Cultural Council Helps Support the Arts

It's a small group, not many around town may know their role in the community, but the Cultural Council are one of the key committees that help support a number of events around Winchester.

The Council is responsible for helping put on a variety of activities that occur in Winchester. The committee supports Wednesday's Concerts on the Commons, as well as Winter Fiesta, Author Fest and Art in August, which helps promote local artists around town. Art in August culminates with Art in the Park Saturday, August 21.

"Art in the Park is a one day thing that's part of Art in August, which celebrates all the different venues and all of the artists will be on the park," said Cultural Council member Debbie Taylor-Smith. "

One of the main functions of the council is to award grants to various organizations around town that support the arts. While the state allocates funds to the organization, they still try and raise their own money in order to pay out more money to these local individuals and groups.

"We need to contact organizations in Winchester and try and get more grant applications," said Cultural Council member Amelia O'Donnell.

The council has also decided to move forward in trying to change its tax status. They are going to try and move towards becoming a 501 (c) (3) organization.

According to Cultural Council member Don Daniel, there's an organization called Lawyers for the Arts. After paying the money, which he believed to be around $600 to join the group, they will cover any legal fees for the committee as well as file the paperwork to become the 501 (c) (3) company.

"If we have something like the (Winter) Fiesta we would be able to give the tax exempt status to anyone who donates money" Daniel said. "We're currently a 160 (e), I believe it is, but nobody knows what that is."

The goal of the council is one that benefits as many organizations in town through their financial support. In order to do that, the committee feels as though they need to raise money and become a cultural council that does as much for Winchester as possible.

"We want to make this an active cultural council as opposed to one that just receives money by the state and distributes that," said member Karen Ossen.