November 12, 2025 – Cultural Council – Video & Transcript
November 12, 2025 - Cultural Council
um let's begin i am going to call the order of the november 12th meeting of the valent cultural
council it's 7 0 4 pm um and before we move on i also have sent the
october 22nd meeting minutes for approval do we have any i'm sorry but i didn't find them
and what i was going through the paperwork last night and i forgot to email you about it okay all
right um you send them to you somebody sent something to my gmail account actually no i
check that every single day no i i usually just send it out to the cultural council account
and i add charles yeah that's his email just because he doesn't get cultural council
emails um but otherwise it's sent out to the cultural council so all of you should have
received it i went back to the october 22nd emails and i just didn't see it oh okay the meeting was
on october 24th so i would have sent it after that yeah yeah okay i went all the way back i don't know
i'm sorry so all right no no worries um let me we'll table that for next next the next meeting
because this meeting we are we're still going to have minutes of this meeting so we can do both of
them together okay okay all right um so um is everybody okay with stabling the approval of the
october meeting minutes till next time yes yes that's fine i i move i move approval on that because i came
in late on i came in late on the on the october 22nd yeah oh i don't have a problem in tabling it till
next till next month thank you for the move of approval kevin any anybody second second yeah i'll
second thanks marina ratio okay with that yes mariam you're okay with that yes kevin you're okay with
that yeah yes you're okay with that yeah yes i am thank you marie you're okay with that oh yes thank
you and i'm okay with that too so that unanimously tables to next time the second thing on the agenda
we had was the special projects um discussion so this is it addresses the um 1035 dollars from the
total grant budget for use in discretionary council projects so um i was hoping some of you will propose
some projects today um if if you don't have any i just yesterday i got an email and we can talk about
that all of you got it too because it was sent to the cultural council we can talk about that and
then we can vote on whether to approve to hold off this money which is 1035 we don't have to hold the
entire amount we can hold a part of it and and provide some help to to whoever needs it um and reserve
that allocation so okay is the uh or the real trail bench still in the works is that still yeah so that's
one thing that we we can still do um and the other yeah yes kevin go ahead i got a question so in other
words we could take the 1035 and split it between two projects if we wanted to correct correct we could
i was going to make this suggestion um are we are we sharing them now yes yeah so the hrdic the human rights uh council in weyland is planning a human rights day on december 10th which is which is the uh like it's an international human rights day um and you know a suggestion could be collaborating with them or like co-sponsoring the event and helping them with part of those funds um like you said it doesn't have to be the whole amount we can do the uh historic museum suggestion and this okay um i am on the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee i know i i know karen very well so yeah okay so there are two projects on the table right now um or three projects on the table one is the historic uh commission's bench along the rail trail second is the um hrdic's human rights day and third is the um echoes of liberty exhibition for the wayland museum i don't call it sorry so we have three projects um that that have that have been floating can you speak a lot to what the bench is it is is it just sponsoring a bench or are they refurbishing no no no it'll be sponsoring a bench along the rail trail is there a specific like location and so there is um uh an area where they're going to put up a um informational board um on along the rail trail and they would like a bench there so people can also sit and um be able to read this so i believe it is at at uh so it it it there are two of the informational things that they are several informational boards that they're going to put along the rail trail that's the plan um one of them is at the entrance between western and valent and one of them is near valent depot which was the site you know of the rail railroad actually that that was the site so there's going to be one there so we can choose where we want to put it um but that's something that we can choose to do so that's and then what what was the third thing i know the next one was the hrdi hrdi yeah um so the second one was the hrdi i see human rights day um and um i need to know what their plans are and what their budget is to be able to kind of say that okay we will fund it partially or whatever but that's another thing that we could do um and and and and then what was the third thing third one was the valent museum so they are planning an exhibition that's called echoes of liberty a call and response with arts valent so um but arts valent is participating as well this is a is an exhibition that's slated for next year april april through may and it's supposed to explore the history um and kind of engage people in a dialogue um about freedom and liberty um and and they'll use the museum's collections and um so and some contemporary art that they hope to acquire so it is yeah it's in time for the 250 celebration if you were to ask me to support two things i'd support the hr the hrd
human rights diversity equity and inclusion project what they want to do and i'd also support the third one the one with the um the um the um the art okay all right so um those are the two projects that i would support okay um does everybody have enough information so we can move to um first of all i've the two two votes right like we can hold off on voting for which which projects to support and how much for a later date the first vote would be for holding off the money and how much how much of the money do we want to hold off so these are two different votes that that we have to kind of decide on and i would um propose that we table the second discussion about what we're going to support and how much we're going to give them for this for another day but today because we have to kind of think about how much we have to allocate to grants we need to decide on how much we're going to hold off to support something else so today the the the thing on vote on the table is the issue is are we going to hold money for special projects if so how much so can i have somebody formally propose a vote for holding off holding off holding the money for allocation i propose that we withhold the whole thing because there are some special uh events coming up next year uh regarding the revolution and other things and we may end up uh wanting to uh participate in certain in multiple ways okay just to keep that option so there's a vote on the table for holding off the entire amount do i have a second okay okay so the next proposal i'm sorry marie we'll have to see uh the first i'm do we have go on do we have a proposal to hold a part part of the amount do we have anybody who's proposing to hold a part of the amount for for special projects i guess um just so i can make sure that i understand that completely specifically for the bench project is that something that we can decide that later mariam just to see if if this is like if we hold the money is that something we can do on our own or are we sponsoring the historic commission's sponsorship of that bench historic commission is not sponsoring that bench we will if we do it yes but wouldn't we have to find somebody to either construct it paint it or do something correct so uh it's mostly uh finding a bench that we can put there um which is not like it's not difficult but so i take it the bench isn't built no benches are usually just purchased and installed so we just need to find the right bench and maybe have some lettering or paint it or something like that so um there are yes there are multiple parts to that but we don't have to construct it we can buy it built okay can i just clarify if we want to donate to the hrdeic which is less than a month from now that money has to