September 23, 2026 – Cultural Council – Video & Transcript
September 23, 2026 - Cultural Council
Okay, so it is 7-19, and I am calling the September Cultural Council meeting into session. Present are myself, Pallavi Nagesha, Kevin Goodwin, Hailey Fuqua, and Shirin Kazi, and take an official attendance. Hailey, you just have to say present.
Present. Shireen? Present. Kevin? Present. And I am present, too. There is nobody in the public to give comments, so we will move to the next agenda, the approval of the July and August meeting minutes. I emailed the minutes, and most of you gave me your assent over email. I have to get verbal assent to make it public, so I am going to go around.
Shireen Hailey, do you approve of the July and August meeting minutes? I approve. Shireen, do you approve of the July and August meeting minutes? Yes. Kevin, do you approve of the July and August meeting minutes? Yes. Thank you. And I approve, too, so it is unanimously passed. I will get it published on the portal after this meeting.
There are some council changes. Murray Eisenberg resigned from the council, so we have no vice chair, right, as of now, and I will put it on the agenda for next time to appoint a vice chair, and that's important because there are times when I cannot do what's needed, and we need to have somebody else who can.
So we will talk about appointing a vice chair next time. Any questions, any comments about that?
It's too bad to hear, but I would definitely be interested in talking more and learning more, and I know you and I will meet, so we can discuss what that could entail.
Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Okay. Grants, next on the agenda is the grant cycle review and the grant making process.
So the 2026 grant had, I'm forgetting how many applicants we had, but we approved 22 applicants for a total of $10,835.
This was our biggest, biggest grant making budget ever, and we are happy to have been able to distribute it to 22 people.
So that was really good. I've sent the report, the report is in, the financial report is in, and the new cycle has started.
We've had three applicants so far, but we still have some time, couple weeks. Hopefully we'll get more, but this time we also have less money.
We have $7,000, which means that if there are less number of applicants, we can actually give them everything they ask, which will be nice.
But please spread the word around that we are, we will be accepting applications for around a couple of weeks and that people should apply like any of the local WhatsApp groups you're part of,
or any organizations, or any organizations, even if they're not part of Wayland, if they're doing something interesting, we will accept those applications.
So, yes, Kevin. Oh, Robbie, did Karen Blumenfeld get in touch with you? Because I think she was going to talk to you at one point. No, she hasn't. Okay, all right, I'll send her a text, just a reminder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm happy to talk to anybody about it. I wanted to briefly touch upon lessons learned from last cycle and improvements for the next cycle. But, Kevin, you're the only one who was part of the last cycle. Do you have any comments about how it went last time and if we can make any improvements this time?
Off the top of my head, no, not right now. Okay.
Okay. All right. So, the next, any questions about the grant cycle? Do you want me to show you the portal and how things will run and so on? I just have one question. Out of the 22 people who got the grants, how many have already had their events? So, we have had, I believe, 16 people already submit reimbursements. I don't know whether everybody has had their events, but the 16 people who submitted have had their events. There are only two others who haven't submitted and I don't know whether they've had events or not. But some people have events and they take their time submitting the reimbursement. So, I'm hoping everybody's had events, but we've had 16 people submit for reimbursement. And so, for the other six people, have they at least given you possible dates? Because isn't the cycle that they have to have the events this year? Yes, in the year 2026, but they don't have to submit the reimbursement until January of 2027. Okay. Because we have like 10 weeks left or so, right? No, 12. 12 weeks. 12 weeks left. If you, yeah, if people do want to have the events, Christmas or Thanksgiving. Right. So, typically, I send out a reminder for those who haven't submitted so that they, some people, you know, also forgot because they couldn't somehow do their events. But we will only know about that end of the year. So, people do push it to the last minute sometimes. No, I'm just asking because I don't know if you have to do a final report to the Mass Cultural Council. That I have to do before the next grant cycle. So, the Mass Cultural Council reports are due in July and August. Okay. So, it's due like end of December. Yeah. And we kind of give a grace period if they do submit in February or March. We still honor it as long as they've held their events in the previous year. Mm-hmm. So, almost up until I have to generate the report and submit it, I will honor it. Because I know people are busy and they don't get to do this. So, I don't want them to miss out on the money. Yeah.
Any other questions?
I will briefly go over. So, all of you should have gotten a login. Mm-hmm. And if you've already logged in, great. If not, once you log in, I've started sharing my window. Let me know if you can see it.
Yes. So, this is what you will see. And the important thing is this panel book. Once it's ready, I will generate it and send it out to all of you. But all of you have access to it, too. And you can look at it. And then if you look at the three submitted drafts, you will see who they are, how much they are asking, and what the total is. And the first page, this previous page, shows you how much we have, right? Like, at the bottom, somewhere, it should show you how much we have.
I forget where it was, but one of these pages, it does show that we have $7,000. It's here.
This is a very confusing website. I just saw it, and I was like, oh, it's here. And now I don't see it. But this is the financial report. That's not it. That's my profile. That's a news cycle. Maybe. No. Okay. Not here. Okay. So, we go here, and then we can open it, and read through the application. They have what the project is, what their budget is, and how much they're asking. In this case, right, like, they're asking for their entire budget.
And any additional matter, like, there's a block party flyer that they've given us. This is the 2026 block party flyer. So, it's not a 2027 thing. So, basically, when we go through our decision process, I'm going to enter our decision here and approve it. Or, you know, if you decide to decline it, I will decline it. So, it's very straightforward. All of you can go and take a look at this page and go through them. So, it looks like we have, so far, if all the people in the draft state submit, we will have nine. So, we want to encourage more people to apply and look, you know, look for money. And it's not a whole lot. So, what happens if we don't end up spending all the money? It will be available to us in the 2028 cycle. So, not in the, sorry, 20, so this is the 2027 cycle. So, it will be available for us in the 2029 cycle. So, any unspent money will be available to us in the next cycle. So, unspent money from the 2026 cycle is available for us in the 2028 cycle. So, the question Sherry asked, what if they don't submit for reimbursement? We just hold on to that money and we add it to our pot in the, not the next cycle, but the cycle after. So, do we, what sort of outreach have we done in the past to encourage applications? So, we did have the banner for two weeks. So, I'm going to go and see if we can get some more banner time. But early September, when the thing opened, we had the banner up. At the time, like, you know, where the town banners appear. Oh, yeah. So, I'm going to go back and ask them if they, if they have some more, but it's another three weeks. So, but basically, our Instagram, our Facebook, we can post on that. And if anyone of you is interested in, in being added as an admin, let me know. I will add you to our Facebook and Instagram as admins and you can, you can post there. But typically, I give that job to the youth because they're very good at it. Yeah.
Have we, or I guess maybe a question is, are we allowed to email past grant recipients over the past number of years to encourage them to apply? Yeah. So, I do that as well. Okay. And if I know that somebody has applied in the past or gotten it in the past, even if I don't have that email address, but I, you know, I see them or I have their phone number, I reach out and say, hey. Oh, good. Okay.
So, I will, I will do that again. But there's some people who do apply every year. And I hope, I wish the youth, one of our youth liaisons was here, but because the robotics team, high school robotics team applies every year. So, I'm going to reach out to them and say, hey, why have you not applied? Same thing with the library. The library applies every year. So, I mean, the drafts could be one of them. So, yeah, the historical. Alivi, have you seen the message from Mustafa? He's trying to join, but he's having problems.
