Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy... But Not Here!
The Grossmans have contributed at least $400,000 to the Democratic Party and to Clinton since 1991. In 1994, Clinton appointed Barbara Grossman, who is a professor of theater at Tufts University, to the National Council for the Arts.
—Public I, Center for Public Integrity
Culture is
the cry of the people, the cry of the ground and earth. It must come out of
that and not on to it.
—Meridel
LeSueur
It is the editor's conclusion that the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Concord
Cultural Council, and National Endowment of the Arts ought to
adopt the following slogan: WE ACCORD GRANTS
ONLY TO THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD THEM!
It is the editor's conclusion after years of
observation that strange, diminutive, careerist creatures have moved into the
nooks and crannies of American culture and literature. They are the groupthinking, teamplaying, networking functionaries who, like their
careerist academic counterparts, rarely if ever question or challenge
anything... except their paychecks, benefits, and social status. They have
been busy as beavers, working side by side with the Chambers of Commerce to keep democracy
at bay.
For insight into the functionary mindset of those
careerist creatures, read the editor's correspondence with poet
Charles Coe,
Massachusetts Cultural Council Coordinator for Organizational Support.
Below is a summary of research effected by the editor in 2004 and the editor's correspondence with diverse functionaries of the
Massachusetts Cultural Council and Concord Cultural Council.
Members of the Concord Cultural Council at the time included Carol Haines, Jennifer Jacoby,
Elizabeth Berk, Kate Bird, Patsy Eickelberg, Jennifer Gillespy, Nancy Joroff,
Charlotte Wright, and Craig Dunn.
 The report underscores favoritism and bias towards
socio-politically disengaged grant proposals of a diversionary nature.
The research underscores that culture is being
defined by state cultural councils, hopefully not all of them, as entertainment.
Not one project of a critical nature was funded that year or the previous year (see
recipients). One must wonder
if such a project has ever been funded by the council. Nearly all projects
funded were of a sing-along or storytelling variety. Most of the same recipients
of the previous year were awarded grants for the subsequent year.
Might council members and recipients be friends
with each other? In Massachusetts, such corruption of
course would not be unusual at all. Do regulations exist to prevent such
cronyism between grantors and grantees? As far as the editor knows, no such regulations exist.
Council members need to be educated with regards
the nefarious effects on democracy of favoritism and
cronyism. They
also need to understand democracy depends on criticism, thrives on criticism,
and can only exist with criticism...
whereas oligarchy, or rule by a wealthy elite, depends on cronyism,
favoritism, happy-face positivism, and absence
of criticism.
The research exposes the files of grant recipients and non-recipients deposited at Town Hall in Concord, Massachusetts. It was sent to
Boston Review, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Concord Journal.
Not one of them deigned to respond. As mentioned, Concord Cultural Council
members have also proven to be entirely indifferent and have not bothered to
address any of the concerns raised by the report.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council and Concord Cultural Council have shamefully
dismissed the editor's arguments or simply ignored them altogether and continue
defining
“culture” worthy of state and town support as
safe, sufficiently infantilized, inoffensive, happy-face, diversionary, and entertaining,
as
opposed to writing and art that might question and challenge the status quo
(including that of the cultural councils themselves) and
in so-doing reinvigorate
the foundering democracy.
Let
culture offend, let it shake people up, and let it make them think,
rather than fall asleep! Let it
question and challenge our unjust society, ever drifting away from
democracy, irrevocably entrenching itself into a sad state of three-car garage war-mongering
plutocracy.
Just as the mission of the nation’s political institutions, as well as its myriad universities and colleges now so very infected by the corporate bug, needs
to be rethought, so must that of its diverse cultural councils. Evidently, the prime
mission of state cultural councils, as well as national organizations including
the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities,
given the political appointment of council members, has been to promote business
as usual, that is, art and writing apt to support, or at least not question and
challenge, the status quo of the nation’s various institutions, including the
cultural councils themselves. The status quo mission of the latter, consciously
or not, backs the deepening trend in America of the institutional
elimination of free thought, indignation and criticism amongst the citizenry.
If we, the people, are to move toward rendering reality more in line with what we seek to be, that is, a land of the free, justice for all, attainable pursuit of life, liberty and happiness for all, and perhaps most of all a nation where all citizens may express themselves openly with impunity, that is, without losing their jobs or, in the case of writers, grants and publications, then we must, amongst many other things, rethink the state cultural councils. The latter must be redefined, at least in part, to help finance art and writing that questions and challenges the nation’s current de facto values and seeming general direction toward full-scale hypocrisy. Currently, the cultural councils, perhaps most of them, perhaps all of them, certainly the one in Massachusetts, where I reside, exist not to support such art and writing, but rather to support anything sufficiently disengaged from criticizing the nation’s diverse institutions.
How beneficial it would be for the citizenry, if college and university students--perhaps even high school students--were taught by their professors and teachers to question, challenge,
and effect research into the nation’s diverse public organizations, including the state cultural council and state colleges and universities. The first thing they’d learn regarding the latter, at least in Massachusetts, is that all public college and university personnel, grievance and arbitration records are closed to public scrutiny because, on the one hand, the state has chosen not to adopt state freedom of information legislation and, on the other, professors are quite content with that policy of secrecy. Massachusetts News,
which was going to do a story on the editor's whistle-blowing on state
college corruption, for example, ended up not running the story for the
simple reason that it could not confirm the editor's allegations, that is, it could not access public documents.
If we are to believe Nobel laureate José Saramago (see quote above), globalization is resulting in, amongst other things, global mentality of not thinking, not acting, and not criticizing.
The nation’s students are becoming the most egregious victims of this scourge of mind. Indeed, The Washington Post (3/13/00) reported: “Even worse, many students now coming to college have almost no desire to learn, to know and understand things outside their narrow vocational interest. According to a UCLA survey, "40 percent of each freshman class is ‘disengaged’ from educational values and pursuits.” Unfortunately, a similar study was not effected regarding professors.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council and its local branch, the Concord Cultural Council, serve to illustrate that censorial function exists in the name of status quo. First, note that members are politically appointed. The most egregious example is William Bulger, former state house senate leader and current president of the University of Massachusetts, who, by the way, has a brother on the FBI’s most wanted list for serial murders committed in the state during William's tenure as state house leader. Clearly, William Bulger will censor, that is, refuse grant monies for, any art and writing critical of the state university and college system, as well as that critical of the crony-appointed members of the state cultural council itself, which distributes taxpayer monies to artists and writers supposedly in need of such funding. Any one doubting this assertion might wish to recall Bulger’s prohibiting of candidate Ralph Nader from participating in the presidential debate held at his university.
