2025 WCC Community Grant Awards
The Westport Cultural Council awarded nearly $67,000 in grants to over twenty organizations and individuals for 2025-2026. The funding will support a wide range of arts, entertainment, educational, theatrical, civic, literary, and historical programs which will serve Westport and neighboring communities.
The WCC’s Community Grants are made possible through the support of the Helen E. Ellis Trust, administered by the Bank of America, and the Westport Cultural Gift Fund, which receives its funding through the generosity of an anonymous Westport family. The family encourages others to join them in contributing to the Fund to help sustain the WCC’s work to enrich arts and cultural programs in our community.
The Landscape About Us: A SouthCoast Anthology, has been selected by the Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE) for its “short list” of IPNE annual book awards. The book received an Honorable Mention. The award list honors books throughout the six states of New England while the judging panel is composed of experienced editors, librarians, booksellers, literary agents and other industry professionals. “Our goal is to highlight for readers the best of independent publishing and to recognize authors and publishers for fine work.” The project, which received sponsorship from the Westport Cultural Council, features twenty-five local authors and photographers while production included LCF Design, a Westport book designer, and Country Press of Lakeville, MA.
2024-25 Local Grants Awarded
Congratulations to the 2024-25 recipients of local Massachusetts Cultural Council grants. The Westport Cultural Council awarded 20 programs a total of $9,000 for projects ranging from a student theater workshop to a local jazz festival, from complimentary tickets for seniors to a symphonic concert to a kid’s all-abilities surf competition, and much more.
For more information send an Email to info@midoricreativity.com or click here to register
2024 EVENTS
On Saturday, July 27th, 5:00pm at Buzzards Bay Brewery, Improv Jones will be performing a FREE improvised comedy show brought to life from audience suggestions.
Improv Jones, New England’s longest running improv comedy act, originated in 1992 bringing together some of the finest performers in the area to bring consistently hilarious shows to Rhode Island and beyond. IJ recently was recognized as “Best Improv Comedy” at the 2024 Motif RI Spoken Word Awards.
The brewery has limited lawn chairs and picnic tables, so audiences are encouraged to bring a camp chair or blanket. Come out and enjoy an evening of laughs, great drinks, and food trucks, all in Buzzards Bay Brewing’s beautiful outdoor setting!
Summer Film Series
We are excited to announce the lineup for the 2024 Westport Summer Film Series with four screenings July through September. The first three events will feature a selection of award-winning films including the “greatest fish story ever told”, an Academy Award-nominated and Sundance winning documentary about a family farm, and a fascinating profile of the renowned sculptor and Martha’s Vineyard resident Lew French.
July 17, 31, August 14
Doors open at 6pm, Films start 7pm
Weatherlow Farms
All screenings are free admission and made possible through the generosity of contributors to the Westport Cultural Gift Fund. Though the screenings are free, seating is limited. Tickets may be reserved at https://westport-cultural-council.eventbrite.com
The three events in July and August will feature guest speakers and Q&A sessions after the screenings, plenty of socializing, a spectacular setting at Weatherlow Farm’s beautiful post-and-beam functions facility offering refreshments, beer and wine.
July 17
"I was shocked by how good it was."
~Paul Brynes, The Sydney Morning Herald
In the spring of 1990, Jeanne Jordan’s father Russel called Jeanne and her husband, Steven Ascher, in Boston and announced that he might very well be facing his last year of farming. The farm that Russel and Mary Jane Jordan worked and lived on had been in the family for 125 years. Troublesome Creek is the Oscar nominated and Sundance award winning story of the Jordan family’s gamble to save their Iowa farm. It is a story of passages, and the undeniable sweep of changing times. It is also a story of how family and community ties can be maintained, and even strengthened, during the most trying of times.
Filmmakers Steve Ascher and Jeanne Jordan will present the film and answer questions afterwards.
July 31
An experience of biblical proportions
In the shark-filled waters off Cape Cod, Michael Packard has long tempted fate. For several months a year, Packard and his longtime mate, Josiah Mayo, cast off nearly every morning around dawn and navigate through the half-light to their diving grounds off Provincetown, the idiosyncratic, isolated community where they grew up at the tip of the Cape. Packard buckles on his scuba tank and plunges into the cold waters to hunt on the seafloor.
In The Whale is an award-winning feature-length film about arguably the greatest fish story ever told, though this one is true. It’s the account of a man who survived to tell the tale of being swallowed by a whale, and what happened after he escaped.
Director and Pulitzer Prize-wining reporter David Abel will speak after the film and answer questions.
August 14
Presented in conjunction with the South Coast Artists.
Lew French may first appear as unyielding and imposing as the granite he works with
but beneath this artist’s rigid exterior is a naturalist who has spent two decades building his dream home in the Brazilian rainforest.
The Power of Stone is a glimpse into the life of renowned stone artist, Lew French, during the time he was working to create the Rose Styron Garden for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. This behind-the-scenes look at Lew’s process of creating his first public work— the Rose Styron Garden—takes viewers from a granite quarry in New Hampshire where Lew shares insights into his stone selection to Brazil, where Lew has spent 20 years creating the most singular expression of himself in the remote mountains of the Atlantic Rainforest. As one observer in the film put it, “Don’t be tricked by the idea that he’s a stone mason. He’s sort of a philosopher, artist, spiritual guide who’s working with stone.”
Artist Lew French and filmmaker Barbarbello Fokos will speak and answer questions after the film.
September 27
Westport Grange
Join 100,000 film lovers in over 500 cities across six continents
The Series’ fourth event will be held at the historic Westport Grange featuring the highly acclaimed Manhattan Short collection of international short films which asks the audience members to vote for their favorite film. The eventual winner qualifies for Oscar consideration.
Doors open at 6 PM and the show starts at 6:30.
No refreshments will be available, and no alcohol is allowed at the Grange. Feel free to bring your own refreshments, but please be sure to take away any trash you create at the end of the evening.
2024 Westport Community Grants Awarded
A New Gift Fund!
We are excited to announce the creation of the Westport Cultural Gift Fund, which has been made possible through the kind generosity of a Westport family that wishes to remain anonymous. The new fund will be used to significantly augment the impact of the Helen E Ellis Grant.
The WCC is extremely appreciative and thankful to the family for their contribution, which will help the council expand the scope of programs it supports.
The family hopes others with join them and contribute to the fund.
2023-24 LCC Grants
The Westport Cultural Council received 29 grant applications for projects requesting a total of nearly $28,000 in funding. The WCC’s allotment of LCC funding is approximately $8,000 for the 2023/24 grant cycle. Grant winners will be announced soon.
Funds for LCC grants are allocated to each town in the state by the Massachusetts Legislature. More than 2,500 volunteers serve on 329 Local Cultural Councils, the most extensive, grass-roots cultural funding network in America.
For more information or questions please send us a note via our Contact page.