9.24.2026 Cultural Council

And just for everybody's information, we are being recorded.

Any member who wishes to record a meeting must first notify the chair and comply with reasonable requirements regarding audio and video equipment established by the chair so not to interfere with the meeting.

The chair is required to inform other attendees of such recordings at the beginning of the meeting, so consider yourself informed.

If someone arrives after the meeting has begun and wishes to record a meeting, the person shall attempt to notify the chair Prior to beginning recording, ideally in a manner that does not significantly disrupt the meeting in progress, such as passing a note for the chair to the board administrator or secretary, the chair should endeavor to acknowledge such attempts at notification and announce the fact of any recording to those in attendance.

So we've covered the law.

Okay, welcome.

Nice to see a few faces here.

Don't like to— I know that face.

Your face.

Yeah, you're turning around.

I, I thought you were pointing at somebody behind.

No, I'm pointing at you.

You are?

My name is Chris, known as Your Boy Loco.

Chris Aglio.

Oh, okay.

I knew I knew the name.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, okay, so what we're going to do tonight is we're going to go over, um, some of the priorities because there have been some changes made.

Um, but first off, the most important thing is the deadline date.

So If anybody has any questions, it's October 15th, midnight October 15th.

And for those of you who have written grants before, the computer shuts off— shuts you off at exactly midnight.

Not at 12:01, not at 12:02, not at 11:59, but exactly at midnight.

So don't be a procrastinator.

Get your applications in and done by midnight on October 15th because they will— and there's nothing we can do about it.

I mean, if you call me the next morning and say, oh my God, my computer died in the middle of this and what do I do?

We can't do anything.

So sadly to say.

So just make sure that your applications are in in a timely fashion.

Okay.

So the first one, first priority, and there were copies out on the table.

I don't know if everybody managed.

I'm just going to go through them and you can stop me if you have any questions.

All performances by professional artists, humanists, and cultural organizations must take place in the city of Fall River or reflect a collaborative partnership within the greater Fall River area with significant benefits to our citizens, the citizens of Fall River.

Preference will be given to Fall River-based artists, humanists, and cultural organizations.

Everybody okay with that one?

Individual artists and humanists who reside or work in Fall River may undertake either a systematic activity leading to the enhancement of their skills or a specific project in their discipline.

The Fall River Cultural Council is particularly interested in projects that will enhance the visibility of art and culture in the Fall River community.

Artists are required to submit an approximation of dimensions and relative design of their artistic work, along with a complete list of supplies, cost of materials, and the location of their project to be approved by the Cultural Council.

The project must be made available to the Fall River Cultural Council for viewing Artist work must be available to the city, to the citizens of Fall River.

If you're going to do anything like a mural on a building, besides having our approval, you need to have the approval of the building owner.

So I know, you know, there are several questions that come about— come up about murals.

So we have to have the approval of the owner of the building, and please get that in writing for us and submit it with your application.

Or if it's a municipality like a library and you're doing a mural as well, you have to get it from the director of the library.

Thank you.

Or the school department.

We, we did have one, um, a couple years ago.

They wanted to do a mural on one of the school buildings.

Actually, it wasn't a mural, it was a sculpture.

And, um, we had— they had to have the approval of the, um, director of arts for the the City of Fall River— for the school department.

Professional artists of high caliber may be brought to the city as guest artists or artists in residence in order to broaden appreciation for the arts by the local population.

Number 4, collaborative efforts among cultural organizations and artists with broad community involvement are encouraged.

Cultural organizations may request funds for capital expenditure to ensure their continued vitality.

Such special needs shall be of a non-recurring nature and must, must have matching funds.

So if you own a building and you want— you need a new roof, in order to put that new roof on, we can only pay once for a capital expenditure, and you have to have matching funds.

So if we give you $10,000, somebody else has to be giving you $10,000 as well.

If you can find a room.

That's if we have $10,000 to begin with, right?

Attendance at the workshop is strongly encouraged to all applicants, especially first-time applicants.

The person who will actually be writing the application should be the person who attends the workshop.

Well, thank you for being here.

The Fall River Cultural Council does not fund transportation, rent, lodging, or meals.

I just want to say something about rent, because if you're an individual artist and you're renting studio space, when you do your budget, please include your rent as part of your budget.