One would think that such monies, or at least a part of
such monies, would best benefit the citizenry, as opposed to hack politicians,
if spent on writers and artists whose work actively questions and challenges the
state’s diverse institutions. For evident reasons, that is, maintaining the
status quo, grants are not normally accorded to such writers and artists.
Clearly, state cultural council members need to be educated regarding the
importance of engaged writing and art. They need to read James Baldwin’s “The
Creative Process,” for example, in which the writer states:
“I am really trying to make clear the
nature of the artist’s responsibility to his society. The peculiar
nature of this responsibility is that he must never cease warring with
it, for its sake and for his own.”
In any case, the editor requested information for a grant to help purchase
advertising space in Poets & Writers and the Concord Journal, an ISBN, and even hire a magazine and periodical
distribution service. The chairperson of the Concord Cultural Council called
him on the phone, noting he shouldn’t expect much but would probably be
given a couple hundred dollars to at least help finance an issue of The
American Dissident. Encouraged, the editor filled out the application and sent a copy of the journal with it. Several months later
he received a flat out rejection: “We favored grants that would have a wider audience in Concord. You seem to be looking for a wider audience and can get some funding from subscriptions. We wish you well with your journal.” That was all that was written.
Needless to say, the editor suspected the rejection to
have been a purely political one, considering the title and scope of the literary journal, thus demanded, as a citizen, somewhat outraged indeed, that
he be permitted to review the files of grant recipients. The editor was
angered because the chairperson had wasted his time leading him to believe if
he filled out an application, he’d most likely receive some funding. What Concord and Massachusetts need more than anything else is a journal like The American Dissident, which seeks to publish writing in Spanish, French and English (minorities encouraged!), as well as artistic illustrations, that expose, amongst other things, hypocrisy and corruption in the state’s institutions.
The editor was outraged by the arbitrariness of the chairperson’s implication that somehow
The American Dissident wouldn’t have a “wider audience in Concord.” The seven female members of the cultural council seemed to have designated themselves as community spokespersons determining in capricious manner, that is, without vote or professional polling survey, what the community likes and what it doesn’t
like. Besides, what the community likes should not be sole determinant of what art and writing should be accorded public funding. What the community needs would be much more beneficial to the community than what it likes.
The Concord Free
Public Library is a subscriber of The American Dissident, thus certainly
understands that point. Moreover, a free subscription was offered to the
Concord Academy, which refused it. The Concord Bookshop and Shop at Walden
Pond boutique (Thoreau Society) refuse to stock the journal and the
Concord Journal refuses to interview the editor as Concord citizen,
despite his varied requests. Is there any surprise that perhaps The
American Dissident may have a somewhat restricted audience in the town of
Concord?
Regarding the wider audience criteria, note the pertinent comments of French writer Anatole France: “If you have a fresh view or an original idea, if you present men
[and women!] things from an unexpected point of view, you will surprise the reader. And the reader does not like being surprised. He never looks in a history for anything but the stupidities that he knows already. If you try to instruct him, you only humiliate him and make him angry. Do not try to enlighten him: he will only cry out that you insult his beliefs.”
Needless to say, not one of the 14 grant recipients presented anything from “an unexpected point of view.” Granted for children and teens, there was the Alcott School that received $400 for the Little Theater of Deaf Dragon Stories performance and the 50-minute Project Concern hip-hop dance performance proposal that received $300. But why was the Concord Cultural Council giving a grant to an organization, Project Concern, located in Quincy? Another grant ($170) was awarded to enable 12 high school students to travel to see a play. Now, how does that help enrich the community? Where is the wide audience there? Again, it is evident that council decisions are politically biased, hardly based on logic at all.
Besides, that particular grant was in clear violation of the Local Cultural Council Program Regulations and Guidelines, which stipulate that proposals “contribute to the cultural
vitality of the community as a whole, rather than benefiting any private individual or group.”
The bulk of grants
went to those proposing politically-disengaged music events, including Susan
McDermott who received $500 for her proposed “nature songs concert” for the
elderly and who self-advocated: “My music is soothing, cathartic and essentially
makes listeners feel good.” The Concord Council of Aging in one of the many
blurbs included on her application noted: “Susan is a respected and highly
popular entertainer who is well known for providing wonderful engaging
performances which would appeal to the populace we serve.”
MUSE (Music Serving
Elders), who gave concerts by “classically trained vocal soloists” to
“institutionalized elders,” requested a grant to help pay “competitive wage to
our singers.” It got $400. Of the eight MUSE performers, five were church/temple
soloists. The other two were college faculty members, who evidently did not need
to earn an extra competitive wage. Evidently, grants are not going to people
that necessarily need the money. Regarding the church, the Concord Chamber Music
Society, which obtains private and public contributions, received $200 to make
and distribute a thousand flyers for its proposed concert at Trinity Episcopal
Church. The group it was sponsoring is the world renowned Muir String Quartet,
featured in extenso in The New Yorker, CBS Sunday Morning and PBS “In
Performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Reagan.”
Denise Doucette, who
received $450 to present four musical programs in which she would “play the
guitar, sing and dance along to her own pre-recorded background” to the
Cooperative of Elder Services, declared she would “provide both social
interaction and mental stimulation.” She is a professional entertainer. One must
ask why she doesn’t simply volunteer for the elderly. She requested to be paid a
$900 salary. The curiosity with Ms. Doucette is that she was awarded a second
grant of $300 to perform a 1½ hour musical program of “broadway musicals,
sing-a-longs and country and traditional standards” for Senior Citizens of
Concord. Now who might she know on the cultural council? Two grants for
essentially the same sing-a-long type of feel-good thing! Well, when we see
performers at nursing homes, Alzheimer's centers and adult day care facilities,
let’s not automatically assume they’re volunteers. Clearly the Concord Cultural
Council has decided without poll of the citizenry that the town’s elderly
doesn’t want to be intellectually stimulated… just lulled with soft music into
death. Perhaps instead the elderly would better serve the Nation and her
children if they were to contemplate Dylan Thomas, as in “Do not go gentle into
that good night rage, rage, rage against the dying light.”