I just noticed it. Yeah.
It's not letting him join. Let me see. There's nobody in the attendees either. All of us had issues today, didn't we? Yes. Okay.
Since you mentioned youth, I was like, where's Mary? Yeah. Thank you. Let me reply to him.
Sometimes you can go to the cultural council site on the town page and join as an attendee. And I can pull you in as a panelist if things don't work. But, all right. So, we have some people, again, you know, applying.
The Valen Chinese American Association always applies. Historical Society applies. So, we have a lot of musicians, a whole post row every year. So, these are some regulars who are applying. So, I will reach out to the others who are not on this draft list to remind them to apply. Discovery Museums, our own library. So, I will just reach out to them and make sure that they have applied. I'm going to the library tomorrow. So, I'll just pop in and say hi to Pam and say, have you applied?
But, yeah. So, this is the process. So, what I do is that once we have the panel book, I do like a mentimeter or something. Something of that sort, so we can all go and click yes or no. That will be the first decision. So, in the October one, we will go through the applications and see if we want to or not support them. The only reason why we would not support them is if they do not follow our guidelines. They should be adhering to the Ovalent Cultural Council guidelines, which is very broad. So, we really never refuse anybody for not following our purpose and duties. So, our mission is to grant funds to individuals and organizations that support cultural projects which benefit the community. That's a very broad statement. So, MCC does say that we can't support any religious or political events. And that's the only thing that will disqualify an application for us, right? Like, we will otherwise say yes to most people. Unless, like, we have an overwhelming number of people and we don't have enough money. Right. We really have to cut it down. Even then, in the past, we have tried to partially fund rather than deny. Yeah. Deny.
So, that being said, any questions on that? I can stop sharing. I have one question. So, though I am not going to ask for anyone to submit for Eid, because that is a religious event, I would like a children's event next year at the library. And a few neighbors are interested before Ramadan. So, I am going to talk to them about each culture celebrates it differently. So, we have, like, 30, 40 different ways. People in Azerbaijan versus India versus Syria versus Dubai. They all celebrate differently. So, I have asked the ladies, and I am going to talk to them at the Sunday school, that if they are interested, then they should group together and put together an application. And if I need to help them, I will. But, basically, I have seen a lot of grants for Holi and Diwali and other events. The Chinese, Chinese New Year. So, anything that's not attached to a religious event. Yeah. Because, to me, Holi and Diwali are religious. They are not, actually. Okay. We can argue about that forever. But, you can put it as a cultural or a religious event. So, I don't see how if Holi and Diwali events can be cultural. So, we have not supported. That can't be. We have supported Diwali. And, Diwali is mostly a cultural get-together, not a religious. Sure. We don't do any religious activities at the – they don't do any religious activities. Even at Holi, they don't do any religious activities. It's more cultural. Okay. And we have funded an Iftar dinner previously. Okay. I haven't seen the Iftar dinner thing unless it's the one that Mosaic did last year at the center. So, yeah. And so, he did not submit a application, but we still, from our discretionary fund. Okay. Good. Okay. Okay. Got it. Yeah. So, I don't think I would suggest doing something like that because that feels a little more religious than what I want to propose. But I wanted to do something more fun so the kids can learn about henna and the kind of like making lanterns, that kind of stuff. Absolutely. The fun part. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, that's – the Chinese New Year and the Diwali party, that's basically what they do. Everybody gets together and does some activities and does dinner. Yeah. So, if they're just making cards and drawings and, you know, artwork and they're reading stories and that kind of stuff, doing henna, I think that's fun for the kids. It's cultural. And that's open to everyone. Yeah. Exactly. So, that's what I want to suggest because we did have small efforts done at the library that went really well, but they weren't funded before. So, if we can get funding, we can open it up to the bigger community. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Please do encourage people to apply.
And, you know, we are happy to look at it. And, like you said, you know, we could debate about things endlessly, but we will do what is right for the community at the end of the day. No, of course. Because, yeah, there's obviously a fun part of every event. And then there's – if it's something religious, there's a religious component. But if that's not incorporated, then the funding can be given through a cultural grant. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Any other questions before I move on? You know what? It's so funny. You were talking about the library and email just popped up from yesterday. The panel book, when that is assembled, is that something that you were putting together or is that something that is kind of automatic from the MCC that comes together? So it's – yeah. So it's a PDF that we can download from the portal. Okay, great. Cool. Thank you. And that has, you know, all – it'll give you all the details so we don't have to click through tabs to go through them. Ah, gotcha. So it's all there and then you can take a look at it. Makes it easier to digest. Makes it easier to digest. So we are meeting just around the time that the – the application time, so it's 15th of October. So we're meeting on the 12th. So it's right around the time when the application deadline happens. We may or may not get tricklers between 12th and afterwards. But I think we'll have a very complete picture by then to kind of do the first pass. Yeah. I think our meeting's on the 14th. Yeah. So it's the second – second Wednesday, right? So – Mm-hmm. Yeah. It is the 14th. So one day. So if we do get any more in the next – in the 24 hours after our meeting, then we will think about it. But I think it'll be pretty – pretty complete by then.
Okay. So the next thing was – where did my annual report?
Okay. So we have to look at and agree on the goals and priorities for 2027. So I just emailed all of you some of the goals and priorities. Mm-hmm. We can go through them here line by line and see if you all want any changes. And then I can make them and submit them. And I'm sorry I have to do this now because Marie was supposed to do it and she resigned. And I have to now get it done before the 30th of September. Ah. So I'm going to share my screen. All of you have it in an email, but I'm going to share my screen and also – also read it out aloud for Kevin because he doesn't – he's not near a computer.
Okay. Can you all see my screen? Yes. Okay. So goals for FY27, the Weyland Cultural Council aims to strengthen Weyland's cultural life by fostering meaningful community connections, supporting local artists and organizations, and expanding access to diverse and engaging cultural experiences for residents of all ages and backgrounds. That's the introduction line. Anybody have any other suggestions or corrections for that?