We can't pay your rent, but we can give you a stipend based on the fact that you're paying rent.

We can look at your whole budget.

Your budget page has to include your rent.

Okay, any questions so far?

What do you mean by transportation?

If you were bringing in somebody to do a performance, we cannot pay for them, their transportation here.

We can pay the fee that they're charging to do the performance, but we can't— somewhere else in the city for performance in the city, that would be okay to put as part of the grant request?

That wouldn't be— I believe, yeah, I believe so.

I think we can.

I think we You can do that as long as there's no liability and there's individuals that are, you know, within that.

Say for instance, you have a van and you have 2 seats in that van in the front, and there are 4 people in the back of that van holding down equipment.

That's not acceptable.

Yes.

I had one.

Can you elaborate on bringing someone of high caliber to the city?

So I just had an event and I brought someone of high caliber to the city, is there like a wording or— Collaboration, you have to have signed signatures by the collaborator.

Yeah, but they've agreed to come and, you know, how much they're charging you to come to, you know, for your event.

But absolutely, we can pay for something like that.

And if I might add, in addition, anytime you're doing a collaboration with another artist, musician, so forth, Make sure that you're including something about them as well.

You know, they should have some sort of portfolio or video.

Yeah, something.

You can submit videos of prior music or events that you did do.

Okay, all right.

Does that answer everything?

Yeah, I think so.

And a signed commitment attached to your application.

A signed commitment from the artist.

If you're bringing in I was going to say John Denver.

He's passed away.

I hope you're not bringing him in.

If he is— Taylor Swift.

Yeah, Taylor Swift in.

You need a signed— their signed commitment needs to be attached in your— yeah, yeah, right, right, exactly, exactly.

And there is a place for supplemental material that you can put in on online.

Anybody else have any questions?

Good questions though.

That's why you're here.

That's why you're here, because it's much easier than picking up the phone later on and trying to call Debbie, get Debbie or myself on the phone or anybody else.

So I think those are great questions to have.

So as far as our local guidelines are concerned, all Mass Cultural guidelines and Fall River Cultural guidelines— why am I having trouble speaking tonight— and procedures must be followed.

And you can find the Mass Cultural Guidelines on their website, and if you have the handout, it's printed on the handout.

It's also with your application page.

The projects must take place between December 1st, 2026 and December 31st, 2027.

That's been a change the last few years.

It doesn't guarantee that you're going to get the money, so if you're going to do something in December, if you're going to do a Christmas show, then one of the things you have to think about is, can I do this Christmas show without money from the Cultural Council?

Because we can't guarantee that you're going to get your money, um, because we don't see your applications until probably the beginning of November by the time the state sends them to us.

So we don't even meet on those applications until sometime in November.

So we can't say, oh yeah, we're going to give you $5,000 or whatever, you know, whatever we think we're going to be giving you.

I'm getting generous tonight.

Indeed.

But I think, I think that's one of the things when it says from December 1st, because we don't— and then we have to— what happens with the grants is we approve the grants, or we don't approve some grants.

If we don't approve your grant, you have the right to appeal, and it goes to— has to go to the state, and then we have to reconvene.

So what happens is the state wants us to spend every single penny, which we do.

We will spend every single penny.

But now if I gave somebody, if I gave him $10,000 and now you win your appeal and you want $5,000, we might only give you $2,000 or $3,000, but I have to take something away from him.

So we can't, our guarantees are not, Our amounts are not guaranteed, even if you, you know, were here when we were doing the discussion.

Our amounts are not guaranteed until you actually get a letter from Debbie that says your grant is for this amount.

So because— and it's very, very difficult for us because we wish we could give everybody money, but unfortunately we have a lot more money now than we did probably 9 to 10 years ago, right?

Pardon?

The timeline as far as, uh, when the approvals are done, they have to be done by the end of January.

Yeah.

Okay.

So if you're doing a project in December or January, you might not— yeah, I'm not concerned about this year.

Yeah, you're going forward.

Okay.

So I was just wondering the timeline as far as approval.

By January, by the time we approve it, if we have a reconsideration or not.

And there's certain guidelines that only if you can, uh, for reconsideration, you have to follow the state's guidelines and apply to the state.

