Minutes of Lincoln Cultural Council Meeting — October 29, 2008
10/30/08-2 1
The meeting of the Lincoln Cultural Council was called to order in the lower level conference room of Town Hall at 7:02 p.m. Present were
Melinda Abraham, Sarah Bishop, Amy Goodwin, Jay Hersh, Barbara Low, and Susan Welsh.
Joannie Schaffner was absent.
Barbara Low agreed to take minutes for this meeting. Jay Hersh was unanimously elected
Chairman, and Barbara Low was unanimously elected Treasurer.
Melinda Abraham was appointed by the selectmen but has not yet been sworn in by Susan
Brooks. She participated in the discussions.
There was no old business.
New Business:
Susan Welsh presented a form that listed the attributes of the various grant applications. The
information reflected included applicant, amount of request, audience size, public or specific
audience, in or out of town, artist in or out of town, previously funded, sponsor, and date. Susan
will combine her form with Jay’s spreadsheet for use in future grant cycles.
We have a balance of $2808.24 that will carry forward as unencumbered funds after we pay our
two remaining grants. We are supposed to receive $4300 for the coming year, but don’t know if
the state will cut that amount. We will not know that until February of next year. We also have
about $2900 that was money gifted to the Council. We have total discretion in the use of this
money.
The Council can apply on its own to the Massachusetts Culture Council to fund a project. We
can also raise money on our own. We would need both energy and personnel to manage such an
event.
We discussed how we would handle cuts. Would we drop our least favorite grant or take a
percentage from each of the grants awarded? We could also fill in any gap with some of the gift
money we have. We decided to wait to see what cuts might occur and will respond at that time.
Jay mentioned some of the things to consider when awarding grants: What is the biggest bang for the buck? Is the artist in town or out of town? How do we judge success? Some proposals are
sent in with no sponsor. Will they be successful? We agreed that we should establish some group criteria at a later date.
Rejection letters are sent out immediately, and the applicants have two weeks to appeal their
rejection. Provisional acceptance letters will be sent after any appeals are handled. The award
letters will state that the amount granted is provisional until we receive our actual money from
the state.
Five applications were disqualified. Four had reproduced signatures and one had no signature.
Jay tried to contact the applicants before the deadline, but he did not receive corrected
applications by the state-imposed deadline. The other Council members unanimously agreed with Jay’s
assessment, and those five applications were not considered.
Minutes of Lincoln Cultural Council Meeting — October 29, 2008
10/30/08-2 2
Jay Hersh recused himself and left the room during discussion of the Conservation Commission
grant due to his wife serving on this commission, and his own grant request for the Wildlife
Photography program, What’s in Your Backyard?
Sara Lewis came to answer any questions regarding the Conservation Commission application.
Letters sent to the approved applicants will include the name of the council member who will
serve as a contact person and answer questions regarding their project. Jay and Melinda will send out all the letters — the reject letters now and the acceptance letters by mid-December.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30.
Grant Applications Receiving Preliminary Approval
The following grant applications were approved unanimously by acclamation.
· Lincoln Council on Aging, Delvina Theatre, Approved $300
· What’s in Your Backyard? Native Plants, Flowers & Mushrooms Photo Exhibit Approved
$500
· Yankee Notions, Concert at Codman Farm, Approved $650
· L-S High School Chorus, Chorus to Carnegie Hall, Approved Partial $1800,(Grant
conditioned on local performance.)
· L-S Music Department, BSO Concert PASS Grant, Approved Partial $1000
· LSRHS, Chaucer Presentation by Baba Brinkman, Approved $300
· Gregory Maichack, How to Pastel Paint as an Impressionist, Approved $435
· DeCordova Art in the Park Festival, Approved $500
· Codman Farm, Livingston Taylor, Approved Partial $500
· Deanna Johnson and Berit Strong, Flute & Guitar across Diverse Cultures, Approved $450
· National Heritage Museum, An American Journey, Approved $275
· Wendy Frank, Music Enrichment for Special Needs Children, Approved Partial $300
TOTAL AMOUNT AWARDED: $7010.00 (12 grants)
The following grants were denied on unanimous acclamation
Lincoln Conservation Commission - $1400 for Invasive Species Awareness Kiosks
Henry Lappen - $425 for Henry the Jungler performance
Thomas Grandprey (LS Music Department) - $1800 pass grant for MA Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association
Ed Cope - $375 for Reading is Magic children's program
Susan Richmond - $300 for Wild Apples journal of nature & art
Janet Applefield - $350 for Combating Hate and Prejudice
Buck Expeditions - $500 for Explorers' Program
Paul Bouchard - $1200 for New England Big Band Swing Orchestra
Sarah Andrysiak (Codman Farm) - $500 for Codman Harvest Fair - Yankee Notions Performance (performers presented a separate grant which was funded)
Tom Szekely - $450 for Year in the life of Pierce Park
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