be withheld at this time as well correct as well as the whaling 250 or 260 uh participation so that's all part of these funds that we can decide to a lot allocate or not correct correct but first we need to need to whether we bond to hold withhold the funds to allocate so i need somebody to propose that vote first okay i think i didn't understand the first time at hunt when we're voting to withhold it means we want to use it for special projects and we're not deciding which special project okay okay i don't think i understood the terminology when uh when marie proposed so i i will try that again i propose that we would hold them to use them for these special projects do i have a second a second okay thanks marie uh kevin do you agree that we need to withhold all of the thousand and thirty five dollars for use for use with special projects charles he's he's muted sorry my mic was muted uh yes i agree murray yes i agree nourish yes mariam yes okay and i agree as well so it will be done we will hold a thousand and thirty five dollars from the allocated money we have to use for special projects so yeah so uh whoever's taking the minutes um i'd like that highlighted in the minutes that uh this passed with the amount and everyone voting i need that highlighted somehow so i can put it into the budget okay okay i usually just take the automated minutes and turn it into meeting minutes nourish but this it'll capture this as well but it's one thousand thirty five dollars isn't it yes yes but let me i don't i don't remember if the hrd the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee has any money um i think i don't know what their budget is i don't think they have very much okay so sorry like like i said you'd have to get in touch with karen and yeah find out what kevin can i ask you to please find that out and let us know so that i i i can i can actually take care of that because i was part of planning this event but i stepped back uh so i have a connection people were you so do you want me to get in touch with karen and find out from her what the hrda the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee's budget is so um if they even if they even have one yeah um so kevin mariam just uh volunteered because she's part of that planning committee so part of part of what committee the planning for that particular event in december oh okay so she can give us the details so mariam thank you for that and um the sooner you can give us i want to put the amount to vote but then for the next time we meet so the sooner you can give us that information the better because it's in december so i want to be able to make that determination soon uh and just to be clear you want uh to have specifically what the money will be used for um no how much how much are they asking okay excuse me but but what's the what's the date for the human rights i think it's december 12th correct uh okay and if and and when is army and when's our meeting before the before the event or after the event it will be um on december 10th so it'll be two days before the event literally okay no the event is on the 10th not on the 12th on the 10th so if you're all okay we can meet in a couple of weeks to make this determination which would which would be we we would meet we would meet on the 10th correct we would we will probably if you're all okay that's what i'm saying can we meet on the third so we can make this determination and then move forward i'd like to stay on the 10th yeah i'd like to stay with the regularly scheduled meeting i don't think we should make um special exceptions that's my opinion uh the only the only merit and changing would also be not not only sponsoring them but also attending as a cultural council if we can okay i don't i don't think i don't think karen would have a problem with that i think she'd she to be honest with you i think she'd she'd welcome she'd welcome the cultural council with open arms so okay okay may i say here i'm looking at a calendar the second saturday of december is the 13th so if we have a meeting on the 10th we're all set and the person at miriam maybe you can get an idea if we can help them how they would suggest that so that we'd have the information to be able to see what exactly we can or should contribute at that point so i'm confused i thought the event was on the 10th yes it's on the 10th on a wednesday yes because that's the international human rights uh days from six to eight ish you're right oh i'm sorry all right okay so then can we i mean do we i don't have a problem i don't have a problem i do do you want to vote on that right now i i don't have a i don't have a problem with meeting doing a quick meeting on the third all right so um no i think a lot of them do not want to meet on the third kevin but we can put it to a quick vote now which will give us less time with the grantees but then the problem is is that the human rights day is on the 10th correct so no we will vote on it today okay so i just need somebody to propose to vote on allocation to the three different causes
wait a second uh we can't do that till they request some amount right i mean if they if they want one person wants 500 and the other two people want 200 each right it's a different than if all of them want equal amount we could vote to say give equal amounts to everyone right if you want to do that that but but but you can't really give money to people who haven't asked for it yet you're right nourish yeah okay i was going to play that part but i i worried that it might be a conflict of interest of me asking as a part of the hrdic um especially that plan is still underway so let me i like nourish as a yeah let me propose this to you another thing um is everybody okay with supporting all three proud special projects equally you mean uh in general yeah divided by three yeah i have another equally i'm okay with that can i have an ask another question yes can we can reserve the 1035 and not spend the whole thing tonight yeah absolutely we can do that too okay then i can i make a motion that we we we we i make a motion that we support all all three projects how's that sound do i have a second i second that specifically with everything going on in in town i think whoever is you know um planning something early we should support that okay um charles do you agree yes i do murray do you agree uh yeah but have we decided how much to uh release at this time it does not necessary no that's not fine then i agree with this plan nourish yeah i agree mariam yes heaven i'm okay with it i don't have a problem with it i move approval okay and i agree too so let us table um the discussion of the amount of allocation once we hear back from them regarding the budget okay thank you that'd be good thank you all right so that's out of the way um let's see what's next on the agenda okay okay so the next is is the 222 grants um i have a mentimeter set up let me um find the link um i know kevin you won't be able to look at the link but i will talk through all of them so um you will know um i i did send this in in a um in a message earlier today but here's the link it's a poll so what the poll is asking it presents all the people who have um submitted the 22 applicants and i want you to um indicate whether you strongly agree that we should give you disagree you're neutral you agree you strongly disagree or you're abstaining because you have some some kind of conflict right like there are a few of them we all need to abstain so um can somebody go in there and take a look and see that they're able to vote i have access yeah sorry you have access do you want me to press the next button or something um yeah so the first few um the first few slides are just uh an introduction you can go through them and i will read through them um as well for kevin's sake okay once one through 22 in consecutive order yeah i have plenty of information to be able to vote so it's good okay okay perfect so um so basically kevin what it says is it states our mission which is to grant state funds to individuals and organizations that support cultural projects which benefit the community and our specific 2026 goals which we voted on in in the summer that was published is that we aim to deepen community connections celebrate local heritage and broaden access to cultural experiences for all valent residents the council's