Identifier
NFAI.E.00008593

Preferred Name
Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities

Library of Congress Naming Authority
Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities [info:lc/authorities/names/n50072500]

Entity Date
1966 - 1989

Biography/History

Resolves 1964, c 93 authorized the governor to appoint a fifteen-member special commission to study the cultural needs and resources of the Commonwealth. The commission recommeded the formation of a council to maintain a continuing study of public awareness of the arts and humanities and available resources in these areas. Consequently a Council on the Arts and Humanities was established by St 1966, c 589 and placed within the Department of Education. It was transferred to the Executive Office for Administration and Finance by St 1980, c 329, s 108. From 1984 it was more commonly known by the longer name, Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities.

The council consisted of fifteen gubernatorial appointees serving staggered three-year terms, to be private citizens who "demonstrated scholarship or creativity in or distringuished service to the arts and humanities." They were mandated to search out existing arts programs and to publicize their existence more fully to benefit the general public; to initiate programs encouraging young artists by building receptive audiences for vaious art forms; and to create in the Commonwealth a supportive environment for contemporary art.

The council used monies from the National Endowment for the Arts and state appropriations to create programs that distributed funds to artisits and arts organizations, including: Merit Aid, New Works, Financial Assistance, Historic Conservation, Artists Fellowship, and Artists-in-Residence. During 1987 the council, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Folklife Programs, conducted fieldwork to identify and locate traditional folk artists from Massachusetts to participate in the 22nd annual Festival of American Folklife, held on the grounds of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., July 1988.

Council exective directors were Louise Tate, 1966-1977 and Anne Hawley, 1977-1989.

St. 1989, c 653, ss14-16 abolished the council and the Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council, combining their functions in the Massachusetts Cultural Council, effective 1990.

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