It also appears that
the Concord Cultural Council wants the town’s children to be lulled with
chuckling into an unquestioning and unchallenging fit-in adulthood. Indian Hill
Music Center received $150 for an event featuring the children’s music duo
Gemini. “The result is a show full of laughter and grins, boisterous fun, and
the magic of hushed singing.” Interestingly, no less than 25 grant requests were
made by this group to local cultural councils throughout the state to perform
just one concert in which 6000 tickets had already been sold for an undisclosed
amount. Well, there would also be a “petting zoo.”
The Concord
Orchestra, Incorporated, which received $500, despite its annual budget of
$66,000 obtained from the Concord and Massachusetts Cultural Councils ($4360)
and individual contributions, proposed one concert in which it would be selling
tickets for an unspecified amount. “This year our family concert will feature
‘Tubby the Tuba’… we expect sellout performances.” They wanted the grant so they
could “donate tickets to 40 people.” But wouldn’t that be a donation from the
cultural council, rather than from the orchestra corporation?
Only one grant was
given to a proposal that would have any lasting benefit for the community at
all, a photo exhibit to be held and donated at the Concord Free Public Library,
though of turn-of-the-century photos, nothing politically engaged at all.
Interestingly, the recipient Renee Garrelick, who got $300, was “selected in
1991 as Concord’s honored citizen with her husband Pat.” Was she politically
connected? Of course she was.
It appears that
another grant, besides that accorded the 12 girls noted above, violated at least
the spirit of the state cultural council regulations. The Concord Art
Association with an annual revenue of $150,000 was awarded $650 to “make
invitations and provide refreshments” for an exhibit of art for sale created by
Concord High School students. Interestingly, if the exhibit were held at the
high school, regulations would have outright prohibited awarding a grant. “Funds
must not substitute for or replace other public funding of programs in the arts,
humanities or interpretive sciences. Specifically, this applies to
proposals from public institutions, such as schools and libraries, which are
already or should be, an integral part of a community’s budget.” Just the same
there appears to be a patent violation of the regulations that stipulate “1.
Refreshments: Local Council funds may not be used to purchase food.”
For a community that
prides itself on being the birthplace of American literature with the likes of
Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, and the Alcott's, is it not bizarre that the
cultural council chose not to give a grant to the only applicant whose proposal
was a literary project of a dissident nature, one in direct line with Thoreau
and Emerson? One final grant of $300 was accorded nonetheless to the Concord
Festival of Authors, which receives donations and “in-kind contributions” from
over 40 businesses. The Festival provides a platform for “celebrated authors and
new and emerging authors of merit.” (I must, of course, wonder if I will be
considered “of merit” when my book decrying corruption in a national blue ribbon
Massachusetts high school is published next year.)
It is troubling that
some of the authors being pushed thanks to cultural council funding were
millionaires, including ex-governor Weld, who wrote a mystery novel, Harvard
lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Doris Kearns Goodwin, all published by publishing
houses of great wealth. If Weld’s little mystery novel should have a “wider
audience” than The American Dissident, ignorance and the structures of
citizen education that perpetuates it are responsible. But should a state
cultural council be propagating ignorance and citizen interest in the celebrity
mystery novel, as opposed to a publication that encourages the citizenry to
stand up and speak the rude truth a la Emerson and Thoreau? This is the crux of
the question.
Needless to say and
despite the Concord Cultural Council chairperson’s contention in a second letter
that “I think we are following the application and review procedures”--nothing
like self-accountability!--, I protested the council’s decision despite its
Regulations, and Guidelines, Local Cultural Council Programs, which
stipulates as noted in the chairperson’s letter: “An applicant may request
reconsideration of a local council decision on its application only if the
applicant can demonstrate that the LCC failed to follow published application
and review procedures. Such requests must be submitted in writing within 15 days
of notification. No reconsideration may be requested due to a decision about the
merits of a proposal or dissatisfaction with the award amount.” These
regulations essentially stipulate autocratically that nobody can protest the
council’s decision."
Indignation pushed
the editor to request becoming a member of the Concord Cultural Council. The
chairperson informed in that second letter that “Any Concord citizen can express
an interest in any town committee by filling out a ‘green card’ in the
selectmen’s office. It is from these cards that the selectmen nominate and
appoint citizens to town committees.” When examining the grant-recipient files
at Town Hall, I asked about this and was handed a green card, which I filled
out. Three years later I have still heard nothing.
Interestingly, the
secretary to the Town Manager informed that the Concord Cultural Council also
submits recommendations for new members. So, who will the Democrat and
Republican town selectpersons choose: the recommendees of the cultural council
or the editor of The American Dissident, an independent citizen with an
independent point of view, neither a political fund raiser, donor or campaigner?
Clearly, the fact that all members on the council are politically appointed
indicates that all members need to be educated as to how such appointment
affects public funding of art and writing, how it serves to eliminate public
funding for art and writing that might challenge the socio-political status quo,
and how it serves to limit what art and writing the public is apt to be exposed
to.
In conclusion, what
the editor sought to determine in examining the files was whether any grant
recipients were able to make money from their writing and art, one of the
reasons the council rejected the editor's request for a grant. The answer was
definitely yes. The editor also sought to determine if all other recipients
necessarily had a wider audience in Concord than The American Dissident.
The answer was not clear at all. Just the same, it was evident that The
American Dissident would have a lasting audience as opposed to the large
majority of recipients, whose audiences were basically present for a couple of
hours.
The editor also
sought to determine if there were any rules violations. The answer, given the
state’s lengthy tradition of cronyism and patronage, was an unsurprising yes.
Clearly, the egregious bias of the Concord Cultural Council for “feel good,”
disengaged art and writing, as well as rules violations, points to the dire need
to rethink the institution and to effect critical changes in how it operates for
it to better serve the citizenry, as opposed to the socio-political status quo
and those who benefit from that business as usual. Its mission must not continue
to be that of cultural censor. Also, given the small scale of the Concord
Cultural Council illustration, imagine the violations and political cronyism
that one would probably uncover in a much larger scale study.
Correspondence with Concord and Massachusetts Cultural Councils
Subj:
Criticism, the very cornerstone of democracy... even here in Concord
Date: 1/6/05
From: Enmarge
To: CWright12
Hi Charlotte.