priorities include supposedly supporting projects that engage diverse experiences for all of valence residents um and uh for all of valence residents and engage diverse audiences uplift local artists utilize public spaces in innovative ways and strengthen community bonds through the inclusive cultural programming they emphasize partnership among local organizations and uh hosting including the rest is kind of cut off but um so that's the idea okay and uh the slide two tells you how to uh vote can you still hear me i'm having some problems with yes okay for some reason this is not working for me okay let's see now okay and slide two says uh talks about the rating scale so basically um i'm sorry i missed the um abstain in here but basically i'm asking all of you to indicate your level of agreement with the um whether we want to fund and fund this project or not strongly disagree disagree neutral agree agree strongly agree okay so i have a question so if you are um against this project right uh you would vote disagree and make it a 10 but if you are for the project you would take the agree button and move it to 10. correct so at 10 means you you're that's the that's your vote right yeah so you just have to yeah so um yeah so basically it's a scale right so you can move between scales is that is that how you people are seeing it as a scale or do you see yeah set as a scale so i don't understand why it's zero and ten right can we say we agree five and neutral five or something i don't understand why how it's uh or is it just zero and ten it's binary right you either it's not binary you can move it on the scale to anything okay but um okay so if i strongly agree i'd make it a five is that the same as agree and make it a ten no no no okay yeah so strongly agree so do do just the strongly agree disagree don't worry about the scale right now no i think that's a good idea okay that makes sense to me okay is this either zero or ten yeah just do zero yeah ten that would be the best and five is the abstain or neutral no no i'm sorry i'm sorry miriam uh no you you let's do the song choose one of them like you can choose abstain and move it to 10 or you can choose neutral move it to 10 or strongly agree move it to 10. whatever your feeling is vote 10 i just saw that okay okay okay does that make sense miriam to you yeah that's how i'm thinking about it so there's no use voting on two of them like don't vote five neutral and five strong it doesn't make sense okay choose one of them and just move it to 10. yeah and may i ask something um can you remind me where can i find the details and which email was that the detail i sent i sent the um i'll send it again um just so you all have it but it's also in in if you link log into your mass cultural council yes you should be able to see all the details but i'm sending it again to all of you thank you so let's take it's uh 7 34 can we take until 7 45 750 to kind of uh look through them and um look through the details yeah yeah i've already done that yeah me too so i just sent the email again so um look through the details and kevin um i sent the email with the details if you want to look at it great if you want me to speak through them i'm happy to do that for you so just let me um can i request that you speak through them so at least i know because i'm not at my computer i can't be at my phone be on my computer at the same time so i'm happy to speak i have to add to that i'm working off of my cell phone so if i do go to the site yeah hopefully i'll still have audio but i can't really handle yeah nobody i can i can read through them i will read fast i will give you only the salient features so you have the information you can look at the details later um applicant one um is the acton community center so they want to do a theater project a child's play um and so what they're saying is the saying is that um since 2024 this theater has been providing high quality affordable theater for children performed by adults the tickets for their 2025 production um were completely sold out with enthusiastic feedback from patrons over 250 adults and children from 43 towns in eastern massachusetts um and this time they're thrilled to be partnering with acton chinese language school um and the story is the story of the chinese zodiac by reiko ho the tickets are ten dollars and free for those under two
and they also have um the mcc card to culture program so if you use that card it's five dollars um so where it is going to be performed is in um in action their budget is 3825 and uh i am trying to see what they're asking for 300 you're asking for 300 thank you all right so the next one is is bhumika arts and i will abstain from this because this is my school um the project is uh it's called the car carving this breath of stone so basically it's the the
sculptures of the temple um are telling a story and there's a modern poet who writes about them and what we are trying to do is take those that pieces of poetry set it to music and create a story around that um and present it to to the world so it's kind of like this sculpture is coming alive to tell a story um i saw the word solo in there somewhere does that apply to anything sorry the word solo was in the performance or no in the description in the description it's not it's how large a group is performing let's just put it that way so the perf performance itself is by one dancer but there's a lot of what i thought yes okay um so there's a lecture demonstration and so on and so forth but um it involves a lot of people putting it together like the light text you know the music because they have to get the music made and so on and so forth the budget is about um 2700 and the um request is for a thousand dollars the third third is the discovery museum um it's for their program that that underwrites um ticketing for underprivileged children they ask it of they ask that of us every year they have a large budget at seven thousand two hundred and they're asking us for four hundred dollars the next applicant is andrew harms he is proposing a um a musical project it's a bad andy good trumpet um recital it's a student recital with the reception afterwards which will be in in may it will be at the valent school of music their budget is a thousand dollars and they're asking for the whole amount a thousand dollars number five is the massachusetts educational theater guild they are asking us to fund their drama festival which happens every year so the idea is to take the valent kids to the drama festival in march they're hosting part of it this year they're hosting part of it this year because the drama festival happens in several uh cycles um their budget including travel i guess is 3100 and they're asking for a thousand dollars the next applicant is the metro west scottish heritage society um they have a they're asking us to um help with their scottish festival which will be held in the wayside inn in sudbury and this will be in july july you did you did say the massachusetts scottish um what was the rest of it heritage society oh massachusetts scottish heritage society is it is it like a dancing thing in july i think yes it's actually a whole festival it's a whole festival that they're asking us it's a it's a festival that's going to cost them twenty nine thousand sixty eight dollars and how much are they asking from us a thousand dollars right what okay and then number seven is the metro west tourism and visitors bureau and they are they want to want us to fund for the world cup fan zone so will there be any discussion of these at some point or yes i'm reading them out i'm reading them out so so what will happen is that once we figure out and we give our initial votes today in december when we meet we will discuss okay well i'm going to go in online and put them in after we finish yes yes you know i really need all of you to do your homework before you come back in december to to do our final votes um so the project is um marlboro franklin and framingham the world cup fan zone will spend time with these communities um and it will include uh watch parties food trucks arts crafts and and soccer you know for all the soccer related stuff that that's going to happen around around uh world cup soccer it usually has a huge lot of attendees the budget is huge it's 67 400 and they're asking us for 500 dollars number eight is music dance edu um which is um asking us to fund an uh opera slash musical theater
