BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The town board has designated the St. Lawrence County Arts Council (SLC Arts) as the town of Potsdam’s local arts agency which will allow the agency to apply for federal grant funding.

SLC Arts Director Maggie McKenna gave a presentation to the town board at their meeting July 13, describing the work of the organization which manages the art exhibits hosted in the town office building on Elm Street, offers art education, and organizes numerous art events throughout the county.

McKenna also described the work the agency does to support art and creative endeavors in the entire North Country region by serving as a local distributor for State Council on the Arts dollars and other grants, and how they support organizations and populations which are traditionally underserved.

McKenna said that the agency would like to apply for some of the available American Rescue Fund dollars, however SLC Arts needs to be designated as the town’s local arts agency to qualify to apply for the grant funding.

The organization is planning to apply for about $150,000, McKenna said. One hundred thousand dollars of that would be directed to agencies, groups and organizations that SLC Arts can’t fund through their normal regrant process, she said.