Springtime, probably.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, but then, then we have— then once they— we have another meeting if we have to, then once they're done meeting, I have to input everything to the state, and then I have to wait for an okay from the state.

So it usually, usually by mid-January But we— it could be by the end of January.

You won't hear until the end of January.

Okay, but you'll hear by then.

Okay, number 3, um, and this is new this year, um, applicants may only submit one application.

Um, this is a change because we want to give as much money to as many people as we possibly can.

A few years ago, especially during COVID we had a little bit more money and we had only we had fewer applicants, so we were able to give some— people were putting in 2 applications for 2 different grants, and we were able to satisfy them.

Unfortunately, we don't have an endless supply of money, but— so we've decided we were only going to have everybody submit just one application in order to be able to spread the wealth, so to speak.

Organizations must have been established for at least 1 year in the type of activity for which funds are requested.

Documentation must be provided.

So if you started a dance studio and you just started it in September, we need— but you're going to have to wait till next year because you need to be in business for at least a year.

If you're— do you have a question?

No?

Okay.

You've been around for— you've been around for long enough.

I actually have a question.

So my— I actually Acquired my DBA recently, but I've been in business since 2020.

Okay.

Um, and proof of address, so I'm actually like right across the street.

Is that the same?

Yes, yes.

You've been doing that work?

You've been doing that work?

Okay.

No, you're, you're not brand— you're not doing this.

If, if you were a, um, I'm gonna say a, um, I'll say a An individual artist, an individual artist, and all of a sudden you decide you're going to put on a theater thing, right?

And you've never done it before, right?

You have to wait a year.

You have to, you have to have been doing that particular thing for 1 year.

No problem.

Okay, number 5, the venue and proposed dates within a 60-day time frame for the project must be clearly stated.

And written confirmation and permits, or permits, from the venue must be attached.

So a lot of times we get applications that say, oh, I'm going to do this sometime in 2027, and I think I'm going to do it at BCC.

That doesn't fly.

We've got to have a specific date and— well, I shouldn't say specific, because we know things happen.

You know, if you had an outside event planned for this weekend, I think you might be canceling it.

So those are the things that we know that happens.

We've had that happen with snowstorms.

We've had that happen with other things.

Sometimes, you know, you can't get— you think you can get a certain venue and you can't.

But you need a letter from the venue if you're going to do something at Bristol Community College, if you're going to do something at Durfee High School, if you're going to do something at Cus Middle School.

I think those are the things.

Those are pretty much the places that a lot of people use.

Sometimes choral groups will use a church.

We need confirmation from the church or the venue that you're planning on using.

Applications for projects involving collaborative efforts among more than one artist or cultural organization must identify a single person who has overall responsibility of the project.

That person may be an artist, the director of the organization, et cetera.

So, if you have a group of you that are running, please put the contact person, the person who's going to be dealing mostly with the grant, okay?

So that when we have— if we have questions, we know who we can get in touch with.

For instance, also, if you're doing like an exhibition and you are hiring a musician to play during that exhibition, some folk music or whatever it is, and you want to include that, Make sure all of that is in your budget as well and establish that, who they are and so forth.

Written confirmation from the collaborating artists and organizations must be attached, and we— I think we covered that.

All applicants who are proposing programs in any Fall River school, public or private, must first receive written approval from either the Director of Fine and Performing Arts of the Fall River School System or the principal of the school Approval must be attached to the application.

So if you're going to do something with— in conjunction with a school, in a school setting, we need either the principal's approval or we need the director of fine and performing arts.

A detailed budget of the proposed project should include material expenses, tuition, rental, printing costs, anticipated revenues, etc.

If the project is art for a public site, Assign value to the work and detailed framing or installation costs.

So if you're going to do a large project, what's it going to cost you to install?

I know they, they weren't— didn't do it through us, but that mural on across from the COVID Restaurant, um, you know, she had a lot of expense.

She had a lot of expense.

I mean, her ladder, all like you were saying before, trying to get her ladders there and all the equipment that she needed to get there.

So Put all that down on your budget page, not just, you know, it's, well, I'm going to do the mural and this is what it's going to cost me for paint.