for that will be presented for the senior citizens um and their families in bayland um and it's free for the community senior citizens community and um the theme is i am autistic i'm fantastic their overall budget is 6 800 and they're asking us for five sorry i'm sorry their budget is 680 not 6 800 680 and they're asking us for 580 number nine is again music and dance the same same company is asking us for a hip-hop chair dance for seniors um it will take place in february at sunrise in wayland um so basically it's the budget is 380 and they are requesting 280. the next one is musicians of old post road they are asking us to fund a concert that will take place in the first parish church um i think they've done this every year we have done this every year and we have all we have always given them some money um their budget is 6 000 to 625 and they're asking us for 700 the next applicant is an individual david paultane and he is asking for a music um event for the senior citizens it is music from memphis it's going to be in april next year and their budget is 500 and he is asking us for for all of it all 500
number 12 is the sudbury savoyards they are asking us to fund a musical event
for the com for everybody so um it is not uh it's not given where they will perform but it'll some some oh it will take place in the lincoln sadbury high school i'm sorry so it is um it is for some kind of a event theater event um that will happen in the lincoln sadbury high school their their budget is 40 000 and they're asking for a thousand dollars number 13 is another individual chris swanson who is asking for songs and stories music concert and uh the the place is to be determined this is um it apparently plays in assisted living centers and senior centers typically in and it seems to be geared towards that kind of audience um but it says it's open to all the budget is 225 and they're asking us for let's to refresh they're asking us for 225 they're asking us for all of the budget number 14 is the valent chinese american association they're asking us to fund their um lunar new year as always their budget is seven thousand five hundred dollars and they're asking us for 500
applicant 15 is valent concert series they usually have a classical concert at the valent high school and this is open to all free and open to all their budget is 8 870 and they're asking us for 500 dollars number 16 is the valent council on aging um they are asking us to fund a project called mocktails and melodies at the valent um council of aging center new center um it is for those seniors who are unable to attend events during the daytime so they have something later in in in the day um this is to for them to be in a way for them to be inclusive and uh it will basically and have music and mocktail their budget for that is 1100 and they're asking for all of it 1100 applicant number 17 is the valent public library i'm going to abstain from this one okay um they have a part of their conversations that's what they're that's the project they're asking us to fund this particular conversation is a conversation for change um so they have an expert um dr eden renee hayes um on so basically it's an anti-bias equity kind of a discussion that they want to have their budget is 3800 and they're asking us for a thousand dollars number 18 is the library again but this time it is for a children's program called um for henry the juggler's performance um that budget is 450 and they're asking for all of it 450
number 19 is the valent high school robotics team and um basically it's our team that will um go to the competitions and they are asking for funding to help really the costs of going to the competition and you know if they do win and they keep moving up in the ranking their budget will total to 26 000 and 50 and they are asking us for 500 number 20 is an individual denise weiss she is asking for a project on anti-bullying that will take place in the valent middle school it's titled the theft of dignity and it is for both middle school and high school children the budget is 950 and they're asking for all of it the 950 dollars number 21 is the women of valent podcast
this is they're asking for budget funding for their current year 20 or or rather 2026 season of the podcast um so basically they talk about women in governance it's a social podcast and they usually talk to women um it's like a panel discussion on different subjects their budget is a thousand dollars and they are asking for a thousand dollars and finally number 22 is an individual matt york he is asking us to fund a project that will be in the summer of 2026 a music project um the words and wisdom of willie nelson um where he this the applicant will perform and tell stories about willie nelson and i'm not sure where it will be performed but it is free and it will probably be part of the summer concert series that we usually have um and the total budget is 500 he is asking for
all of it yeah that's the that's the information any questions any comments you want us to work yeah so can you um go to that mentimeter link that i have um and kevin i will take your vote you can you can put it in chat if you want of at least the um top contenders for you that you definitely want to um fund so what i would ask of you to just go and you know some things you may not be sure of you can say you're neutral about it some things you may not agree as strongly as others you can say agree and strongly agree those are the two categories and disagree so the the i want you to go back to our goals that we want to be serving the valiant community in general we want to we want to be inclusive we want to be equitable so go back to those principles as you think through them this is again the very first pass we're just trying to get the first pass through we will talk about each of these in detail at our next meeting before we decide the final amounts and so on so um i want to be able to get a good understanding of whom we're definitely going to fund and what what um our allocation strategy needs to be based on your all of your choices so um take the next five minutes or so to go through them and put your votes down and we'll go from there you want to see them now uh okay you can change a vote by uh say that i will send out a date but um i mean i'll i can do them after the meeting but i okay i'm gonna have to do it on my phone is everybody okay doing this after the meeting but i want it done and the first pass done by the end of the week so so that at least narish can kind of quickly look at it and see what the budget looks like as of right now i'm thinking of one
one for what kevin supporting one project oh um this is for uh the grants so we we can't just support one grant but yes tell me what you're thinking about i was thinking of supporting the massachusetts scottish festival in july okay so um i've sent the link to everybody so please go to the link and cast your votes so we'll have an answer so i mean can i do it tomorrow yeah would that be possible okay that's all right perfectly okay or by the end of the week yeah yeah yeah end of the week is what i want okay which which would be by the end of friday correct yeah okay so um if you if you agree to so the way this is set up is that if you strongly agree or you're abstaining so you only get to choose one not all of them so um like for example if you pick acton community center the first one to uh that you strongly agree we should we should um we should fund them you just select the strongly agree and move that to a 10. okay all right all right we're not this has a very limited hopefully implication of how much we decide to fund each project correct it's just that we want to fund them and the the projects that you think we should not fund i want you all to be talking about why you think we should not fund because we want to be fair we want to make sure that this really doesn't agree with our goals or our our um our mission and that's why we're not funding them and not because we don't have the money any other questions because um it looks like we're going to dismiss tonight and then do our voting by the end of the week um and then uh we will i'll i'll take a look at the results by then and and our votes at the end will be public and published correct correct correct correct these are on mentimeter anybody can see it and then once everything is done it will be part of the minutes for next okay all right all right um do i have a motion to adjourn john yes thank you
