TURNERS FALLS — RiverCulture, the program that supports arts and culture in Turners Falls, has lost state grant funding and will request about $20,000 from the town of Montague during an October Special Town Meeting to bridge funding as the organization looks to become self -sufficient.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council is disbanding the Adams Art Program grant, which funds about $20,000 of the annual RiverCulture budget. Town Planner Walter Ramsey and RiverCulture Director Suzanne LoManto said the long term plan for the organization is to expand beyond the village of Turners Falls into the other four villages in Montague as well.
The two said they plan to seek outside funding sources from sponsors as well as smaller grants, but that they wanted to make a request to the town during the next special town meeting that would give RiverCulture a year of bridge funding while they look for alternative funding sources.
The Adams grant is closing out at the end of the fiscal year 2017, and Ramsey said they have the first portion of fiscal year 2018 covered, and then they would make the request for town funding. They are then aiming to be self sufficient by fiscal year 2019.
“We’ve been doing a lot of soul searching to figure where we’ve come since 2006 when the program started,” Ramsey said.
He said that the Adams grant funding limited the geographical area to Turners Falls, and since that funding source is gone, they are able to expand the area they work with, particularly to a growing arts scene in Millers Falls. The other big project for LoManto is maintaining the newly minted Turners Falls Cultural District.
“We’re trying to forge a way ahead,” Ramsey said.
The two said they had planned focus groups this summer before they knew of the funding issues, because they were looking to evaluate where the organization should go next.
“Closing in on the eleventh year and the town is very different than it was when this started,” LoManto said.
They would also like to bring on the Montague Cultural Council as the oversight board for the organization as it expands.
The operating cost for the current year is $48,387, so the loss of $20,000 would be a substantial part of future budgets.
Because the town secured the Cultural District this year, there are now more grants to apply for through that program, according to LoManto, who said she has started much of the grant writing process.
LoManto and Ramsey updated the Selectboard on the funding, and informed them of the upcoming request during Monday night’s Selectboard meeting. They also updated the Finance Committee on Wednesday.
Town Administrator Steve Ellis supported the funding request and said that when he looked through the history of RiverCulture funding, he saw that the organization has been building toward sustainability for a long time.
“I think it’s important to give an excellent team the time to use the tools they have to build for sustainability,” he said.
Rich Kuklewicz, chairman of the Selectboard, said the measure should go to the Finance Committee and possibly back to the Selectboard before they make an endorsement.
“I see your vision, I think it makes sense to bring it to a wider audience for a discussion,” he said.
Reach Miranda Davis
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