I
have updated my criticism of your cultural council on my web site (see Cultural
Council). Please ask the members of your council to examine it and respond
to it. The Concord Journal will not publish my letter to the editor
critical of your council. Do you not agree that such one-sided journalism
is shameful for a town of Concord's renown? Do you not find it Pravda
(Soviet) in style? Do you not believe that dissident views should also be
aired in the local press? I look forward to reading your response, as well
as those from co-members of the Concord Cultural Council.
Best,
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American
Dissident
(www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side of the Academic/Literary
Industrial Complex et al
“Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots”
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
Subj: Cultural
Council grants
Date: 9/16/03
From: CWright12
To: Enmarge
Hi,
Applications for grants and the guidelines for the grants will soon
be available at the 2 town libraries and the Town House. In addition
we'll have an article in the Concord Journal. The article will probably
come out in next week's ( Sept. 24th) edition. Applications can also be
found on the Mass. Cultural Council web page.
Mass Cultural Council | Applications and Forms | Index. You may know
that the funds have been significantly cut over the last two years and this year
we have $2000 to award. The determinations will be made at public meetings
held after the application deadline of the 15th of Oct. Last year we
awarded partial funding to 8 applicants. If you have other questions
please feel free to email me.
Best regards,
Charlotte Wright
Project: The editor/poet/citizen will lecture about dissidence and
risk-taking in the local arena (see attached essay on risk and poetry), amongst
others, at the Concord Public Library, Thoreau Society, and to art and writing
classes at the Concord-Carlisle High School, including, of course both Thoreau
and Emerson, in his discourse. He will distribute copies of the semiannual
literary journal,
The American Dissident, published by him in
Concord, as a concrete example of a venue for dissidence, and
questioning and challenging of local institutions. This
lecture/publication project will serve to counterbalance the positivist projects
generally funded by the state and local cultural council (see attached essay on
Concord Cultural Council).
It will serve to emphasize that criticizing of local institutions may be as
beneficial to the local community as praising them. In these times of the
Patriot Act, this project ought prove particularly pertinent.
Hopefully, what
will happen will be discussion and enlightenment.
This project
ought be particularly pertinent today, considering the Patriot Act. It
ought benefit the citizens of this community by showing them just how important
it is to question and challenge the community’s very institutions. The
editor/poet/citizen will illustrate his lectures with actual examples of
experiments in free speech conducted in the community. It should enlighten
local citizens, for example, to the fact that expression of free speech is
prohibited at Walden Pond State Reservation. The editor/poet/citizen will
also be providing another venue, that is, The American Dissident, for
citizens to express themselves, their indignities and challenges. It will
be evaluated by the distribution of an appropriate questionnaire.
4.The project will be promoted via personal contacts and letters
sent to the public library and high school. If cultural council members
have any suggestions, I am fully open to them.
5.The editor/poet/citizen will be the key artist. He has a
PhD, edits The American Dissident, is a professor by trade, and is an
active experimenter in free speech.
Subj: Cultural
Council grant
Date: 9/15/03
From: Enmarge
To CWright12
To Whom It May Concern:
Are there any specific requirements to obtain a CC grant that I should be aware
of?
Thank you.
G. Tod Slone
Concord, MA 01742
Subj: Grant
application
Date: 9/14/03
From: Marylcouvl
To: Enmarge
Tod Sloan,
I am no longer chair of the cultural council. Contact the town hall for
the present chair. My best advice is to go to MCC
online where you can find the applications, download and print the form.
Actually you might be able to fill out the form online. That information should
also be at the MCC site. MLCouvillon
Subj:
Cultural Council
Date:
12/2/2004 5:44:15 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: Enmarge
To: CWright12
Dear Charlotte:
Please answer the following questions:
1. Why has your council deemed Concord literary journals not cultural?
2. Why have such journals been excluded from receiving public funding?
3. Why has your council determined that only events be considered cultural
and thus open to funding?
4. Why do you seek to deny funding to organizations that criticize,
question, and challenge the status quo cultural sector?
5. Who are the cultural council members and how did they get their
positions?
6. What political connections are there between cultural council members
and local politicos?
Also, please inform me where I might go to examine this year's grant recipients.
I would like to determine if in fact you continue to award grants to those who
do not really need them, to those who present joyous, positive-outlook
proposals, and to those who otherwise dare not go against the grain.
Please examine my website, especially with regards the page devoted to the
Concord Cultural Council. As you can see, I have not given up the fight,
though the futility of trying to gain cause is more than evident.
If choose not to respond, I shall make an effort to publish this letter in the
Concord Journal and post it on the bulletin board by the Mill Dam.
Thank you for your attention.
Best,
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American Dissident (www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side
of the Academic/Literary Industrial Complex et al
"Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots"
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
Subj: PS
Date:
12/2/2004 5:59:29 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: Enmarge
To CWright12
PS: Would it not be better for the citizens of Concord to
be exposed to against-the-grain culture that actually dares question and
challenge the status quo, that perhaps might even provoke them think, as opposed
to positive, happy-face pabulum culture that will only make them superficially
feel-good and chuckle? These times are rife with corporate corruption,
political cronyism and patronage (the Big Dig!), rampant literary/academic
incest, and outright bloody wars... in case you haven't noticed.
James Baldwin, a well-known black writer in case you've never heard of him, was
on target when he stated: "I am really trying to make clear the nature of
the artist's responsibility to his society. The peculiar nature of this
responsibility is that he must never cease warring with it, for its sake and for
his own."
It is shameful for you and others in your council to simply close your eyes and
pretend the likes of me in your community do not exist. Perhaps your
blissful ignorance is indirectly responsible for the gross hypocrisies spouted
continually by the nation's president. Sure, you might be Democrats, but
so what?
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American Dissident (www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side
of the Academic/Literary Industrial Complex et al
"Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots"
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
PPS: Your cultural council would not even grant me a
measley $15 for a subscription to my Concord literary journal!
Subj:
Questions for the council...
Date:
12/4/2004 2:22:55 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: Enmarge
To:
concord@mass-culture.org
Dear Carol Haines, Concord Cultural Council:
Why not some real dissident writing in your Concord Magazine? Anyhow,
please answer the following questions:
1. Why has your council deemed Concord literary journals
not cultural?