Do we – how often are we trying to stay focused on, say, like, residents versus non-residents? And – So the cultural experience should be for the residents. Yeah. Okay. The experience can be brought by anybody. Gotcha. Okay. So the thing is that we're saying that if – like, for example, somebody plays some music in a restaurant in Sudbury. He's from Weyland and he's going to Sudbury. And his friends or neighbors are all going to that restaurant to listen to him. That's a cultural experience for Weyland residents. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So – So is there a distance, then, of how far – like, Sudbury's next to Weyland, but Boston or Cambridge or Taunton, those are not folks, right? No, as long as they can prove that Weyland residents are able to go there and do this, right? Like, some of them will say that, hey, I'm doing this here and I have a discount for Weyland residents. That's also acceptable. Okay. So if they gave a discount for Weyland residents and they do it a little further away, it's okay. But if – otherwise, the preference is that it's like Weyland next door. Okay. Got it. Correct. So, yes, proximity is important, but if they specifically state that they're doing something extra for Weyland residents, then that's also good. Like, I'll give you an example of where we said no is a football finals watch party in Framingham, and we were like, hmm, I don't think it's – That's cultural? Exactly, right? Like, so we were like, yes, it's interesting. Yes, maybe people of Weyland will go to this place and watch the football finals, but it's not going to enrich us. It's like a party. It's like a frat party. So we're not going to do that. So that was the only thing that we said no to last year, I think. Yeah, because when I was in the Native Council before, and I'm on it again now, in the past, we've given money to Taunton, and I had questioned that. Why are we giving money all the way out to Taunton? That's not easy to get to. So that's why I'm saying that unless it's an event where – and then there was another one where the kids were taking a bus to Concord for a cultural experience. That's fine. That's fine. They were incorporating the cost of transporting the kids from here to there, and so the Native kids were able to actually – we had legitimate reason for saying, okay, it's a museum visit for the Native kids, but – and it was some type of show that was being held there. But that's what I'm trying to make sure, because we don't have that much funding, as you pointed out. Right. So the more we can use for our own town or events very close to our town is better. Absolutely. Absolutely. Which is why we go through that first pass, right? And it's a yes or no. And then the second pass is, can we give them as much as they're asking, or do we have to manage our funds between them? Do we have that clause I read somewhere, and maybe you can explain, the $250, if it's a legit request, then we have to give that as a minimum? Yeah. Yeah. So say, like, somebody asks for $500, and we can't afford to give them $500, we can get $250, right? Correct. And they can ask from three or four neighboring councils, though, for the same event, if it's going to enrich people from all of the towns. Correct. Correct. Got it. Yeah.
All right. I think, you know, if you have attended, or if you can watch the video of the Mass Cultural Council thing, all of this will be iterated there. Yeah, no, I just wanted to confirm that, because for the event that I am proposing, it could be that a Natick or Weyland venue is used. And so, depending on which one, both council applications make sense. Yeah. Natick, I believe, insists on having it in Natick. We don't. We just want you to prove that enough Weyland residents will be. Well, but Natick's the one who gave the funds for Taunton, that's why. Oh, that's interesting. But that was the previous council, not the current one. But I know that the current council does not. No, and is a little more strict, thankfully. Yeah. Yeah. And we are not as strict, but we will prioritize local versus farther away. That's good. Okay. Okay, cool. All right. So, is that, are those, is the introduction to the goals good? Yeah, sounds great. All right. So, bullet number one, we're strengthening partnerships within the Weyland community by developing relationships with the local nonprofits, schools, libraries, senior organizations, civic groups, businesses, and other community organizations to create collaborative cultural programs and reach broader audiences. So, and then, good with that sentence, everybody? Yeah. Okay. Building a stronger local cultural network by connecting artists, cultural organizations, and community groups with one another, and creating opportunities for collaboration, shared resources, and joint programming. And that is something that I put in new because I find myself doing this. I went, for example, I went to that festival that happened in the Newtown Center, and I was looking at somebody, and I said, oh, you know, this, this other person does this something. You should get in touch, like, okay, why don't we do this in a more broader way? We should start, like, putting artists in touch with organizations or vice versa. Like, Shireen, for example, for Iftar, if you need some music or something like that, you know, we have people who do that, and why don't we put them in touch with you? So, so the grant money goes farther, so things like that, so I think that's what we should start doing, supporting local and emerging artists by providing opportunities for artists and cultural organizations to present their work, develop new projects, and contribute to cultural, the cultural vitality of Wayland. So, an example of that would be when we undertook the painting of the utility boxes. And if we wanted local artists, we gave opportunities first to Wayland artists before going outside. So, if we do anything like that, again, we will definitely give an opportunity to local artists. One of the things that I have been thinking of doing is getting in touch with the Council on Aging and kind of start, like, an artwork display of local artists over there because they have so much wall space. Yeah. So, that would be, like, we can use our discretionary funds to kind of do that, and if artists sell, that'll be great. Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, so that's something that I want to start, hopefully, this year.
Everybody good with that sentence? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Expanding access and participation by supporting programs that are affordable, accessible, welcoming, and responsive to the needs and interests of Bayland's diverse residents. So, if people say that, you know, we have this, but we will also have some kind of hearing-enabled description or something like that, so we will definitely prioritize that because that's more accessible and diverse. Not that we won't give others the chance, but it's just something that we tell people that if you can be inclusive in multiple ways, do that. Are we good with that sentence? Yes. Okay. Celebrating Bayland's diverse heritage and community by supporting programs that reflect the many cultures, traditions, and histories, and perspectives represented in the town. So, that kind of includes everything and also the Historical Society work, all the different cultural groups who apply for grants, as well as the Historical Society that kind of works on the on the town and so on and so forth. Are we good with that sentence? Yes. Bringing arts and cultures into community spaces by encouraging creative programming in libraries, schools, parks, community centers, and other public and community spaces throughout Bayland. So, if people say, hey, I want to do this in either the Council on Aging rooms or in the town building rooms, kind of trying to become that liaison and making that space available for them. Right? Like I've tried to, if somebody says, I'm looking for a space in the Council of Aging, I will reach out to somebody and say, hey, this is important. They've got a grant, make space for them. So, making those things happen is also important. Any comments or questions on that? Be good with that? Yeah, I'm good with that. Okay. Encouraging innovation collaboration by supporting new approaches to cultural programming, interdisciplinary projects and partnerships that bring together different artistic and community perspectives. So, an example of that, I put that in because of our support of the mural project on the town pool. Mm-hmm. So, I felt that we should put in language that said, because otherwise people will be like, can I submit this or not? They didn't. We gave them our discretionary funding because they're not sure that we would support it. And I wanted to put in language that said that. Yes, we do. Does that make sense? Is that sentence good? Yeah. And the last one is creating lasting community impact by supporting cultural experiences that encourage residents to participate, connect with each other, discover local talent and develop a stronger sense of belonging within the community. So, an example would be like, an event like what Shireen is suggesting, right? Like, a lot of people go there and find out why certain things are done, even if it's not religious, why is it culturally important to them? And make that group of people welcome and important to the community. And I wanted that language also put in there. Any questions about that? No. Are you good with that? Yeah. All right. So, if you're good with this, I will submit it. So, let me go around. Kevin, are you good with everything I read out? Yeah. Shireen, are you good with everything I read out? Yes. Hayley, are you good with everything I read out? Yes, I am. And I am good too. So, it passes unanimously and I will submit this report to the council, to the town. So, thank you everybody. This was good. And if you do have anything else, do bring it up. And I will wait for a couple of more days, if anybody can think of anything. This is all in your email. And if you can think of anything to add to it, get back to me. And by the end of the week, I will submit it. So, I will wait for a little while for all of you to go through it and digest it. Yeah, sounds great. Thank you for putting that together. Of course. Okay. The next one is potential fundraising and community engagement. I just put this in because that's something that I have been trying to do and I didn't know how to do. But we have new members with new thoughts and we can definitely do this. And I also kind of spoke to a couple of local banks who said that they would