We want to see your whole budget because it's going to make a difference if we're looking at something that's that massive.

It will make a difference.

In regards to you also saying that you might rent a U-Haul, so that would be in your budget.

First-time applicants goes back to what we were talking about.

Describe their relevant experience, their resume, portfolio, etc., as it pertains to their project.

And again, it goes back to what Debbie was saying, if all of a sudden, you know, you were a musician and now you all of a sudden you want to do a dance program or you want to do an art program, then we need to know your background.

The Fall River Cultural Council retains a perpetual right to reproduce, display, or photograph within the legal rights of the grantee any events and projects within print, social media, et cetera.

We now have a very active webpage, thanks to Nelson Rigo, who has done a tremendous Facebook page.

What did I say?

You said webpage.

Webpage.

Facebook page.

Um, he's done a great job advertising, and he will advertise if you have any events that we've sponsored, that we've given you money for.

We'll gladly advertise on our Facebook page.

So, you know, you can get in touch with, with one of us, and Nelson's done a a great job the past month, and I think you've had something on the Facebook page just about every day this week.

So thank you for that, Nelson.

Number 13, and I'm going to refer this one to Nathan to explain.

The use of generative AI must be explained in the application.

Generative AI shall not be used in the final project or in any promotional materials related to the project.

And because I'm a lot older and I'm not as familiar with AI, I'm going to let our young— youngest member.

Um, I'm not really sure how to explain it more than, than that.

Does anyone have any questions about it?

It's basically like ChatGPT, Claude, any of those LLMs that generate text or images.

We're looking to have explained in the application and, uh, prohibiting the use of in the final product or, or the promotional materials of that product.

So that means— I did have a question because I had to step out for this.

So in regards to that, there perhaps may be a musician who's hiring a marketing agent.

Marketing agent uses AI to make his flyers because that's not his— it's not within his realm house.

Is that going to be acceptable?

I think My opinion.

Well, this is why I'm establishing this, because I had a conversation with— not speaking for the— because I wasn't present.

However, I did have a question in regards to marketing materials, because sometimes we hire other individuals to do our website, other individuals to do our flyers.

They may use AI.

Shame on them.

Oh, I agree, I agree, but they— I agree, but they may.

I think— oh, can I make a Can I make a point?

I think, like, if you are receiving money through the Cultural Council, and these rules are put up in front of you, you are knowledgeable to them.

In that business relationship that you are making with an agent to do marketing or other materials, it should be made clear that this cannot, you know, that kind of AI or LLM cannot be used in the product, the final product.

I think that just means you have to work that into the business relationship or find somebody who can accommodate that.

And especially since we've seen an increase in people using AI to create these flyers that all look the same, and we'd rather you find someone who can work locally, like an artist or graphic designer that can help you create the flyers.

That's one of the expenses that you can put in your budget, that I need someone to help me with marketing, someone local to create flyers, brochures for my event.

We'd rather you use someone like that versus a computer.

Right, and so if you're putting it into your budget line and you're saying ABC Marketing Company is doing my marketing, then it really is a shame on them for using AI and not divulging it to their client, you, that they're using AI for their, for their own purposes.

They need to divulge that realistically to their client, and then their client can therefore let us know, which is what we're trying to say, that you're being— that it's being explained.

So it should be explained to you as the client that they are using AI.

And that way you can make the decision, no, I would rather use a local artist who's actually going to use their creative skill as opposed to using AI generative products.

So yeah, so the marketer is really the one that needs to be explaining that to their clients.

Let me ask a question.

So if we create our own posters or flyers, and we don't ask for any marketing money, and we use AI to help us like, um, come up with a title of what our event's going to be.

We're not asking for any marketing funds from the council, right?

I— you're talking to a teacher who's going to tell you never ever use AI.

And as a person who happens to love the environment, I would also say please don't use AI as it's killing our water supply.

I'd say to the, you know, there's 2 sentences in on 13.

The first is explain any use of AI in your application.

And so if it's being used to generate ideas or part of the process of creating the final project, I think like there is reasonable use.

Personally, I'm not completely anti-AI, you know, but that should be explained in the application.

And I think really what we're looking at is the final product.

The final product is very corporate sounding, you know, artistic product, the art, piece of art.

