Members

Demi Dubois, Chairperson

Colleen Cacchiotti

Leticia mantilla-Clavijo

Nancy Kukura

Glenn Laundre

Katherine Linhares

Dinah Olanoff

Kathy Radley

Chirs Da vis Re mignati

Thomas Sullivan

Gloria Vachino

  The Melrose Arts Council is one of 335 local cultural councils statewide. The main objective of the Arts Council is to assess the cultural needs of the community and distribute funding provided by the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission via the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Funding is available to individual artists, organizations, and schools sponsoring cultural activities.

Activities during the past year included representation at the Melrose Victorian Fair, in order to raise public awareness of the Arts Council, and also to promote the upcoming application/grants cycle.

So far this year, state grant money has been distributed to support 12 separate projects. These included the Melrose Symphony Orchestra’s Spring concert, the Children’s Author Festival at the Melrose Public Library, and a musical presentation for senior citizens at the Melrose Congregational Retirement Home.  Funding was also provided to the Melrose Public School System to support arts education outside of the classroom (field trips.)

     The Melrose Arts Council’s future projects include consideration of funding for:

·      A mural in the downtown area commemorating the millennium and the future vision of Melrose

·     Expanded presence at the Melrose Victorian Fair and Fourth of July celebrations, including interactive exhibits promoting the arts

·     Special art and interpretive sciences exhibits at the high school and middle school levels

·    Continued support for projects directed at the senior citizens of Melrose, and those projects which reach out to any underserved population

 The Melrose Arts Council has approved 28 separate projects for its 2000 cycle including:

·        Writer’s Week at the Middle School

·        The New Melrose Lyceum series at the Beebe Estate

·        Family Fun Nights at the First Congregational Church

·        Audio equipment for Café Emerson

·        The 4^th of July Concert at Mount Hood

·        Public Mural for the Melrose High School Class of 2000 for the side of Pauli’s restaurant in the downtown area