be interested for funding in an event if we do something like this. So, it's more of asking you to think about events that align with our goals and will have a community impact through which we, the cultural council can raise funds. So, the funds raised by us will be available to us for any discretionary funding down the road. And we may not be able to add it to this year's funding cycle. But we may be able to do so for next year. But definitely, they will be available for any discretionary funding. Like after the grant cycle is over, if somebody thinks of something that they want to do and it's really interesting, we often don't have the money to find them. So, having a backup plan would really be useful. So, I've been kind of mulling over some kind of a fundraising event that we can have for a while. And I'm bringing this up to all of you again so that you can all put on your thinking gaps and kind of make some proposals and we can take it from there. Any questions about that? What would be the title of the fundraising? So, it depends, right? Like supposing, it will be an event. So, if I have, if we decide we're going to have a music event, we'll say whatever musical event to raise funds for the cultural council. And we won't tell them what the cultural council will use the money for? Or will we have something? It will be a discretionary fund. It will be part of our discretionary fund, which is public, right? So, you can go to the town and ask how much discretionary funds do we have and what have we been using it for? And all of that reporting will be available to the public. Okay. Is this something that we think we'd want to try and hold here before the end of the year? So, like, is there, did you have any timeline that you were thinking about or just? So, yeah. If we have the funds, typically what happens is that around May, April, May, people start thinking about what they want to do and then it's too late for them to apply for funding if they want to do it that year. Mm-hmm. So, that's when I get a lot of questions, right? So, and I'm like, oops, you're four months too late. So, it doesn't, I would say if we can think about it, make a proposal next month in our meeting and then we can, by the end of the year, if we can finalize one event that we'll hold in the next quarter. Okay. That will be great. So, it could be something as general as like a spring event or something. Yeah. Yeah. And when they donate money to this fund, are they getting any kind of donation receipt? So, they are donating it to the city. Mm-hmm. Also, the town. We are not a city, we're a town. Mm-hmm. So, the town will give a receipt, yes. Okay. That's the other question because we're asking for donations and I know that they'll say then who is giving us the donation receipt. Okay. Yeah. So, they typically write checks to the cultural council which will go to the town and the town manager sends them a receipt that they've received. Okay. Any other questions? And the other thing when it just struck me when I was talking about donations, people do send in like mail-in donations if you ask for it. So, we need to check our mailbox which I do once in a while, but they also mail in grant applications. Ah, okay. So, we just. And I can always, I can always pop over. Yeah, pop over and see. Yeah. Whenever like. Like go for a walk. Yeah. Reimbursements, not applications. Oh, yeah. But the reimbursement. But reimbursements. Paperwork and such. Yeah. Okay. So, if you can go, I do, do go once in a while to check in. Check it. Check the, check our mailbox at the town building. But it'll be good if multiple people can go at different times. Yeah. And check. Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled thing. The next thing on the agenda was the Wayland Fest. How do we want to participate? Do you want to have booths? I am busy October 3rd. I'm actually performing that day. Oh, nice. So, if you want to have a booth, what? I'm always supposed to have a booth, but I had to let Frances know that I'll be very late, so I might not be able to even do it. So. Okay. Okay. So. I'm definitely available, available that day. I don't know if. Um. Um. Haley, if you can help me for two hours, then I can keep the table. Yeah. What I'm trying to do is just, um, so you know that Guatemala got bad mudslides and I don't know if you know, but it was in the industry. Yeah. I work with an organization called Souls for Souls and collect shoes. Hmm. And they send them to Guatemala. So I was just supposed to put up a table for four hours. I can only manage two. Ah, okay. That's why if you can hang out at the table for an hour even, it just feels weird to do it for two hours only, like three to five, because I think most people are going to come get lunch from the trucks and leave. So if someone was there more around like noon or an hour, there will be more people there than when the festival is ending. So even if you get a bag, um, what I was going to do is have, uh, coloring materials for the kids so they could come and do some coloring and, you know, learn a little about Guatemala and they can then, if the parents want, uh, donate shoes. I was going to put it on next door, the app that we're doing this and see what's happening. Yeah. Are there, um, are there materials or things that like we could use to display for the cultural council? I have a banner. So when I meet with you, I can bring you the banner. Okay. Yeah. So you can, yeah, double use it. I just booked the table and now I can tell Francis again, if you're going to be there anyways, and I'm going to have the box next to it. So I'll give you the coloring material and the shoe box and you can put the banners for the cultural council. Yeah. Two and one for the table. Yeah, no, no, that sounds good. And, um, and, uh, yeah. Yeah. And I know that when we were talking about meeting, um, we wanted to include you since we were both, uh, new for this, uh, new to the council. So yeah, maybe the three of us can find a time here in the next week or so, just so we can get that set up. Great. Yeah. Okay. All right. Um, moving on to the rail trail banner project. I don't have any updates. Marie was working with them. I'm going to catch up with her sometime. Okay. I have been traveling. Um, and I just came back yesterday morning. So, um, I will catch up with her and get some updates on that. And then we'll, um, move forward. Um, mural project. Also, I need to catch up with, um, I wish Mustafa was able to join because, um, Mariam, his mother was following up on that. And I need to catch up with her and see where that's at, because we have reviewed, we have allocated $500 for it, but, um, I, I have to figure out how to dispense that, whether they, they need to submit any receipts to us, or I can just get them down to write them a check from our, from the cultural council to them. But that's about it about that. Any questions with those two projects? Oh, the mural project you're saying wasn't something that someone applied for a grant for? We, we, uh, are paying them from our discretionary fund. Okay. So you don't need to have the receipts just for a record, you know, if they audit us. Yeah, no, that's what I'm, I'm, I need to make sure. Okay. So, and, and Miriam was following up on that. So I'll, I'll get in touch with her and, and follow up and make sure that we have, we've dotted all our eyes and crossed all our teeth. Okay. So we, we do need more members. Um, I'll talk to someone this weekend. She moved back to, um, Wayland and she moved back this year. And she herself is an artist. So she went. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe, maybe at Wayland Fest too, I can try and, uh. Recruit. Charm people into, uh. Yeah. Thinking about. Tell them how fun we are. Right. Um, and we do party. I mean, we do the, um, banquet for the, uh, grant recipients, which is a lot of fun. Oh, nice. Okay. Um, any other, any other business that we haven't touched upon? No. Okay. Do we have a motion for adjournment? Yeah. The, um, the only other last thing I would say is, um, I, I know I do have a, a previously scheduled, um, performance before I had joined the council, uh, the, uh, that Wednesday in October, um, the 14th. Um, so I don't know. I'm, I know we, um, had rescheduled this one for September. If that, uh, is worth trying to reschedule or if we know we'll have enough for a quorum without. Yeah. I can find out because. Okay. If everybody's free the, the following Wednesday, we can definitely move it as long as there's a zoom available. Okay. This got delayed so much because there wasn't, because other councils also use. We have one town zoom account. So, and we have to use the town zoom account. Right. To be on record. Of course. So, um, I will find out, um, if it is available for the following week. And if it is, we move it to, uh, October 21st. If not. Okay. People hold it. Um, and if everybody's fine, like moving it to Thursday. I should be. What just happened? I should be. Okay. I should be able to do that date. Okay. Thanks, Kevin. How about you, Shereen? I'm. Yeah, I'm fine. Is it worth, is it worth seeing if the 28th is also available just in case we do need to, um. Correct. Okay. And we will need three meetings to finish. The grand. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I don't want to cancel the October meeting. Oh, no. Yeah, definitely not. I just wanted to make sure knowing that, uh, for us to be able to make quorum and. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I will find out if those two weekends, the zoom is available. The sooner we tell them the better. And then, um, I think going forward, if he, I know previously, previous, um, last two of them. Yeah. I was like, you've, you've. I cloned myself. Yeah. No, but, um, it, uh, if we can't help previously, um, arranged engagements, but for the future. Of course. Yeah. I was like, it's on, it's on my calendar now for the next three years. So now I will know, have that for any time. Yeah. It's only performances. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Wonderful. We're able to make this work. Yeah. Uh, motion to adjourn. Okay. Yes. Are you, are you motioning to adjourn Haley? I guess I am. Yes. Okay. Do I have a second? Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Um, Kevin seconded it Haley. Uh, and, um, okay. Adjourning. Yes. Kevin, are you okay. Adjourning. Yes. Haley. Are you okay. Yes. And I'm as well. So unanimously be agreed to adjourn at 8 10 PM. Yes. And I'm going to have to wait to attend a minute. Yes. Yes. I'm sure. So I am sure to be able to attend a minute. Yes. No, no. No, no, no. No. No, no. No, no.