2. Why have such journals been excluded from receiving public funding?
3. Why has your council determined that only events be considered cultural
and thus open to funding?
4. Why do you seek to deny funding to organizations that criticize,
question, and challenge the status quo cultural sector?
5. Who are the cultural council members and how did they get their
positions?
6. What political connections are there between cultural council members
and local politicos.
Also, please inform me where I might go to examine this year's
grant recipients. I would like to determine if in fact you continue to
award grants to those who do not really need them, to those who present joyous,
positive-outlook proposals, and to those who otherwise dare not go against the
grain.
Please examine my website, especially with regards the page
devoted to the Concord Cultural Council. As you can see, I have not given
up the fight, though the futility of trying to gain cause is more than evident.
If choose not to respond, I shall make an effort to publish this
letter in the Concord Journal and post it on the bulletin board by the Mill Dam.
Thank you for your attention.
Best,
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American Dissident (www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side
of the Academic/Literary Industrial Complex et al
"Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots"
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
PS: Would it not be better for the citizens of Concord to
be exposed to against-the-grain culture that actually dares question and
challenge the status quo, that perhaps might even provoke them think, as opposed
to positive, happy-face pabulum culture that will only make them superficially
feel-good and chuckle? These times are rife with corporate corruption,
political cronyism and patronage (the Big Dig!), rampant literary/academic
incest, and outright bloody wars... in case you haven't noticed.
James Baldwin, a well-known black writer in case you've never
heard of him, was on target when he stated: "I am really trying to make
clear the nature of the artist's responsibility to his society. The
peculiar nature of this responsibility is that he must never cease warring with
it, for its sake and for his own."
It is shameful for you and others in your council to simply close
your eyes and pretend the likes of me in your community do not exist.
Perhaps your blissful ignorance is indirectly responsible for the gross
hypocrisies spouted continually by the nation's president. Sure, you might
be Democrats, but so what?
PPS: It looks like your organization is made up of almost
all women! Now, that's not right at all. Please inform Elizabeth
Berk, Kate Bird, Craig Dunn, Jennifer Gillespie, Carol Haines, Jennifer Jacoby,
Nancy Joroff and Charlotte Wright that I want to be on the Concord Cultural
Council, as a trilingual MAN with a PhD, and with a highly dissident spirit in
the Thoreauan and Emersonian sense! Let your life be a counterfriction to
STOP THE MACHINE! That is my life. It is time that culture stop
being dumb downed and diversionary entertainemtn. It is time that Emerson
and Thoreau admirers stop diluting those greats with statements and behavior of
banality. Yes, I am a contrarian, not a teamplayer, not a teamthinker, not
a teamprevaricator. I await your response.
Subj:
Cultural Council information
Date:
12/6/2004 5:12:13 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: CWright12
To:
enmarge
Dear Mr. Slone:
I received your email of December 2. The
responses to your questions as found below are my own as an individual board
member. First and most importantly, I can assure you that the Concord
Cultural Council is comprised of a group of very dedicated, conscientious
volunteers.
Your questions (in bold) and my responses are as
follows:
1. Why has your council deemed Concord literary journals not cultural?
We haven't.
We consider literary journals to be cultural and eligible for funding.
2. Why have such journals been excluded from receiving public funding?
They have not been excluded. The committee
reviews each grant application very
carefully. This year there were 28 applications.
We had $2000 to award. We
partially funded 9 applications that, in our opinion,
benefited our community
the most.
3. Why has your council determined that only events be considered cultural
and thus open to funding?
The council hasn't determined that only events are open
to funding.
4. Why do you seek to deny funding to organizations that criticize,
question,
and challenge the status quo cultural sector?
We do not seek to deny funding of this sort.
5. Who are the cultural council members and how did they get their
positions?
The Cultural Council Board is comprised of volunteers who fill out
interest cards
at the Town House indicating an interest in serving on
the Cultural Council. As
vacancies occur on the Council, nominations are taken
from this list of interested
citizens and presented to the Board of Selectmen for
approval.
6. What political connections are there between cultural council members
and local politicos?
None that I'm aware of.
Information
regarding grants:
It is my understanding that records of grant recipients are kept on file at the
Town House for 3 years and then they are housed in the library archives.
Recipients are announced in the Concord Journal and a committee report is placed
in the Town's annual report. This year's grant recipients will soon be
announced in the
Concord
Journal.
Sincerely,
Charlotte Wright
Subj:
On
the Concord Cultural Council's very narrow definition of culture
Date:
12/6/2004 7:26:29 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: enmarge
To: CWright12
Dear Charlotte Wright, Concord Cultural Council:
Clearly, you are not talking truth with
regards your committee's essential defining of culture as happy-face event.
The LCC application statement "Describe who is the target audience; what will
happen; when and where it will occur" clearly implies an event! That
statement ought to be rewritten, if in fact culture is to include non events, to
plainly indicate that projects need not be events. By the way, all seven
Concord Cultural Council awards last year were accorded to events! On
another note, the "event" implication in that application statement would seem
to eliminate funding for any project of a dissident nature… for what community
organization in the Town of Concord would wish to sponsor a critical event, one
that might actually question and challenge Concord pillars of the community?
…certainly not the Concord Poetry Center or Emerson Umbrella for the Arts, both
organizations disdain dissidence. Community-friendly does not necessarily
mean cultural. Yet that seems to be precisely how your cultural council is
and has been defining it. The application statement "How this project will
reach and benefit the citizens of this community" also implies making citizens
feel good and happy. Indeed, all seven grants awarded last year
unmistakably fall into that category.
Making citizens think, question and challenge the status quo
would not be a good project in your committee's eyes. It has turned down
grant requests from The American Dissident, the only such project in recent
history that falls into that category, on three occasions. When did you
ever award funds to such a project? You'd have to do plenty of research to
answer that question, wouldn't you? Your committee seems to be
intellectually restricted in paradigmatic paralysis. You need to think
about that. You need to rethink culture. But you, of course, will
not… because of paradigmatic paralysis.
Why has your committee remained silent with regards the Web page
I've authored with its regard? Why does it shun hardcore debate on this
matter? Why not invite me to speak and present my case?
Why do you favor awarding grants to parties who evidently do not
need them? Last year, for example, four of the seven grants were awarded
to the Alcott School, the Concord Middle School, the Discovery Museum, and
Minute Man Arc for Human Services.
