Falmouth Cultural Council

Meetings

  • Every  3rd Tuesday of the Month at 7 PM
  • Town Hall
    59 Town Hall Square
    Select Board Meeting Room
    Falmouth, MA 02540

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are available following approval.

View Most Recent Agendas and Minutes

All meetings of the Falmouth Cultural Council are open, and potential new council members with an interest in the cultural programming are encouraged to attend one or more meetings. 

Information on Cultural Council events and initiatives is available at www.falmouthculturalcouncil.org. The council can be reached at cultural.council.falmouth@gmail.com. 

Mission Statement

To promote excellence, inclusion, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and sciences in order to foster a rich cultural life and contribute to the economic vitality of our community.

The Falmouth Cultural Council is part of a network of 329 Local Cultural Councils serving all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth.  The LCC Program, now in its 45th year, supports thousands of community-based projects in the arts, humanities and sciences.  The State legislature provides an annual appropriation to the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, which then allocates funds to each community.

Members

The Falmouth Cultural Council members are appointed by the Select Board. At present, the committee is comprised of 10 volunteers, three of whom are Falmouth high school students.  One of the Council's roles is to review grant applications, and, based on local guidelines and funding priorities, decide which grant applications should be funded and at what level.

In addition, the Falmouth Cultural Council serves as a community catalyst for projects and collaborations that address unmet cultural needs, such as its project, “Music at the Table,” which provides weekly music to a free lunch program that serves Falmouth community members who lack access to cultural programming due to financial stresses, including homelessness. The Falmouth Cultural Council also acts as a source for local organizations and artists to obtain information on grants and other resources. 

The Falmouth Select Board has appointed the Falmouth Cultural Council as the administrative body to oversee the Arts and Culture Element of the Falmouth Comprehensive Plan.

Current members of the Falmouth Cultural Council are:

  • Alice Kociemba, Co-chair – 6/30/2027
  • Ilene Karnow, Treasurer - 6/30/2027
  • Nikki Engstrom, Secretary - 6/30/2028
  • Ocean Eversley - 6/30/2027
  • Caroline Inman – 6/30/2026
  • Rima Petrosyan - 6/30/2027
  • George Scharr - 6/30/2028
  • Avila Rudd - 6/30/2027
  • Raven Guinta-Tavares - 6/30/2026
  • Patricia Pinto da Silva - 6/30/2027

The Falmouth Cultural Council’s FY 2026 funding priorities were formulated from extensive outreach to the Falmouth community through an in-person and online survey. These responses created the Council’s Guidelines and Funding Priorities. The Council uses these priorities to evaluate its grant applications. Information on the MCC grant program, as well as all aspects of the Council’s programs, initiatives, and a calendar of events that promotes the grantees projects, is available at: https://www.falmouthculturalcouncil.org/.

For FY 2026, the Falmouth Cultural Council will receive level funding, with $8,700 from the Mass Cultural Council, an additional $10,000 from the Town of Falmouth, and $1,300 from its reserve account. The Falmouth Cultural Council awarded $20,000 in grants to 24 individuals and organizations for local arts and culture programs and projects. 

A complete list of FY2026 grant recipients is below:

  • ArtsFalmouth, Arts Alive 2026, $950
  • The Awareness Project: Mindfulness Engagement Project, $530
  • Pranav Swaroop Bettagere, Project SARANG—Colors of South Asian Music, $950
  • Jeffrey Bouchard, Cape Cod Record Fair, $950
  • The Cahoon Museum of American Art, Community Open House Series, $500
  • Church of the Messiah, Glow Woods Hole: LQBTQIA+ In the Upper Cape, $950
  • Diane Edgecomb, “Sprouting Tales for Summer Reading!”, $525
  • Ethnic Arts Center of Somerville, Carbo Verde CINDERELA Puppet Show, $950
  • Sandra Faiman-Silva, 2026 Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration, $900
  • Falmouth Chamber Players, Spring Concerts, $750
  • Falmouth Cultural Council, Music at the Table, $1,000
  • Farming Falmouth, Shaping the Future of Falmouth’s Food System: Discussion Series, $1,000
  • Gull Island Institute, What Is a Liberal Arts Education Today? A Panel Discussion, $950
  • Sam Holmstock, Drumming for Recovery: Rewiring the Brain, $900
  • Jazzhers, Jazzhers Jams, $750
  • Paloma Lopez, Day of the Dead/Día de Muertos, $695
  • The Marine Biological Laboratory, Falmouth Forum, $950 
  • New England Festivals, Harbor Light Illumination Concert Series, $950
  • North Falmouth Elementary School PTO, Brazilian Beats, $950
  • Michael Persico, Classic Jazz Visions—The Photography of Jack Bradley, $950
  • Pamela Rothstein, Art at the Farm, $950
  • Waquoit Congregational Church, Movies That Matter, $500
  • Mary Wilson, Puppets, Paul & Mary Sing Songs by the Seashore Show, $550
  • Woods Hole Historical Museum, Permanent Exhibition: Indigenous History, $950