So, yes, Kevin. Oh, Robbie, did Karen Blumenfeld get in touch with you? Because I think she was going to talk to you at one point. No, she hasn't. Okay, all right, I'll send her a text, just a reminder. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm happy to talk to anybody about it. I wanted to briefly touch upon lessons learned from last cycle and improvements for the next cycle. But, Kevin, you're the only one who was part of the last cycle. Do you have any comments about how it went last time and if we can make any improvements this time?
Off the top of my head, no, not right now. Okay.
Okay. All right. So, the next, any questions about the grant cycle? Do you want me to show you the portal and how things will run and so on? I just have one question. Out of the 22 people who got the grants, how many have already had their events? So, we have had, I believe, 16 people already submit reimbursements. I don't know whether everybody has had their events, but the 16 people who submitted have had their events. There are only two others who haven't submitted and I don't know whether they've had events or not. But some people have events and they take their time submitting the reimbursement. So, I'm hoping everybody's had events, but we've had 16 people submit for reimbursement. And so, for the other six people, have they at least given you possible dates? Because isn't the cycle that they have to have the events this year? Yes, in the year 2026, but they don't have to submit the reimbursement until January of 2027. Okay. Because we have like 10 weeks left or so, right? No, 12. 12 weeks. 12 weeks left. If you, yeah, if people do want to have the events, Christmas or Thanksgiving. Right. So, typically, I send out a reminder for those who haven't submitted so that they, some people, you know, also forgot because they couldn't somehow do their events. But we will only know about that end of the year. So, people do push it to the last minute sometimes. No, I'm just asking because I don't know if you have to do a final report to the Mass Cultural Council. That I have to do before the next grant cycle. So, the Mass Cultural Council reports are due in July and August. Okay. So, it's due like end of December. Yeah. And we kind of give a grace period if they do submit in February or March. We still honor it as long as they've held their events in the previous year. Mm-hmm. So, almost up until I have to generate the report and submit it, I will honor it. Because I know people are busy and they don't get to do this. So, I don't want them to miss out on the money. Yeah.
Any other questions?
I will briefly go over. So, all of you should have gotten a login. Mm-hmm. And if you've already logged in, great. If not, once you log in, I've started sharing my window. Let me know if you can see it.
Yes. So, this is what you will see. And the important thing is this panel book. Once it's ready, I will generate it and send it out to all of you. But all of you have access to it, too. And you can look at it. And then if you look at the three submitted drafts, you will see who they are, how much they are asking, and what the total is. And the first page, this previous page, shows you how much we have, right? Like, at the bottom, somewhere, it should show you how much we have.
I forget where it was, but one of these pages, it does show that we have $7,000. It's here.
This is a very confusing website. I just saw it, and I was like, oh, it's here. And now I don't see it. But this is the financial report. That's not it. That's my profile. That's a news cycle. Maybe. No. Okay. Not here. Okay. So, we go here, and then we can open it, and read through the application. They have what the project is, what their budget is, and how much they're asking. In this case, right, like, they're asking for their entire budget.
And any additional matter, like, there's a block party flyer that they've given us. This is the 2026 block party flyer. So, it's not a 2027 thing. So, basically, when we go through our decision process, I'm going to enter our decision here and approve it. Or, you know, if you decide to decline it, I will decline it. So, it's very straightforward. All of you can go and take a look at this page and go through them. So, it looks like we have, so far, if all the people in the draft state submit, we will have nine. So, we want to encourage more people to apply and look, you know, look for money. And it's not a whole lot. So, what happens if we don't end up spending all the money? It will be available to us in the 2028 cycle. So, not in the, sorry, 20, so this is the 2027 cycle. So, it will be available for us in the 2029 cycle. So, any unspent money will be available to us in the next cycle. So, unspent money from the 2026 cycle is available for us in the 2028 cycle. So, the question Sherry asked, what if they don't submit for reimbursement? We just hold on to that money and we add it to our pot in the, not the next cycle, but the cycle after. So, do we, what sort of outreach have we done in the past to encourage applications? So, we did have the banner for two weeks. So, I'm going to go and see if we can get some more banner time. But early September, when the thing opened, we had the banner up. At the time, like, you know, where the town banners appear. Oh, yeah. So, I'm going to go back and ask them if they, if they have some more, but it's another three weeks. So, but basically, our Instagram, our Facebook, we can post on that. And if anyone of you is interested in, in being added as an admin, let me know. I will add you to our Facebook and Instagram as admins and you can, you can post there. But typically, I give that job to the youth because they're very good at it. Yeah.
Have we, or I guess maybe a question is, are we allowed to email past grant recipients over the past number of years to encourage them to apply? Yeah. So, I do that as well. Okay. And if I know that somebody has applied in the past or gotten it in the past, even if I don't have that email address, but I, you know, I see them or I have their phone number, I reach out and say, hey. Oh, good. Okay.
So, I will, I will do that again. But there's some people who do apply every year. And I hope, I wish the youth, one of our youth liaisons was here, but because the robotics team, high school robotics team applies every year. So, I'm going to reach out to them and say, hey, why have you not applied? Same thing with the library. The library applies every year. So, I mean, the drafts could be one of them. So, yeah, the historical. Alivi, have you seen the message from Mustafa? He's trying to join, but he's having problems.
I just noticed it. Yeah.
It's not letting him join. Let me see. There's nobody in the attendees either. All of us had issues today, didn't we? Yes. Okay.
Since you mentioned youth, I was like, where's Mary? Yeah. Thank you. Let me reply to him.
Sometimes you can go to the cultural council site on the town page and join as an attendee. And I can pull you in as a panelist if things don't work. But, all right. So, we have some people, again, you know, applying.
The Valen Chinese American Association always applies. Historical Society applies. So, we have a lot of musicians, a whole post row every year. So, these are some regulars who are applying. So, I will reach out to the others who are not on this draft list to remind them to apply. Discovery Museums, our own library. So, I will just reach out to them and make sure that they have applied. I'm going to the library tomorrow. So, I'll just pop in and say hi to Pam and say, have you applied?