all right we have a motion to adjourn any seconds i second that perfect all right so um we will adjourn it's one minute before eight um thank you all for attending i will send out a reminder for all of you to put in your votes by the end of the week um you can continue looking at it and change your mind as you read more or read less about stuff um and i will close the voting before a day or two before naresh you tell me how many days you before you want the closing so you can take a look at the result and kind of look at the money and give us some options yeah one week at least uh two weeks before would be good two weeks before so um so basically two weeks from now the voting will close so we have time before our december meeting to vote on the amounts if we can't so you want us to make kind of make a decision by the end of the week or within the next two weeks within the next two weeks okay all right thanksgiving before thanksgiving yeah yep that's fine so what our next meeting is when the 10th of december okay all right all right will do okay we're adjourned thank you all for your service and i will talk to you thank you everybody thank you all good night good night
i was going to make this suggestion um are we are we sharing them now yes yeah so the hrdic the human rights uh council in weyland is planning a human rights day on december 10th which is which is the uh like it's an international human rights day um and you know a suggestion could be collaborating with them or like co-sponsoring the event and helping them with part of those funds um like you said it doesn't have to be the whole amount we can do the uh historic museum suggestion and this okay um i am on the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee i know i i know karen very well so yeah okay so there are two projects on the table right now um or three projects on the table one is the historic uh commission's bench along the rail trail second is the um hrdic's human rights day and third is the um echoes of liberty exhibition for the wayland museum i don't call it sorry so we have three projects um that that have that have been floating can you speak a lot to what the bench is it is is it just sponsoring a bench or are they refurbishing no no no it'll be sponsoring a bench along the rail trail is there a specific like location and so there is um uh an area where they're going to put up a um informational board um on along the rail trail and they would like a bench there so people can also sit and um be able to read this so i believe it is at at uh so it it it there are two of the informational things that they are several informational boards that they're going to put along the rail trail that's the plan um one of them is at the entrance between western and valent and one of them is near valent depot which was the site you know of the rail railroad actually that that was the site so there's going to be one there so we can choose where we want to put it um but that's something that we can choose to do so that's and then what what was the third thing i know the next one was the hrdi hrdi yeah um so the second one was the hrdi i see human rights day um and um i need to know what their plans are and what their budget is to be able to kind of say that okay we will fund it partially or whatever but that's another thing that we could do um and and and and then what was the third thing third one was the valent museum so they are planning an exhibition that's called echoes of liberty a call and response with arts valent so um but arts valent is participating as well this is a is an exhibition that's slated for next year april april through may and it's supposed to explore the history um and kind of engage people in a dialogue um about freedom and liberty um and and they'll use the museum's collections and um so and some contemporary art that they hope to acquire so it is yeah it's in time for the 250 celebration if you were to ask me to support two things i'd support the hr the hrd
human rights diversity equity and inclusion project what they want to do and i'd also support the third one the one with the um the um the um the art okay all right so um those are the two projects that i would support okay um does everybody have enough information so we can move to um first of all i've the two two votes right like we can hold off on voting for which which projects to support and how much for a later date the first vote would be for holding off the money and how much how much of the money do we want to hold off so these are two different votes that that we have to kind of decide on and i would um propose that we table the second discussion about what we're going to support and how much we're going to give them for this for another day but today because we have to kind of think about how much we have to allocate to grants we need to decide on how much we're going to hold off to support something else so today the the the thing on vote on the table is the issue is are we going to hold money for special projects if so how much so can i have somebody formally propose a vote for holding off holding off holding the money for allocation i propose that we withhold the whole thing because there are some special uh events coming up next year uh regarding the revolution and other things and we may end up uh wanting to uh participate in certain in multiple ways okay just to keep that option so there's a vote on the table for holding off the entire amount do i have a second okay okay so the next proposal i'm sorry marie we'll have to see uh the first i'm do we have go on do we have a proposal to hold a part part of the amount do we have anybody who's proposing to hold a part of the amount for for special projects i guess um just so i can make sure that i understand that completely specifically for the bench project is that something that we can decide that later mariam just to see if if this is like if we hold the money is that something we can do on our own or are we sponsoring the historic commission's sponsorship of that bench historic commission is not sponsoring that bench we will if we do it yes but wouldn't we have to find somebody to either construct it paint it or do something correct so uh it's mostly uh finding a bench that we can put there um which is not like it's not difficult but so i take it the bench isn't built no benches are usually just purchased and installed so we just need to find the right bench and maybe have some lettering or paint it or something like that so um there are yes there are multiple parts to that but we don't have to construct it we can buy it built okay can i just clarify if we want to donate to the hrdeic which is less than a month from now that money has to be withheld at this time as well correct as well as the whaling 250 or 260 uh participation so that's all part of these funds that we can decide to a lot allocate or not correct correct but first we need to need to whether we bond to hold withhold the funds to allocate so i need somebody to propose that vote first okay i think i didn't understand the first time at hunt when we're voting to withhold it means we want to use it for special projects and we're not deciding which special project okay okay i don't think i understood the terminology when uh when marie proposed so i i will try that again i propose that we would hold them to use them for these special projects do i have a second a second okay thanks marie uh kevin do you agree that we need to withhold all of the thousand and thirty five dollars for use for use with special projects charles he's he's muted sorry my mic was muted uh yes i agree murray yes i agree nourish yes mariam yes okay and i agree as well so it will be done we will hold a thousand and thirty five dollars from the allocated money we have to use for special projects so yeah so uh whoever's taking the minutes um i'd like that highlighted in the minutes that uh this passed with the amount and everyone voting i need that highlighted somehow so i can put it into the budget okay okay i usually just take the automated minutes and turn it into meeting minutes nourish but