen Lawless, Senior Director of Program Operations.
"The presentation represented only a small portion of the work completed by the Programs team," Lawless said as she framed the session as a reflection on the past year and a look ahead. She said staff would focus on refining program communications, data reporting, and equitable outreach in FY27.
Members discussed application trends, program design changes and how to measure impact. Lawless explained that the new Organizational Grants for Organizations (OGO) program and the legacy Cultural Investment Portfolio (CIP) both appear in FY26 data, complicating simple year-over-year comparisons. Committee members pressed staff to surface how investments in organizations translate into benefits for individual artists.
Acting Executive Director David Slatery highlighted outreach events, including the Creative Sector Summit (about 350 attendees) and spring grant celebrations on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, calling the events useful opportunities to showcase Massachusett s Cultural Council's work. Lawless recognized Grants Management System officers for producing the presentation data, and Public Affairs said a year-end blog post and a virtual grant celebration on June 25 would follow.
The committee approved the minutes of its February 11, 2026 meeting by motion (moved by Julie Wake; seconded by Jo-Ann Davis). Simone Early recorded an abstention and Ché Anderson had not yet joined the meeting; the motion carried as presented.
