05/25/2026
Who is the Chicopee Cultural Council and what do we do?
This is a questions I get asked frequently. Despite the CCC being part of the city for decades what we do is not well known.
Our mission statement says "The Chicopee Cultural Council’s mission is to advance excellence and access to the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, through grants to artists, Arts organizations, independent council projects, volunteerism and community input."
Excellent words but that doesn't really give people a sense of what we do on the council. Our main job is to dispurse money given to us by the Massachusetts Cultural Council to artist and organizations who apply for one of our yearly grants. Last year the council was awarded $71,500.00 to grant out and had $192,000.00 worth of requests.
In the past we have supported projects such as school trips to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, puppet shows in schools, plays at the high schools, performances at the library and senior center as well as the Aldenville concerts in the parks and some of the murals you see downtown.
If you would like to learn more or even be a part of bringing arts and culture to the city please reach out to us via email at [email protected].