But, yeah. So, this is the process. So, what I do is that once we have the panel book, I do like a mentimeter or something. Something of that sort, so we can all go and click yes or no. That will be the first decision. So, in the October one, we will go through the applications and see if we want to or not support them. The only reason why we would not support them is if they do not follow our guidelines. They should be adhering to the Ovalent Cultural Council guidelines, which is very broad. So, we really never refuse anybody for not following our purpose and duties. So, our mission is to grant funds to individuals and organizations that support cultural projects which benefit the community. That's a very broad statement. So, MCC does say that we can't support any religious or political events. And that's the only thing that will disqualify an application for us, right? Like, we will otherwise say yes to most people. Unless, like, we have an overwhelming number of people and we don't have enough money. Right. We really have to cut it down. Even then, in the past, we have tried to partially fund rather than deny. Yeah. Deny.
So, that being said, any questions on that? I can stop sharing. I have one question. So, though I am not going to ask for anyone to submit for Eid, because that is a religious event, I would like a children's event next year at the library. And a few neighbors are interested before Ramadan. So, I am going to talk to them about each culture celebrates it differently. So, we have, like, 30, 40 different ways. People in Azerbaijan versus India versus Syria versus Dubai. They all celebrate differently. So, I have asked the ladies, and I am going to talk to them at the Sunday school, that if they are interested, then they should group together and put together an application. And if I need to help them, I will. But, basically, I have seen a lot of grants for Holi and Diwali and other events. The Chinese, Chinese New Year. So, anything that's not attached to a religious event. Yeah. Because, to me, Holi and Diwali are religious. They are not, actually. Okay. We can argue about that forever. But, you can put it as a cultural or a religious event. So, I don't see how if Holi and Diwali events can be cultural. So, we have not supported. That can't be. We have supported Diwali. And, Diwali is mostly a cultural get-together, not a religious. Sure. We don't do any religious activities at the – they don't do any religious activities. Even at Holi, they don't do any religious activities. It's more cultural. Okay. And we have funded an Iftar dinner previously. Okay. I haven't seen the Iftar dinner thing unless it's the one that Mosaic did last year at the center. So, yeah. And so, he did not submit a application, but we still, from our discretionary fund. Okay. Good. Okay. Okay. Got it. Yeah. So, I don't think I would suggest doing something like that because that feels a little more religious than what I want to propose. But I wanted to do something more fun so the kids can learn about henna and the kind of like making lanterns, that kind of stuff. Absolutely. The fun part. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, that's – the Chinese New Year and the Diwali party, that's basically what they do. Everybody gets together and does some activities and does dinner. Yeah. So, if they're just making cards and drawings and, you know, artwork and they're reading stories and that kind of stuff, doing henna, I think that's fun for the kids. It's cultural. And that's open to everyone. Yeah. Exactly. So, that's what I want to suggest because we did have small efforts done at the library that went really well, but they weren't funded before. So, if we can get funding, we can open it up to the bigger community. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Please do encourage people to apply.
And, you know, we are happy to look at it. And, like you said, you know, we could debate about things endlessly, but we will do what is right for the community at the end of the day. No, of course. Because, yeah, there's obviously a fun part of every event. And then there's – if it's something religious, there's a religious component. But if that's not incorporated, then the funding can be given through a cultural grant. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Any other questions before I move on? You know what? It's so funny. You were talking about the library and email just popped up from yesterday. The panel book, when that is assembled, is that something that you were putting together or is that something that is kind of automatic from the MCC that comes together? So it's – yeah. So it's a PDF that we can download from the portal. Okay, great. Cool. Thank you. And that has, you know, all – it'll give you all the details so we don't have to click through tabs to go through them. Ah, gotcha. So it's all there and then you can take a look at it. Makes it easier to digest. Makes it easier to digest. So we are meeting just around the time that the – the application time, so it's 15th of October. So we're meeting on the 12th. So it's right around the time when the application deadline happens. We may or may not get tricklers between 12th and afterwards. But I think we'll have a very complete picture by then to kind of do the first pass. Yeah. I think our meeting's on the 14th. Yeah. So it's the second – second Wednesday, right? So – Mm-hmm. Yeah. It is the 14th. So one day. So if we do get any more in the next – in the 24 hours after our meeting, then we will think about it. But I think it'll be pretty – pretty complete by then.
Okay. So the next thing was – where did my annual report?
Okay. So we have to look at and agree on the goals and priorities for 2027. So I just emailed all of you some of the goals and priorities. Mm-hmm. We can go through them here line by line and see if you all want any changes. And then I can make them and submit them. And I'm sorry I have to do this now because Marie was supposed to do it and she resigned. And I have to now get it done before the 30th of September. Ah. So I'm going to share my screen. All of you have it in an email, but I'm going to share my screen and also – also read it out aloud for Kevin because he doesn't – he's not near a computer.
Okay. Can you all see my screen? Yes. Okay. So goals for FY27, the Weyland Cultural Council aims to strengthen Weyland's cultural life by fostering meaningful community connections, supporting local artists and organizations, and expanding access to diverse and engaging cultural experiences for residents of all ages and backgrounds. That's the introduction line. Anybody have any other suggestions or corrections for that?
Do we – how often are we trying to stay focused on, say, like, residents versus non-residents? And – So the cultural experience should be for the residents. Yeah. Okay. The experience can be brought by anybody. Gotcha. Okay. So the thing is that we're saying that if – like, for example, somebody plays some music in a restaurant in Sudbury. He's from Weyland and he's going to Sudbury. And his friends or neighbors are all going to that restaurant to listen to him. That's a cultural experience for Weyland residents. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So – So is there a distance, then, of how far – like, Sudbury's next to Weyland, but Boston or Cambridge or Taunton, those are not folks, right? No, as long as they can prove that Weyland residents are able to go there and do this, right? Like, some of them will say that, hey, I'm doing this here and I have a discount for Weyland residents. That's also acceptable. Okay. So if they gave a discount for Weyland residents and they do it a little further away, it's okay. But if – otherwise, the preference is that it's like Weyland next door. Okay. Got it. Correct. So, yes, proximity is important, but if they specifically state that they're doing something extra for Weyland residents, then that's also good. Like, I'll give you an example of where we said no is a football finals watch party in Framingham, and we were like, hmm, I don't think it's – That's cultural? Exactly, right? Like, so we were like, yes, it's interesting. Yes, maybe people of Weyland will go to this place and watch the football finals, but it's not going to enrich us. It's like a party. It's like a frat party. So we're not going to do that. So that was the only thing that we said no to last year, I think. Yeah, because when I was in the Native Council before, and I'm on it again now, in the past, we've given money to Taunton, and I had questioned that. Why are we giving money all the way out to Taunton? That's not easy to get to. So that's why I'm saying that unless it's an event where – and then there was another one where the kids were taking a bus to Concord for a cultural experience. That's fine. That's fine. They were incorporating the cost of transporting the kids from here to there, and so the Native kids were able to actually – we had legitimate reason for saying, okay, it's a museum visit for the Native kids, but – and it was some type of show that was being held there. But that's what I'm trying to make sure, because we don't have that much funding, as you pointed out. Right. So the more we can use for our own town or events very close to our town is better. Absolutely. Absolutely. Which is why we go through that first pass, right? And it's a yes or no. And then the second pass is, can we give them as much as they're asking, or do we have to manage our funds between them? Do we have that clause I read somewhere, and maybe you can explain, the $250, if it's a legit request, then we have to give that as a minimum? Yeah. Yeah. So say, like, somebody asks for $500, and we can't afford to give them $500, we can get $250, right? Correct. And they can ask from three or four neighboring councils, though, for the same event, if it's going to enrich people from all of the towns. Correct. Correct. Got it. Yeah.
