Grants

Winchester will host its first Porchfest this coming  June—on Saturday June 13, 2020, from noon to 6 pm. The rain date is Sunday June 14.

Porchfest is a one day, volunteer-driven, free community event that provides public venues for individuals and groups to share their music and performance art. The goal is to cluster venues around downtown to promote a more festive environment, promote walking, and encourage patronage of the downtown businesses. Performances that can be shared through Porchfest include:

The Winchester Cultural Council has awarded $9,567 in LCC grants to 16 individuals and organizations for 2020. Grant funding was significantly higher than in past years thanks in part to a meaningful commitment to the arts from the town of Winchester in the 2019–2020 budget. The funded projects expand cultural opportunities for Winchester’s students, help Winchester residents hear distinguished local performers, and use art to celebrate and strengthen our community. Grant projects include Winchester's first-ever Porchfest (scheduled for June); the first major art exhibition in Winchester's new Cultural District; Chinese New Year celebrations and visits by Chinese dancing lions to all of Winchester's elementary schools; an "ecomusic" residency and concert celebrating a new Monarch butterfly waystation at the First Congregational Church; faculty concerts by the Winchester Community Music School; and a musical theater performance depicting the history of women's fight for equal rights in America. Grants also support several arts cultural enrichment programs for children, adults, and seniors.

Winchester's Cultural Blossoming: Money Available—Seeking Ideas

The future looks bright for the arts and culture in Winchester. But what will that future hold? Come learn how to be part of it—get a grant next year to support your own project—and share your ideas for how we could make Winchester a more culturally vibrant community.

The Winchester Cultural Council invites applications from organizations, schools and individuals of all ages for grants that support cultural activities in the community. Those activities can include performances, workshops, lectures, exhibits, festivals, short-term artist residencies, historical preservation, or other artistic projects and activities in Winchester.

The Winchester Cultural Council has awarded $5,200 in LCC grants to 10 individuals and organizations for 2019. The funded projects expand cultural opportunities for Winchester’s students, help Winchester residents hear distinguished local performers, and use art to celebrate and strengthen our community. Projects include Indian Dance and Peking Opera; the extremely successful Authorfest program that brings published authors to Winchester schools; a new monthly studio arts series in a collaborative community space which is free and open to anyone in Winchester; and a program in March with WZLX radio DJ and author Carter Alan on his new book, which includes performances by several rock ensembles from the Winchester Community Music School. In addition, funding supports continuing the summer Concerts on the Common, the "Just a Minute" online video festival, and arts and literacy enrichment programs.

The Mass. Memories Road Show comes to Winchester on Saturday, October 20 from 10 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at the Jenks Center, 109 Skillings Road. All are urged to attend, and to bring three photos to be added to the collection. Long-time and new residents, and even those who only work and play in town, are welcome to contribute to this portrait of who we are today.

With the support of the Winchester Cultural Council and St. Mary's Parish, Winchester's Sharanya School of Odissi Dance presents "Natya Blend", an amalgamation of 3 ancient and distinctive Indian Classical Dance forms portraying peace and justice. October 19, 2018, 6:00 to 7:30 pm. St. Mary's School auditorium, 162 Washington St., Winchester. Free admission, all ages welcome!

The Winchester Cultural Council invites applications from organizations, schools and individuals of all ages for grants that support cultural activities in the community. Those activities can include performances, workshops, lectures, exhibits, festivals, short-term artist residencies, historical preservation, or other artistic projects and activities in Winchester.

The Winchester  Cultural Council has awarded $5,583 in LCC grants to 10 individuals and organizations for 2018. The funded projects expand cultural opportunities for Winchester’s young students and senior citizens, help Winchester residents hear distinguished local performers, and use art to celebrate and strengthen our community. Projects include a documentary film, "The Greening of Winchester"; two special events at the Jenks Center; a classical Indian dance performance in the fall; the Family Farm Night Music Series at Wright-Locke Farm on summer Thursday nights; a family concert on the Common by by Roger Tincknell; special puppet shows at the Farmer's Market's International Day in September; arts enrichment programs for children at Lincoln School and those attending after-school programs; and the Mass. Memories Road Show on October 20.