ACAC Grants Committee

The ACAC Grants Committee (formerly the Arlington Cultural Council) exists to support public programs in our community that promote access, education, diversity and excellence in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences. The state legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Massachusetts 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.

Members of the Committee are artists, arts administrators, and other community members with an interest in arts, sciences, and culture. Members are appointed by the Arlington Board of Selectmen for up to two consecutive three-year terms. The Committee is committed to funding a diverse cross-section of activities supporting a broad variety of art forms, ongoing work of individual artists, projects serving specific local populations, and local cultural organizations. Meetings are once a month, usually second Monday evenings from 7:30-9pm, via Zoom until further notice, and all are open to the public.

The Grants Committee also participates in Town Day, holds an annual Spring Celebration of the Arts to honor our grantees, and is a member-at-large of the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture — an umbrella organization comprising numerous arts and cultural entities in Arlington formed to consolidate energy, resources, personnel, ideas, and an Events Calendar, among other initiatives.

Nancy Gray
Shelley Chhabra (co-chair)
Andrew Conway (chair)

The Committee is currently recruiting new members! Should the idea of promoting the arts excite you, please send an email to ACCChair@town.arlington.ma.us and see how we aim to make Arlington a rich, arts-filled and happening place to live, work and be! Some of our happiest moments have been sharing community by partially funding such projects as Arlington Porchfest, Pathways installations along the Minuteman Bike Path, the East Arlington Storefront Stories Public Art Initiative–celebratory murals on building exteriors that tell the story of their small-business owners–and so many more.