this it'll capture this as well but it's one thousand thirty five dollars isn't it yes yes but let me i don't i don't remember if the hrd the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee has any money um i think i don't know what their budget is i don't think they have very much okay so sorry like like i said you'd have to get in touch with karen and yeah find out what kevin can i ask you to please find that out and let us know so that i i i can i can actually take care of that because i was part of planning this event but i stepped back uh so i have a connection people were you so do you want me to get in touch with karen and find out from her what the hrda the human rights diversity equity and inclusion committee's budget is so um if they even if they even have one yeah um so kevin mariam just uh volunteered because she's part of that planning committee so part of part of what committee the planning for that particular event in december oh okay so she can give us the details so mariam thank you for that and um the sooner you can give us i want to put the amount to vote but then for the next time we meet so the sooner you can give us that information the better because it's in december so i want to be able to make that determination soon uh and just to be clear you want uh to have specifically what the money will be used for um no how much how much are they asking okay excuse me but but what's the what's the date for the human rights i think it's december 12th correct uh okay and if and and when is army and when's our meeting before the before the event or after the event it will be um on december 10th so it'll be two days before the event literally okay no the event is on the 10th not on the 12th on the 10th so if you're all okay we can meet in a couple of weeks to make this determination which would which would be we we would meet we would meet on the 10th correct we would we will probably if you're all okay that's what i'm saying can we meet on the third so we can make this determination and then move forward i'd like to stay on the 10th yeah i'd like to stay with the regularly scheduled meeting i don't think we should make um special exceptions that's my opinion uh the only the only merit and changing would also be not not only sponsoring them but also attending as a cultural council if we can okay i don't i don't think i don't think karen would have a problem with that i think she'd she to be honest with you i think she'd she'd welcome she'd welcome the cultural council with open arms so okay okay may i say here i'm looking at a calendar the second saturday of december is the 13th so if we have a meeting on the 10th we're all set and the person at miriam maybe you can get an idea if we can help them how they would suggest that so that we'd have the information to be able to see what exactly we can or should contribute at that point so i'm confused i thought the event was on the 10th yes it's on the 10th on a wednesday yes because that's the international human rights uh days from six to eight ish you're right oh i'm sorry all right okay so then can we i mean do we i don't have a problem i don't have a problem i do do you want to vote on that right now i i don't have a i don't have a problem with meeting doing a quick meeting on the third all right so um no i think a lot of them do not want to meet on the third kevin but we can put it to a quick vote now which will give us less time with the grantees but then the problem is is that the human rights day is on the 10th correct so no we will vote on it today okay so i just need somebody to propose to vote on allocation to the three different causes
wait a second uh we can't do that till they request some amount right i mean if they if they want one person wants 500 and the other two people want 200 each right it's a different than if all of them want equal amount we could vote to say give equal amounts to everyone right if you want to do that that but but but you can't really give money to people who haven't asked for it yet you're right nourish yeah okay i was going to play that part but i i worried that it might be a conflict of interest of me asking as a part of the hrdic um especially that plan is still underway so let me i like nourish as a yeah let me propose this to you another thing um is everybody okay with supporting all three proud special projects equally you mean uh in general yeah divided by three yeah i have another equally i'm okay with that can i have an ask another question yes can we can reserve the 1035 and not spend the whole thing tonight yeah absolutely we can do that too okay then i can i make a motion that we we we we i make a motion that we support all all three projects how's that sound do i have a second i second that specifically with everything going on in in town i think whoever is you know um planning something early we should support that okay um charles do you agree yes i do murray do you agree uh yeah but have we decided how much to uh release at this time it does not necessary no that's not fine then i agree with this plan nourish yeah i agree mariam yes heaven i'm okay with it i don't have a problem with it i move approval okay and i agree too so let us table um the discussion of the amount of allocation once we hear back from them regarding the budget okay thank you that'd be good thank you all right so that's out of the way um let's see what's next on the agenda okay okay so the next is is the 222 grants um i have a mentimeter set up let me um find the link um i know kevin you won't be able to look at the link but i will talk through all of them so um you will know um i i did send this in in a um in a message earlier today but here's the link it's a poll so what the poll is asking it presents all the people who have um submitted the 22 applicants and i want you to um indicate whether you strongly agree that we should give you disagree you're neutral you agree you strongly disagree or you're abstaining because you have some some kind of conflict right like there are a few of them we all need to abstain so um can somebody go in there and take a look and see that they're able to vote i have access yeah sorry you have access do you want me to press the next button or something um yeah so the first few um the first few slides are just uh an introduction you can go through them and i will read through them um as well for kevin's sake okay once one through 22 in consecutive order yeah i have plenty of information to be able to vote so it's good okay okay perfect so um so basically kevin what it says is it states our mission which is to grant state funds to individuals and organizations that support cultural projects which benefit the community and our specific 2026 goals which we voted on in in the summer that was published is that we aim to deepen community connections celebrate local heritage and broaden access to cultural experiences for all valent residents the council's priorities include supposedly supporting projects that engage diverse experiences for all of valence residents um and uh for all of valence residents and engage diverse audiences uplift local artists utilize public spaces in innovative ways and strengthen community bonds through the inclusive cultural programming they emphasize partnership among local organizations and uh hosting including the rest is kind of cut off but um so that's the idea okay and uh the slide two tells you how to uh vote can you still hear me i'm having some problems with yes okay for some reason this is not working for me okay let's see now okay and slide two says uh talks about the rating scale so basically um i'm sorry i missed the um abstain in here but basically i'm asking all of you to indicate your level of agreement with the um whether we want to fund and fund this project or not strongly disagree disagree neutral agree agree strongly agree okay so i have a question so if you are um against this project right uh you would vote disagree and make it a 10 but if you are for the project you would take the agree button and move it to 10. correct so at 10 means you you're that's the that's your vote right yeah so you just have to yeah so um yeah so basically it's a scale right so you can move between scales is that is that how you people are seeing it as a scale or do you see yeah set as a scale so i don't understand