ECA Awarded Mass. Cultural Council’s Gold Star Award for the Bear Fest

The MCC Gold Star Award
Easthampton City Arts (ECA) announced today that the Easthampton Bear Fest 2009 has been honored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s (MCC) Gold Star Award for excellence in community arts and culture.

The Gold Star Program annually recognizes model community arts, humanities and science projects funded by the 329 Local Cultural Councils (LCCs) across the state. These projects celebrate diversity, foster collaboration, showcase artistic excellence and provide learning experiences for people of all ages and backgrounds.

The Easthampton City Arts’ Bear Fest project is one of 6 programs throughout the state to earn a Gold Star designation.  The Easthampton Cultural Council nominated the Bear Fest for the Gold Star Award and also provided funds to support the initiative.

Easthampton City Arts launched the 2009 Bear Fest on June 13, 2009, bringing thousands of visitors to the City. The Bear Fest, an exhibit of 35 life sized fiberglass bears, which were painted and decorated by local and regional artists, was displayed throughout the downtown area for four months. The festival was ended with a week long celebration of the arts throughout the city and a live auction of the bears to benefit art programs in Easthampton Public Schools, the Riverside Industries art program, the artists who painted the bears, and ECA for future programming. 

In total, Easthampton City Arts raised over $130,000 from sponsors of the Bear Fest, the auction sale of the bears themselves and grants received to support the Bear Fest.  In turn, ECA expended $54,500 to benefit the arts, including $28,000 to the bear artists, $8,500 to Riverside Industries, $11,500 to the Easthampton Public Schools and $6,500 for artists, musicians and authors who provided cultural events throughout the Bear Fest.  Additionally, to support the Bear Fest, ECA paid $18,000 to local businesses and over $5,000 to local media outlets.

“I’m thrilled to have helped the Bear Fest and ECA get the recognition it deserves from the Massachusetts Culture Council and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts”, says Marcia Morrison, member of the Easthampton Culture Council who put together the Bear Fest nomination package.

Gold Star awards are nominated by Local Cultural Councils and are evaluated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council based on a variety of criteria including: artistic quality, success in reaching out to underserved constituents, educational value, and ability to engage with the community.

The LCC Program is the largest volunteer-run, grassroots arts funding program in the nation, supporting thousands of community-based projects in the arts, humanities, and interpretive sciences annually.

About the Massachusetts Cultural Council
The Massachusetts Cultural Council promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The MCC is committed to building a central place for the arts, sciences and humanities in the everyday lives of communities across the Commonwealth. The Council pursues this mission through a combination of grant programs, partnerships, and services for nonprofit cultural organizations, schools, communities, and individual artists. The MCC receives an annual appropriation from the state Legislature and funds from the NEA, the Wallace Foundation, and other sources.