With regards my question, What political connections are there
between cultural council members and local politicos?, you state "None that I'm
aware of." Yet you answered that question without even realizing it:
"nominations are taken from this list of interested citizens and presented to
the Board of Selectmen for approval." Indeed, would the Board of Selectmen
be apt to approve a citizen who questions and challenges… them? You need
to open your eyes and step out of your societal-friendly paradigm. You
need to heed James Baldwin: "I am really trying to make clear the nature
of the artist's responsibility to his society. The peculiar nature of this
responsibility is that he must never cease warring with it, for its sake and for
his own." You need to heed Thoreau: "Let your life be a
counterfriction to stop the machine." You also need to heed Emerson:
"I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways."
That is what culture should be, not what your committee has deemed it to be:
conformist feel-good events, including Tubby the Tuba and marionettes.
Your committee shames both Thoreau and Emerson, the latter, as you probably
know, also stated: "Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."
Evidently, I am wholly disgusted with the council and its narrow vision.
The futility of fighting that outlook is more than evident. Yet I am
compelled by inner Socratic daemon to continue my denunciation. I look forward
to your response.
Sincerely,
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American Dissident (www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side
of the Academic/Literary Industrial Complex et al
"Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots"
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
Subj:
Re: I want to be on the cultural council!!!
Date:
12/10/2004 5:06:44 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:
LCCConcord@mail.massculturalcouncil.org
To: enmarge
Dear Mr. Slone:
We received your emails through the Massachusetts Cultural
Council website and are writing in response.
The Concord Cultural Council is comprised of Concord citizens who
fill out volunteer interest cards at the Town House indicating a desire to serve
on the Cultural Council. As vacancies occur on the Council, the elected Board of
Selectmen name new volunteer members from this list of interested citizens.
The Massachusetts Cultural Council is the governing organization
from which Concord’s funds are derived. Its mission is “to promote 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 to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.” The Commonwealth
has guidelines to which the local communities must adhere. Complete official
state LCC Program Guidelines and Regulations are available online at
www.massculturalcouncil.org. Concord’s guidelines are additional to the
Commonwealth’s and are also available online at the MCC website. These
guidelines do not exclude literary journals from funding and specifically
include literature and the humanities as appropriate topics for grant requests.
The volunteer Council reviews each grant application on its own
merit and in comparison with others. This year there were 28 applications asking
for $15,324. We had $2000 to award. We partially funded 9
applications that, in our opinion and in accordance with our guidelines,
benefited a wide range of audiences in the Concord community. Grant recipients
are announced in the Concord Journal and a report appears in the Town’s annual
report. It is our understanding that past grant applications are on file at the
Town House for three years and then housed in the Town Archives.
Thank you for your input.
Sincerely,
The Concord Cultural Council
Jennifer Jacoby and Carol Haines, co-chairs
Subj:
Stupid White Women... in charge
Date:
12/11/2004 8:27:40 AM Pacific Standard Time
From: enmarge
To:
LCCConcord@mail.massculturalcouncil.org
The crank is the part of the machine which creates revolution and
it is very small. I am a small revolutionary.
-E. F. Schumacher, economist
Dear Jennifer Jacoby and Carol Haines, co-chairs, Concord
Cultural Council:
Thank you for your bureaucratic response to my letters. Despite the
guidelines cited, clearly, you and your council will not fund a literary journal
with the critical outlook of The American Dissident. Why not be honest,
"go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways," and simply come
out and say so? Why blow the hot air of functionary jargon? Clearly,
you and your council will not fund any Concord artist/writer/poet who "goes
upright and vital, and speaks the rude truth in all ways" (Emerson) and lets his
life "be a counterfriction to stop the machine" (Thoreau). That is your
travesty. That is the travesty of Concord pillars of the community, always
flaunting Emerson and Thoreau, yet adulterating their radical essence wherever
and whenever possible. That is the travesty of Thoreau Institute, Thoreau
Society, and the state police who guard Walden Pond State Reservation. One
must wonder if the headmasters of the Thoreau School have ever uttered "let your
life be a counterfriction to stop the machine" in front of pupils. One
must also wonder if the directors of the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts
have ever uttered "go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways"
in front of art students.
You need to step out of your paradigm of cultural functionalism,
crawl out from behind your politically-correct indoctrination, and rethink the
role of the Concord Cultural Council, which should not be the funding of
proposals considered "safe," sufficiently infantilized, inoffensive,
diversionary, and entertaining. Let culture offend, let it shake people
up, let it make them think, rather than fall asleep! Let it question and
challenge our very unjust society, ever drifting from democracy, irrevocably
embedding itself into state of plutocracy and war-mongering empire. "That
America like the historical republics must accept corruption and empire has been
known for years," remarked Robinson Jeffers over sixty years ago.
Next week, I shall go into town, fill out a request to become a
cultural council member. Hopefully, the politicians of the Board of
Selectmen will not refuse my request. I shall also request my second Open
Letter to Henry David Thoreau be posted on the community bulletin board by the
Mill Dam. This letter denounces you and your committee as inflexible,
irreversibly indoctrinated, and otherwise behaving as STUPID WHITE WOMEN in
charge.
Finally, have you examined my website with regards the page
devoted to the Concord Cultural Council? Have you discussed my concerns
with your committee… or do you simply ignore them as incomprehensible and crank?
PS: Why not subscribe to The American Dissident. It's
only $15. The Widener Library at Harvard University is a subscriber.
G. Tod Slone, Ed. (enmarge@aol.com)
The American Dissident (www.geocities.com/enmarge)
A Literary Journal in the Samizdat Tradition of Engaged Writing
Providing a forum for Examining the Dark Side
of the Academic/Literary Industrial Complex et al
"Truth, Wisdom, and Protest in Poetry and Writing in the Spirit of Revolutionary
Patriots"
1837 Main St.
Concord, MA 01742
Dear Concord Cultural Council (Marylcouvl@aol.com):
As indicated in my letter to the chairperson, I wish to protest your, that is,
the Concord Cultural Council’s, decision not to accord a taxpayer funded grant
to help fund my literary review, The American Dissident, as arbitrary and
capricious. After careful examination of the files of grant recipients this past
Friday at Town Hall, I believe I have uncovered at least two egregious
violations of the LCC rules and guidelines. Also, it appears more than evident
that your committee has acted in patent violation of my rights as a citizen of
Concord not to be rejected by a public organization because of political
persuasion. Attached in Word 2000 is my seven-page analysis of the grants
accorded by your LCC. The essay is also a reflection on what is clearly wrong
with your LCC. I am forwarding a copy of this document to the Massachusetts
Cultural Council and will also be seeking a scholarly journal to publish it.