why it's zero and ten right can we say we agree five and neutral five or something i don't understand why how it's uh or is it just zero and ten it's binary right you either it's not binary you can move it on the scale to anything okay but um okay so if i strongly agree i'd make it a five is that the same as agree and make it a ten no no no okay yeah so strongly agree so do do just the strongly agree disagree don't worry about the scale right now no i think that's a good idea okay that makes sense to me okay is this either zero or ten yeah just do zero yeah ten that would be the best and five is the abstain or neutral no no i'm sorry i'm sorry miriam uh no you you let's do the song choose one of them like you can choose abstain and move it to 10 or you can choose neutral move it to 10 or strongly agree move it to 10. whatever your feeling is vote 10 i just saw that okay okay okay does that make sense miriam to you yeah that's how i'm thinking about it so there's no use voting on two of them like don't vote five neutral and five strong it doesn't make sense okay choose one of them and just move it to 10. yeah and may i ask something um can you remind me where can i find the details and which email was that the detail i sent i sent the um i'll send it again um just so you all have it but it's also in in if you link log into your mass cultural council yes you should be able to see all the details but i'm sending it again to all of you thank you so let's take it's uh 7 34 can we take until 7 45 750 to kind of uh look through them and um look through the details yeah yeah i've already done that yeah me too so i just sent the email again so um look through the details and kevin um i sent the email with the details if you want to look at it great if you want me to speak through them i'm happy to do that for you so just let me um can i request that you speak through them so at least i know because i'm not at my computer i can't be at my phone be on my computer at the same time so i'm happy to speak i have to add to that i'm working off of my cell phone so if i do go to the site yeah hopefully i'll still have audio but i can't really handle yeah nobody i can i can read through them i will read fast i will give you only the salient features so you have the information you can look at the details later um applicant one um is the acton community center so they want to do a theater project a child's play um and so what they're saying is the saying is that um since 2024 this theater has been providing high quality affordable theater for children performed by adults the tickets for their 2025 production um were completely sold out with enthusiastic feedback from patrons over 250 adults and children from 43 towns in eastern massachusetts um and this time they're thrilled to be partnering with acton chinese language school um and the story is the story of the chinese zodiac by reiko ho the tickets are ten dollars and free for those under two
and they also have um the mcc card to culture program so if you use that card it's five dollars um so where it is going to be performed is in um in action their budget is 3825 and uh i am trying to see what they're asking for 300 you're asking for 300 thank you all right so the next one is is bhumika arts and i will abstain from this because this is my school um the project is uh it's called the car carving this breath of stone so basically it's the the
sculptures of the temple um are telling a story and there's a modern poet who writes about them and what we are trying to do is take those that pieces of poetry set it to music and create a story around that um and present it to to the world so it's kind of like this sculpture is coming alive to tell a story um i saw the word solo in there somewhere does that apply to anything sorry the word solo was in the performance or no in the description in the description it's not it's how large a group is performing let's just put it that way so the perf performance itself is by one dancer but there's a lot of what i thought yes okay um so there's a lecture demonstration and so on and so forth but um it involves a lot of people putting it together like the light text you know the music because they have to get the music made and so on and so forth the budget is about um 2700 and the um request is for a thousand dollars the third third is the discovery museum um it's for their program that that underwrites um ticketing for underprivileged children they ask it of they ask that of us every year they have a large budget at seven thousand two hundred and they're asking us for four hundred dollars the next applicant is andrew harms he is proposing a um a musical project it's a bad andy good trumpet um recital it's a student recital with the reception afterwards which will be in in may it will be at the valent school of music their budget is a thousand dollars and they're asking for the whole amount a thousand dollars number five is the massachusetts educational theater guild they are asking us to fund their drama festival which happens every year so the idea is to take the valent kids to the drama festival in march they're hosting part of it this year they're hosting part of it this year because the drama festival happens in several uh cycles um their budget including travel i guess is 3100 and they're asking for a thousand dollars the next applicant is the metro west scottish heritage society um they have a they're asking us to um help with their scottish festival which will be held in the wayside inn in sudbury and this will be in july july you did you did say the massachusetts scottish um what was the rest of it heritage society oh massachusetts scottish heritage society is it is it like a dancing thing in july i think yes it's actually a whole festival it's a whole festival that they're asking us it's a it's a festival that's going to cost them twenty nine thousand sixty eight dollars and how much are they asking from us a thousand dollars right what okay and then number seven is the metro west tourism and visitors bureau and they are they want to want us to fund for the world cup fan zone so will there be any discussion of these at some point or yes i'm reading them out i'm reading them out so so what will happen is that once we figure out and we give our initial votes today in december when we meet we will discuss okay well i'm going to go in online and put them in after we finish yes yes you know i really need all of you to do your homework before you come back in december to to do our final votes um so the project is um marlboro franklin and framingham the world cup fan zone will spend time with these communities um and it will include uh watch parties food trucks arts crafts and and soccer you know for all the soccer related stuff that that's going to happen around around uh world cup soccer it usually has a huge lot of attendees the budget is huge it's 67 400 and they're asking us for 500 dollars number eight is music dance edu um which is um asking us to fund an uh opera slash musical theater
for that will be presented for the senior citizens um and their families in bayland um and it's free for the community senior citizens community and um the theme is i am autistic i'm fantastic their overall budget is 6 800 and they're asking us for five sorry i'm sorry their budget is 680 not 6 800 680 and they're asking us for 580 number nine is again music and dance the same same company is asking us for a hip-hop chair dance for seniors um it will take place in february at sunrise in wayland um so basically it's the budget is 380 and they are requesting 280. the next one is musicians of old post road they are asking us to fund a concert that will take place in the first parish church um i think they've done this every year we have done this every year and we have all we have always given them some money um their budget is 6 000 to 625 and they're asking us for 700 the next applicant is an individual david paultane and he is asking for a music um event for the senior citizens it is music from memphis it's going to be in april next year and their budget is 500 and he is asking us for for all of it all 500
number 12 is the sudbury savoyards they are asking us to fund a musical event