All right. I think, you know, if you have attended, or if you can watch the video of the Mass Cultural Council thing, all of this will be iterated there. Yeah, no, I just wanted to confirm that, because for the event that I am proposing, it could be that a Natick or Weyland venue is used. And so, depending on which one, both council applications make sense. Yeah. Natick, I believe, insists on having it in Natick. We don't. We just want you to prove that enough Weyland residents will be. Well, but Natick's the one who gave the funds for Taunton, that's why. Oh, that's interesting. But that was the previous council, not the current one. But I know that the current council does not. No, and is a little more strict, thankfully. Yeah. Yeah. And we are not as strict, but we will prioritize local versus farther away. That's good. Okay. Okay, cool. All right. So, is that, are those, is the introduction to the goals good? Yeah, sounds great. All right. So, bullet number one, we're strengthening partnerships within the Weyland community by developing relationships with the local nonprofits, schools, libraries, senior organizations, civic groups, businesses, and other community organizations to create collaborative cultural programs and reach broader audiences. So, and then, good with that sentence, everybody? Yeah. Okay. Building a stronger local cultural network by connecting artists, cultural organizations, and community groups with one another, and creating opportunities for collaboration, shared resources, and joint programming. And that is something that I put in new because I find myself doing this. I went, for example, I went to that festival that happened in the Newtown Center, and I was looking at somebody, and I said, oh, you know, this, this other person does this something. You should get in touch, like, okay, why don't we do this in a more broader way? We should start, like, putting artists in touch with organizations or vice versa. Like, Shireen, for example, for Iftar, if you need some music or something like that, you know, we have people who do that, and why don't we put them in touch with you? So, so the grant money goes farther, so things like that, so I think that's what we should start doing, supporting local and emerging artists by providing opportunities for artists and cultural organizations to present their work, develop new projects, and contribute to cultural, the cultural vitality of Wayland. So, an example of that would be when we undertook the painting of the utility boxes. And if we wanted local artists, we gave opportunities first to Wayland artists before going outside. So, if we do anything like that, again, we will definitely give an opportunity to local artists. One of the things that I have been thinking of doing is getting in touch with the Council on Aging and kind of start, like, an artwork display of local artists over there because they have so much wall space. Yeah. So, that would be, like, we can use our discretionary funds to kind of do that, and if artists sell, that'll be great. Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, so that's something that I want to start, hopefully, this year.
Everybody good with that sentence? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Expanding access and participation by supporting programs that are affordable, accessible, welcoming, and responsive to the needs and interests of Bayland's diverse residents. So, if people say that, you know, we have this, but we will also have some kind of hearing-enabled description or something like that, so we will definitely prioritize that because that's more accessible and diverse. Not that we won't give others the chance, but it's just something that we tell people that if you can be inclusive in multiple ways, do that. Are we good with that sentence? Yes. Okay. Celebrating Bayland's diverse heritage and community by supporting programs that reflect the many cultures, traditions, and histories, and perspectives represented in the town. So, that kind of includes everything and also the Historical Society work, all the different cultural groups who apply for grants, as well as the Historical Society that kind of works on the on the town and so on and so forth. Are we good with that sentence? Yes. Bringing arts and cultures into community spaces by encouraging creative programming in libraries, schools, parks, community centers, and other public and community spaces throughout Bayland. So, if people say, hey, I want to do this in either the Council on Aging rooms or in the town building rooms, kind of trying to become that liaison and making that space available for them. Right? Like I've tried to, if somebody says, I'm looking for a space in the Council of Aging, I will reach out to somebody and say, hey, this is important. They've got a grant, make space for them. So, making those things happen is also important. Any comments or questions on that? Be good with that? Yeah, I'm good with that. Okay. Encouraging innovation collaboration by supporting new approaches to cultural programming, interdisciplinary projects and partnerships that bring together different artistic and community perspectives. So, an example of that, I put that in because of our support of the mural project on the town pool. Mm-hmm. So, I felt that we should put in language that said, because otherwise people will be like, can I submit this or not? They didn't. We gave them our discretionary funding because they're not sure that we would support it. And I wanted to put in language that said that. Yes, we do. Does that make sense? Is that sentence good? Yeah. And the last one is creating lasting community impact by supporting cultural experiences that encourage residents to participate, connect with each other, discover local talent and develop a stronger sense of belonging within the community. So, an example would be like, an event like what Shireen is suggesting, right? Like, a lot of people go there and find out why certain things are done, even if it's not religious, why is it culturally important to them? And make that group of people welcome and important to the community. And I wanted that language also put in there. Any questions about that? No. Are you good with that? Yeah. All right. So, if you're good with this, I will submit it. So, let me go around. Kevin, are you good with everything I read out? Yeah. Shireen, are you good with everything I read out? Yes. Hayley, are you good with everything I read out? Yes, I am. And I am good too. So, it passes unanimously and I will submit this report to the council, to the town. So, thank you everybody. This was good. And if you do have anything else, do bring it up. And I will wait for a couple of more days, if anybody can think of anything. This is all in your email. And if you can think of anything to add to it, get back to me. And by the end of the week, I will submit it. So, I will wait for a little while for all of you to go through it and digest it. Yeah, sounds great. Thank you for putting that together. Of course. Okay. The next one is potential fundraising and community engagement. I just put this in because that's something that I have been trying to do and I didn't know how to do. But we have new members with new thoughts and we can definitely do this. And I also kind of spoke to a couple of local banks who said that they would be interested for funding in an event if we do something like this. So, it's more of asking you to think about events that align with our goals and will have a community impact through which we, the cultural council can raise funds. So, the funds raised by us will be available to us for any discretionary funding down the road. And we may not be able to add it to this year's funding cycle. But we may be able to do so for next year. But definitely, they will be available for any discretionary funding. Like after the grant cycle is over, if somebody thinks of something that they want to do and it's really interesting, we often don't have the money to find them. So, having a backup plan would really be useful. So, I've been kind of mulling over some kind of a fundraising event that we can have for a while. And I'm bringing this up to all of you again so that you can all put on your thinking gaps and kind of make some proposals and we can take it from there. Any questions about that? What would be the title of the fundraising? So, it depends, right? Like supposing, it will be an event. So, if I have, if we decide we're going to have a music event, we'll say whatever musical event to raise funds for the cultural council. And we won't tell them what the cultural council will use the money for? Or will we have something? It will be a discretionary fund. It will be part of our discretionary fund, which is public, right? So, you can go to the town and ask how much discretionary funds do we have and what have we been using it for? And all of that reporting will be available to the public. Okay. Is this something that we think