Please feel free if you would like to discuss any of the issues and findings
reported in my analysis. Thank you for your attention.
THE AMERICAN DISSIDENT
Dear Lisa Hergenrother, Manager of Communities:
I just received your email from Concord CC who said you were "very willing to
speak" with me. Do you have a copy of my report/essay? If not, perhaps I should
first send you a copy. My complaint is quite simple. I do not feel like a
citizen here in Concord... at least as long as I continue to refuse playing
feel-good trombone music to the elderly and dressing in clown outfit for little
kids. If you read my report, I don't know how any person with a head on his/her
shoulders cannot agree that the CCC acts with political bias. Also, curiously,
the CCC cannot even see the evident rules violations it committed in according
several grants to politically favored proposals. Look forward to hearing from
you.
The American Dissident
Dear Concord Cultural Council:
Thanks for at least responding. Many public organizations simply do not respond
when criticized. Just the same, the bottomline seems to be that the LCCs are not
held accountable, since the Massachusetts Cultural Council is not held
accountable. In other words, you can do whatever you want, violate any of the
regulations in your guidelines as long as you do not step on the toes of any one
“important.” You have stepped on my toes, but I am a mere citizen of Concord
without money or political connections. Indeed, my de jura citizenship is not
really de facto valid.
It is reprehensible that you can honestly not admit to having committed the two
egregious violations underscored in my report. It is also reprehensible that you
can state “we feel we have acted conscientiously and without political bias.”
Clearly, there is no point in my applying for a grant in Concord, and of course
you did not suggest I reapply next year, because of the highly
political/critical nature of my writing and art. In other words, clearly I am
not really a citizen in Concord because I do not think as you would have me
think. Lisa Hergenrother, Manager of Communities, has simply not responded to my
mail. Apparently, you are wrong to state: “she is very willing to speak to you.”
How much time will have to pass before I ought be convinced that nobody intends
responding at all to my report?
The American Dissident
Dear Tom Connors, Selectman Liaison to the Town:
Louise Couvillon told me to contact you on my complaint about the Concord
Cultural Committee. Is anyone going to do anything about my documented
complaint? Or is there only going to be silence, inaction, and business as usual
corruption? In this town, I feel like a non-citizen citizen... having been
harassed by the police for exercising First Amendment rights at Walden Pond, and
being refused a CCC grant because of my proclivity to decry public corruption.
We are living in strange and dangerous times in this America. Please respond. If
you haven't received a copy of my complaint. Here is one attached Word 2000.
THE AMERICAN DISSIDENT
2/1/01
Dear Lisa Hergenrother of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (lisa.hergenrother@art.state.ma.us):
Do you public functionaries answer letters from citizens unhappy with your
business as usual cronyism and patronage? Will you be responding to my complaint
of rules violations committed by the Concord Cultural Council? What is it that
makes you people tic? When do you begin lying to each other? Are you even
conscious when you begin. Do you feel anything when you rationalize
prevarication and misdead with denial? Do you know when you first decided that
loyalty was much more important than truth and integrity?
The American Dissident
Dear Concord Cultural Council (Mary Couillon, la jefa):
As mentioned, neither of those two people you mentioned has contacted me. I have
attempted to contact both of them. Can you not understand the written word?
The American Dissident
Dear American Dissident,
I have received your message regarding the Concord Cultural Committee. As
a selectman I am the liaison to that committee. I have reviewed your essay and
the subsequent complaint as well as the charge to the committee. I am not a
member of the committee and therefore not qualified to evaluate or otherwise
judge your work but I do find The Concord Cultural Council(established under Ch
790 of the Acts of 1979) acted within the guidelines as set forth in their
charge(approved 3/17/80 and ammended 1/26/81 & 1/25/93) as by the Board of
Selectman.
Each year The Cultural Council reviews many requests for funding and only after
thoughtful evaluation and discussion awards the limited funds it has available.
In 1998 35% of applicants received grants and in 1999 50% of applicants were
successful. The full amount of the request is not always awarded to the
applicant.
The committee charge, committee meetings and actions are all open for
public attendance and review. The Town of Concord is proud to have group of
volunteers of such demonstrated creativity and scholarship and wholly supports
them in their service to all the citizens of Concord.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions
regarding this matter or any other concerning the Town of Concord.
Thomas H. Connors, Concord Board of Selectmem (sic)
Dear Tom (Tomcon41@cs.com):
Two violations of the guidelines were clearly indicated in my essay. Could you
not read them? Could you not comprehend why they were violations? If not, would
you like me to spell them out in another letter? Address those violations,
please. If you are not capable of doing that, who might I address? Are you the
last one on the totem? Evidently, you simply refuse to address them.
You don't want to see the violations. You refuse to see the political bias.
Don't give me that bullshit line about how wonderful the Cultural Council. You
sound like someone supporting the Big Dig management or one of the corrupt state
colleges. Indeed, you sound grotesque. Is it money that has fogged your brain?
Have you ever wondered how you ended up so functionary? Do you ever think of
such things? Do you think public education failed you? Do you think it gave you
the tools to read an essay like mine? Why does one person get two grants if
funding is so tight? Who does she know? Can't you even comprehend how biased
that appears? Two grants for one person doing essentially the same feel good
song and dance crap. Oh, yes, that will benefit the town of Concord! Talk about
keeping the joyful ignorant, ignorant. You stupid fellow. What the hell does
"public review" mean, if once reviewed the solons in charge don't listen to what
the reviewer found? Public review means shit if nothing will be done about
violations uncovered during the review. Can you not even comprehend that? If you
can, then you are nothing but a sham. If you can't, then you must be just
stupid... but with charisma. No need to flaunt those hollow words "the town of
Concord is proud." I'm a thinker, not one of your blind patriot friends. Is the
town of Concord proud that Walden Pond refuses exercise of the First Amendment
on its grounds? I'm sure it is. Is the town of Concord so proud that it wears a
mask of democracy, nothing more, nothing less. I'm sure it is. Is the town of
Concord proud that its newspaper is nothing but a corporate sham that will not
publish letters to the editor written by critics of Concord? I'm sure it is.