for the com for everybody so um it is not uh it's not given where they will perform but it'll some some oh it will take place in the lincoln sadbury high school i'm sorry so it is um it is for some kind of a event theater event um that will happen in the lincoln sadbury high school their their budget is 40 000 and they're asking for a thousand dollars number 13 is another individual chris swanson who is asking for songs and stories music concert and uh the the place is to be determined this is um it apparently plays in assisted living centers and senior centers typically in and it seems to be geared towards that kind of audience um but it says it's open to all the budget is 225 and they're asking us for let's to refresh they're asking us for 225 they're asking us for all of the budget number 14 is the valent chinese american association they're asking us to fund their um lunar new year as always their budget is seven thousand five hundred dollars and they're asking us for 500
applicant 15 is valent concert series they usually have a classical concert at the valent high school and this is open to all free and open to all their budget is 8 870 and they're asking us for 500 dollars number 16 is the valent council on aging um they are asking us to fund a project called mocktails and melodies at the valent um council of aging center new center um it is for those seniors who are unable to attend events during the daytime so they have something later in in in the day um this is to for them to be in a way for them to be inclusive and uh it will basically and have music and mocktail their budget for that is 1100 and they're asking for all of it 1100 applicant number 17 is the valent public library i'm going to abstain from this one okay um they have a part of their conversations that's what they're that's the project they're asking us to fund this particular conversation is a conversation for change um so they have an expert um dr eden renee hayes um on so basically it's an anti-bias equity kind of a discussion that they want to have their budget is 3800 and they're asking us for a thousand dollars number 18 is the library again but this time it is for a children's program called um for henry the juggler's performance um that budget is 450 and they're asking for all of it 450
number 19 is the valent high school robotics team and um basically it's our team that will um go to the competitions and they are asking for funding to help really the costs of going to the competition and you know if they do win and they keep moving up in the ranking their budget will total to 26 000 and 50 and they are asking us for 500 number 20 is an individual denise weiss she is asking for a project on anti-bullying that will take place in the valent middle school it's titled the theft of dignity and it is for both middle school and high school children the budget is 950 and they're asking for all of it the 950 dollars number 21 is the women of valent podcast
this is they're asking for budget funding for their current year 20 or or rather 2026 season of the podcast um so basically they talk about women in governance it's a social podcast and they usually talk to women um it's like a panel discussion on different subjects their budget is a thousand dollars and they are asking for a thousand dollars and finally number 22 is an individual matt york he is asking us to fund a project that will be in the summer of 2026 a music project um the words and wisdom of willie nelson um where he this the applicant will perform and tell stories about willie nelson and i'm not sure where it will be performed but it is free and it will probably be part of the summer concert series that we usually have um and the total budget is 500 he is asking for
all of it yeah that's the that's the information any questions any comments you want us to work yeah so can you um go to that mentimeter link that i have um and kevin i will take your vote you can you can put it in chat if you want of at least the um top contenders for you that you definitely want to um fund so what i would ask of you to just go and you know some things you may not be sure of you can say you're neutral about it some things you may not agree as strongly as others you can say agree and strongly agree those are the two categories and disagree so the the i want you to go back to our goals that we want to be serving the valiant community in general we want to we want to be inclusive we want to be equitable so go back to those principles as you think through them this is again the very first pass we're just trying to get the first pass through we will talk about each of these in detail at our next meeting before we decide the final amounts and so on so um i want to be able to get a good understanding of whom we're definitely going to fund and what what um our allocation strategy needs to be based on your all of your choices so um take the next five minutes or so to go through them and put your votes down and we'll go from there you want to see them now uh okay you can change a vote by uh say that i will send out a date but um i mean i'll i can do them after the meeting but i okay i'm gonna have to do it on my phone is everybody okay doing this after the meeting but i want it done and the first pass done by the end of the week so so that at least narish can kind of quickly look at it and see what the budget looks like as of right now i'm thinking of one
one for what kevin supporting one project oh um this is for uh the grants so we we can't just support one grant but yes tell me what you're thinking about i was thinking of supporting the massachusetts scottish festival in july okay so um i've sent the link to everybody so please go to the link and cast your votes so we'll have an answer so i mean can i do it tomorrow yeah would that be possible okay that's all right perfectly okay or by the end of the week yeah yeah yeah end of the week is what i want okay which which would be by the end of friday correct yeah okay so um if you if you agree to so the way this is set up is that if you strongly agree or you're abstaining so you only get to choose one not all of them so um like for example if you pick acton community center the first one to uh that you strongly agree we should we should um we should fund them you just select the strongly agree and move that to a 10. okay all right all right we're not this has a very limited hopefully implication of how much we decide to fund each project correct it's just that we want to fund them and the the projects that you think we should not fund i want you all to be talking about why you think we should not fund because we want to be fair we want to make sure that this really doesn't agree with our goals or our our um our mission and that's why we're not funding them and not because we don't have the money any other questions because um it looks like we're going to dismiss tonight and then do our voting by the end of the week um and then uh we will i'll i'll take a look at the results by then and and our votes at the end will be public and published correct correct correct correct these are on mentimeter anybody can see it and then once everything is done it will be part of the minutes for next okay all right all right um do i have a motion to adjourn john yes thank you
all right we have a motion to adjourn any seconds i second that perfect all right so um we will adjourn it's one minute before eight um thank you all for attending i will send out a reminder for all of you to put in your votes by the end of the week um you can continue looking at it and change your mind as you read more or read less about stuff um and i will close the voting before a day or two before naresh you tell me how many days you before you want the closing so you can take a look at the result and kind of look at the money and give us some options yeah one week at least uh two weeks before would be good two weeks before so um so basically two weeks from now the voting will close so we have time before our december meeting to vote on the amounts if we can't so you want us to make kind of make a decision by the end of the week or within the next two weeks within the next two weeks okay all right thanksgiving before thanksgiving yeah yep that's fine so what our next meeting is when the 10th of december okay all right all right will do okay we're adjourned thank you all for your service and i will talk to you thank you everybody thank you all good night good night