we'd want to try and hold here before the end of the year? So, like, is there, did you have any timeline that you were thinking about or just? So, yeah. If we have the funds, typically what happens is that around May, April, May, people start thinking about what they want to do and then it's too late for them to apply for funding if they want to do it that year. Mm-hmm. So, that's when I get a lot of questions, right? So, and I'm like, oops, you're four months too late. So, it doesn't, I would say if we can think about it, make a proposal next month in our meeting and then we can, by the end of the year, if we can finalize one event that we'll hold in the next quarter. Okay. That will be great. So, it could be something as general as like a spring event or something. Yeah. Yeah. And when they donate money to this fund, are they getting any kind of donation receipt? So, they are donating it to the city. Mm-hmm. Also, the town. We are not a city, we're a town. Mm-hmm. So, the town will give a receipt, yes. Okay. That's the other question because we're asking for donations and I know that they'll say then who is giving us the donation receipt. Okay. Yeah. So, they typically write checks to the cultural council which will go to the town and the town manager sends them a receipt that they've received. Okay. Any other questions? And the other thing when it just struck me when I was talking about donations, people do send in like mail-in donations if you ask for it. So, we need to check our mailbox which I do once in a while, but they also mail in grant applications. Ah, okay. So, we just. And I can always, I can always pop over. Yeah, pop over and see. Yeah. Whenever like. Like go for a walk. Yeah. Reimbursements, not applications. Oh, yeah. But the reimbursement. But reimbursements. Paperwork and such. Yeah. Okay. So, if you can go, I do, do go once in a while to check in. Check it. Check the, check our mailbox at the town building. But it'll be good if multiple people can go at different times. Yeah. And check. Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled thing. The next thing on the agenda was the Wayland Fest. How do we want to participate? Do you want to have booths? I am busy October 3rd. I'm actually performing that day. Oh, nice. So, if you want to have a booth, what? I'm always supposed to have a booth, but I had to let Frances know that I'll be very late, so I might not be able to even do it. So. Okay. Okay. So. I'm definitely available, available that day. I don't know if. Um. Um. Haley, if you can help me for two hours, then I can keep the table. Yeah. What I'm trying to do is just, um, so you know that Guatemala got bad mudslides and I don't know if you know, but it was in the industry. Yeah. I work with an organization called Souls for Souls and collect shoes. Hmm. And they send them to Guatemala. So I was just supposed to put up a table for four hours. I can only manage two. Ah, okay. That's why if you can hang out at the table for an hour even, it just feels weird to do it for two hours only, like three to five, because I think most people are going to come get lunch from the trucks and leave. So if someone was there more around like noon or an hour, there will be more people there than when the festival is ending. So even if you get a bag, um, what I was going to do is have, uh, coloring materials for the kids so they could come and do some coloring and, you know, learn a little about Guatemala and they can then, if the parents want, uh, donate shoes. I was going to put it on next door, the app that we're doing this and see what's happening. Yeah. Are there, um, are there materials or things that like we could use to display for the cultural council? I have a banner. So when I meet with you, I can bring you the banner. Okay. Yeah. So you can, yeah, double use it. I just booked the table and now I can tell Francis again, if you're going to be there anyways, and I'm going to have the box next to it. So I'll give you the coloring material and the shoe box and you can put the banners for the cultural council. Yeah. Two and one for the table. Yeah, no, no, that sounds good. And, um, and, uh, yeah. Yeah. And I know that when we were talking about meeting, um, we wanted to include you since we were both, uh, new for this, uh, new to the council. So yeah, maybe the three of us can find a time here in the next week or so, just so we can get that set up. Great. Yeah. Okay. All right. Um, moving on to the rail trail banner project. I don't have any updates. Marie was working with them. I'm going to catch up with her sometime. Okay. I have been traveling. Um, and I just came back yesterday morning. So, um, I will catch up with her and get some updates on that. And then we'll, um, move forward. Um, mural project. Also, I need to catch up with, um, I wish Mustafa was able to join because, um, Mariam, his mother was following up on that. And I need to catch up with her and see where that's at, because we have reviewed, we have allocated $500 for it, but, um, I, I have to figure out how to dispense that, whether they, they need to submit any receipts to us, or I can just get them down to write them a check from our, from the cultural council to them. But that's about it about that. Any questions with those two projects? Oh, the mural project you're saying wasn't something that someone applied for a grant for? We, we, uh, are paying them from our discretionary fund. Okay. So you don't need to have the receipts just for a record, you know, if they audit us. Yeah, no, that's what I'm, I'm, I need to make sure. Okay. So, and, and Miriam was following up on that. So I'll, I'll get in touch with her and, and follow up and make sure that we have, we've dotted all our eyes and crossed all our teeth. Okay. So we, we do need more members. Um, I'll talk to someone this weekend. She moved back to, um, Wayland and she moved back this year. And she herself is an artist. So she went. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe, maybe at Wayland Fest too, I can try and, uh. Recruit. Charm people into, uh. Yeah. Thinking about. Tell them how fun we are. Right. Um, and we do party. I mean, we do the, um, banquet for the, uh, grant recipients, which is a lot of fun. Oh, nice. Okay. Um, any other, any other business that we haven't touched upon? No. Okay. Do we have a motion for adjournment? Yeah. The, um, the only other last thing I would say is, um, I, I know I do have a, a previously scheduled, um, performance before I had joined the council, uh, the, uh, that Wednesday in October, um, the 14th. Um, so I don't know. I'm, I know we, um, had rescheduled this one for September. If that, uh, is worth trying to reschedule or if we know we'll have enough for a quorum without. Yeah. I can find out because. Okay. If everybody's free the, the following Wednesday, we can definitely move it as long as there's a zoom available. Okay. This got delayed so much because there wasn't, because other councils also use. We have one town zoom account. So, and we have to use the town zoom account. Right. To be on record. Of course. So, um, I will find out, um, if it is available for the following week. And if it is, we move it to, uh, October 21st. If not. Okay. People hold it. Um, and if everybody's fine, like moving it to Thursday. I should be. What just happened? I should be. Okay. I should be able to do that date. Okay. Thanks, Kevin. How about you, Shereen? I'm. Yeah, I'm fine. Is it worth, is it worth seeing if the 28th is also available just in case we do need to, um. Correct. Okay. And we will need three meetings to finish. The grand. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I don't want to cancel the October meeting. Oh, no. Yeah, definitely not. I just wanted to make sure knowing that, uh, for us to be able to make quorum and. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I will find out if those two weekends, the zoom is available. The sooner we tell them the better. And then, um, I think going forward, if he, I know previously, previous, um, last two of them. Yeah. I was like, you've, you've. I cloned myself. Yeah. No, but, um, it, uh, if we can't help previously, um, arranged engagements, but for the future. Of course. Yeah. I was like, it's on, it's on my calendar now for the next three years. So now I will know, have that for any time. Yeah. It's only performances. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Wonderful. We're able to make this work. Yeah. Uh, motion to adjourn. Okay. Yes. Are you, are you motioning to adjourn Haley? I guess I am. Yes. Okay. Do I have a second? Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Um, Kevin seconded it Haley. Uh, and, um, okay. Adjourning. Yes. Kevin, are you okay. Adjourning. Yes. Haley. Are you okay. Yes. And I'm as well. So unanimously be agreed to adjourn at 8 10 PM. Yes. And I'm going to have to wait to attend a minute. Yes. Yes. I'm sure. So I am sure to be able to attend a minute. Yes. No, no. No, no, no. No. No, no. No, no.