If you can believe that those cultural council volunteers have an ounce of
"creativity" then you don't know what creativity is. Don't freaken tell me that
the "town supports them in their service to all the citizens of Concord."
Because they are not serving me, and I am a citizen of Concord, whether you like
it or not. They are not serving the student population with the mindless
cultural crap they accord grants to, nor are they serving the elderly by lulling
them into death with feel good music. The elderly needs to be intellectually
challenged, not numbed. But the cultural council members are sure serving the
local oligarchs by helping to prevent me from speaking out, from criticizing the
likes of you and them. They will refuse grants to me, a citizen of Concord, not
because of restricted monies but because I will seek to expose you and them. Do
you feel good about the phoney democracy in Concord, where the police will
incarcerate anyone not behaving properly, that is, like shaven functionary? Do
you feel proud about the police hiding behind corners waiting to pounce on
citizens, fine them for some crap and otherwise fuck up the citizens' day? Get
out and vote. But for which nitwit? For which town selectman kowtow nitwit...
Tom Connors? Read TS Elliott's "The Hollow Men," if you read literature... you
might learn something about yourself.
THE AMERICAN DISSIDENT
PS: I never really thought I'd get anywhere with my complaint. I simply lodged
it to exercise my citizen responsibility. I have lived in Massachusetts far too
long to believe I could make a little dent in the state's utterly corrupt,
century's old tradition of nepotism, cronyism and patronage within the framework
of the Irish controlled political structure best illustrated by William and
Whitey Bulger. There is no justice here. There can be no justice in such a
framework. There can be no truth in such a framework either. Concord has gone
down the toilet bowl with the rest of the state. Flushhhhh. Can you hear the
sound? Flushhhhh.
Dear Concord Cultural Council Member (Cwright12@aol.com):
Clearly you people don't give a damn about anything beyond the realm of your own
staid ignorance. God help the Nation with the likes of you controlling the
cultural councils! Here's a copy of the letter--I'm not even sure if you know
how to read--I just sent off to the functionary Tom Connors. Well, I am glad I
had this brief combat with you. It has been rewarding. Imagine, I can't even
give a free subscription to the Concord Academy. Whatever happened to free
thought, free flow of ideas, free and open debate? Whatever happened to the
ideals of Emerson and Thoreau? Well, you guys helped kill it and them, that's
what happened!
The American Dissident.
2/12/01
Dear American Dissident:
I am in receipt of your email dated February 1st expressing concerns about the
Concord Cultural Council. I am very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
As a public agency, I want to ensure you that the Massachusetts Cultural Council
does take constituent complaints very seriously. I am in the process of
gathering materials from the local council to review. I have a copy of your
report and other correspondence from your web site. Please be assured that
responding to your concerns is a top priority for me. I plan to follow-up with
you sometime later this week.
Sincerely, Lisa Hergenrother, Manager, Local Cultural Council Program, (800)
232-0960
2/15/01
Dear American Dissident,
I am responding to the complaint you filed regarding the operations of the
Concord Cultural Council. With regard to local cultural councils, the role of
the Massachusetts Cultural Council is one of general oversight. This agency
provides a basic allocation of state funding and establishes a general set of
guidelines that all councils must observe. Within those guidelines, LCCs have a
fair amount of autonomy. The MCC defers to municipalities on who is appointed to
a local council and how the local council determines the cultural needs of its
community. The MCC believes that LCC volunteers and those in the position of
appointing them have much more in-depth knowledge of their community. The MCC
must rely on local council volunteers to determine the best use of the limited
funds provided.
In weighing your concerns, we have examined your report and all other
information from your web site, copies of all correspondence, and the
application you submitted to the local council. I have also spoken with the
Concord chairperson several times. While we have found no outright intentional
violations of program guidelines or regulations, we have determined that there
are several areas in which the council could improve its practices.
When counseling you on the phone, the chair did not intend to give you the
impression you would receive funds. Decisions about which grants to fund are the
purview of the entire council, not one member. She was, and is with all
applicants, generally encouraging but mentioned that even successful applicants
usually receive only partial funding. She did not mean to imply to you that you
would receive funding.
The council's choice of wording regarding their decision not to fund your
application is troubling. The council could have been much more explicit about
its questions regarding your application. According to the chair, your
application advanced past the first level of review into a second round. As I
understand it, the main reason your grant was not funded was that the council
had trouble understanding how your work would engage specifically with the
citizens of Concord. The LCC guidelines specifically require a community benefit
component. Simply placing a copy of your publication in the library was not
enough to satisfy this requirement in their eyes. A public lecture or roundtable
discussion, or a workshop about critical writing may have been more compelling
examples of community engagement.
The "need" for funds is an ancillary issue. As you pointed out, this criterion
was not an issue for other applicants. The MCC defers to local councils on
matters of multiple applications to the same applicant or multiple grants that
serve the same population. This year, the council felt that they wanted to be
supportive of grants for elders. These grants also demonstrated support from the
elder service providers in Concord.
I was concerned with the explanation of the documentation attached to the
Concord Art Association grant. You are correct; refreshments are not to be
funded with LCC funds. The chair assures me that funds were not used for this
purpose. However, the documentation attached to the grant contradicts this.
Better care will be taken with regard to the documentation of what expenses are
being covered with LCC funding.
I completely understand your frustration with the difficulties of finding
support for your work. The concerns that you have raised about the operations of
the local council have been heard and acknowledged by both the MCC and the
Concord council. The local council has done quite a bit of soul searching over
this situation and assures me of their plans to improve their practices in the
future. While these individuals are in fact public servants, they are volunteers
and we believe they are trying to do the best job they can. LCC volunteers,
including those in Concord, work hard and generally care about their
communities.
I realize that when all is said and done, there is probably nothing I can say
that will make you feel better about your experience. However, I did want to
assure you that what you had to say was taken seriously here. I would be most
willing to speak with you by phone to answer any other questions you have or
discuss your concerns.
Sincerely, Lisa Hergenrother, Manager Local Cultural Council Program
Cc: Mary Kelley, MCC Executive Director
Mary Louise Courvillon, Chair, Concord Cultural Council
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