The piece of art or the music or— Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, we're, we're a band, we do performances.

I'm a band, I do performances, I've never used AI.

But I'm just talking about using AI to develop, like, hey, we want to do a Christmas-themed concert, what are some ideas?

Yeah.

Oh, that's— I, I think that's— I think that's acceptable.

This is in regards to my question, and my statement is, is because I wasn't present, um, when you're stating that you're using it for flyers For instance, like I said, I'm a musician, okay?

My wheelhouse is not doing marketing or advertising, and it may be that I go to somebody who is affordable to me because I might not have the monetary appreciation to invest in a large-based company who's going to cost a lot of money.

So therefore, I go to someone else who might be local, who might be using a little bit of AI.

Is that going to be acceptable if it's explained?

Again, they should be explaining it to you and you should explain it to us.

Yeah, since it's a rule that people in this room and anyone applying to a grant should be knowledgeable that you have to follow the guidelines and the rules of applying, you should be upfront with whoever you are bringing on to do marketing or other sorts of aspects of your project that these are the rules.

And, you know, not even just this rule, but any of the other rules that might apply to that relationship.

So I think that is on the artist or person applying to make sure that they are accurately describing to any person involved what needs to be followed.

Now, some individuals may not be aware, um, that Gemini also uses AI in backgrounds.

So even if you're using Gemini, which that was not worded anywhere, and I took note of that, that it's not mentioned.

What do you mean Gemini?

So like the Google AI?

It's an AI, it's a generative AI, right?

Right.

Some people, um, when they look up Gemini, they distinguish it differently from AI is what I'm saying.

So an individual might not know the difference.

It does say Gemini AI, right, in the title.

I see what your point, if somebody isn't clear what AI is.

Correct.

But I think at some point, like, it's laid out, it's pretty understood.

I hopeful— hopefully that, like— You can ask AI what AI is.

It will tell you.

Yeah, you can Google it and Gemini the AI will Sorry.

Um, but— oh, I'm aware, I'm aware of them.

I'm just afraid that other people may not be aware Gemini is the same as AI.

I, I do want to get back to your point because I understand as someone who has to design my own posters how it can get frustrating and creating a cool catchphrase so people— I get that if you're using it as a thought process, like let's suss out some ways to get a really cool title.

That's part of the process.

Tell us you did that, and then tell us what your final human-created collaboration is with AI at the end.

And there's a lot of resources that you can reach out to help you with your marketing.

You can contact the high schools— Durfee, Diamond— they have graphic design students there.

So a lot of times they'll work with local organizations and businesses.

So there's a lot of different resources.

Great extracurricular projects too.

So they love that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Okay, any— anybody else have any questions?

Debbie and I are sitting here like, what are they talking about?

Because we're the old people here.

Anyway, the Gemini— I have, I have used research.

I have used I use AI, but not very often.

Organizations must show proof that the Fall River Cultural Council is not the sole source of funding for this project.

So we cannot 100% support your project.

Somebody else has to be, whether it's selling tickets, whether it's asking for donations, if you have a dance program or you have a program where you're teaching young artists to perform, you could— and you're charging them, you could include that as support for funding.

Projects— may I continue?

Individual artists, we can't be the sole funder, but you're also— what you need to put in your budget, you're paying your rent, you're paying your utilities, you're paying— you put in your own in-kind service for the extra hours that you put in, put that in your budget.

Just to clarify too, the 14 is specifically organizations, right?

Oh, yes.

Yes.

Just to make sure.

Yeah, no, no, we're on the same page, but just to make sure it's clear.

Okay.

And the last one is projects must be completed in full before requesting reimbursement.

So if you've only done half of your project and you've got plans to complete it, within the next 6 months.

We're not paying you halfway.

Well, I'm running out of money and I need the rest.

I need some of my money.

We will only— it's a real headache for Debbie to try to bookkeep all this, people coming in on a monthly basis and, you know, well, I've done this much this month.

So we don't break it up into 12-month payments.

We're not a credit union.

We're not a lending loan company.

So your project must be complete.

So we don't give you the money ahead of time, we give it to you at the end of your project.

And we have to have all the receipts.

Debbie, you want to talk about what, what you need?

I, I just— I don't need all of your receipts.

If, if your project cost you $10,000, let's say, and we've given you $2,000, I need the receipts that add up to $2,000.

Okay, I don't need— I don't need beyond that.

If we've specifically— and I'm gonna throw this out there, I don't think I have any theater people here, so we'll use theater.

Oh, I'm sorry, I apologize.

Sorry, Don.

Well, I'm gonna use theater anyway.

If we have put a restriction on a grant, which we've done in the past, so I'll use this one one, that we will only pay for royalties.

We only need the receipt for the royalties.

We don't need all the other receipts.

Okay, so if we're— if you're a sculptor and we're only paying for the clay, we're not paying for the eye— for the casting, we're not paying for the ceramic, whatever you glaze it with, or whatever.

So in other words, if we put a restriction— we haven't put a restriction, we just need I just need receipts up to the amount.

That's it.

Okay?

And that it's completed.

I also request some kind of— I just need one, something where either a page out of your playbill that shows that we've been acknowledged, a picture of your poster.

Don't send— do not waste your time or money sending anything by snail mail to the Florida Cultural Council.

Someone sent me something the first week of September, that was the postmark, I received it today.

So nothing, don't waste your money doing snail mail.

Email me everything.

And we should, you should be putting, if you have a program or any kind of flyer, Our logo should— and it's on the website— our logo should be there.

Or if— I was going to add something else.

When you receive your acceptance letter, it comes in 3 pages.

It tells you what you've gotten, the money you've gotten.

Then it tells you what the publicity requirements are on page 2.

And please keep page 3.

That's how you get reimbursed.

And all your instructions are there.

I can't tell you how many people get the letter and all they keep is the COVID page to say how much.

Keep that third page because that's how you get your money back.

Generally, whenever I'm posting something on social media, I'll— if you don't, even if you don't have access and you're making a quick one, just tag it, you know, @FallRiverCulturalCouncil, tag Massachusetts Cultural Council.

We are a division of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

It's nice to give both acclamations.

So the specific guidelines that the state puts out of what needs to be on there, right?

And that's on the— that's all on the website.

If you go to the Forward Cultural Council page, one of the first things it does is tell you about the reimbursement, the forward page on the Mass Cultural Council site.

I mean, I have to tell you, when I go to anything that we've spoken sponsored, that we paid for, the first thing I look for is to see if we've been acknowledged.

It's just in my nature.

And one of the— not one of the last things I went to, but when I went to a specific concert in the city, I walked in and the first thing when I walked into Driffey Theater up on the thing is the Mass Cultural Council logo.

Thank you very much, Paula.

Good job.

Yeah, it was up on the screen.

Nice.

Nice.

Good, good.

We like to see that kind of stuff.

Is anybody here from any school department?

Because we have a set of guidelines specifically geared toward field trips for schools, but I don't want to waste anybody's time if nobody— Why don't you say it so it's on the video?

Oh, okay, that's a good idea, Nelson.

First of all, field trip: only schools located in Fall River may apply.

The venue, program, and date must be clearly stated.

The only change that is allowed is a change in the date due to snow days or mandatory state testing.

Any other change needs prior permission from the Cultural Council.

The Fall River Cultural Council will award up to a maximum of $15 of the admission price.

The Fall River Cultural Council will fund only one field trip application for one grade level per school.

For exception, small schools may combine different grade levels fill a maximum of one bus.

The Fall River Cultural Council does not pay for transportation costs or chaperone tickets.

The name of the school should be listed as part of the applicant's name.

So if the principal's applying, then we need the principal's name, but we also need the school's name because we don't know who some of these people are.

But just to go back to the one application, we will only fund one application per school.

And it should be one grade level unless you're a small school.

And I know some of, some of your charter schools at one time had very small classrooms, and we would come— public schools may have some small classrooms, but if you do have, we will pay for more than one classroom if it's to fill a bus, and we don't pay for the bus.

Anybody have any questions about any of it, anything?

That's it.

Thank you all for coming.

Any questions, recommendations?

Because this is also supposed to be a community input meeting.

Do we have any recommendations?

No.

Thank you all for coming.

It was, it was nice to see everybody.

Thank you.

Good luck with your grants, but don't forget, October 15th at midnight.