Hanover Cultural Council eyes student roles
HANOVER – The Hanover Cultural Council is looking to bring more young voices into town decision-making on arts and culture programs, with a new initiative to add high school students as non-voting members.
Chair Chris Haraden and member Bonnie Clarke outlined the plan at the Aug. 11 Select Board meeting, explaining that the effort follows a recommendation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council encouraging local boards to involve youth.
The Hanover Cultural Council’s mission is to “promote excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences in the town," with the goal of serving as many Hanover residents as possible.
Haraden said the town’s bylaws allow appointments based on residency rather than age, making student participation possible. “Under bylaw 425, the only requirement is residence for appointment to a town committee,” Haraden said.
Clarke highlighted the benefits for students, from community service hours to civic engagement. “You can put this on your resume for college. This is a volunteer town activity and apparently that is very important on resumes these days,” Clarke said.
She added that the experience could expose teenagers to grant writing, town government, and project planning. “You get a real education on grant writing by being on the cultural council,” Clarke said.
In Fiscal Year 2025, the council received an $8,400 allocation from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, along with funds raised during Hanover Day, to distribute through grants. With that support, the council has funded projects for the Council on Aging, Hanover Public Schools, South Shore Technical High School, Walnut Hill Garden Club, John Curtis Free Library, and the Hanover Historical Society.
Council members said they plan to start by working with Hanover High School teachers to identify interested students and possibly expand in the future to include students at South Shore Vocational Technical High School. “We can have up to 22 members on our committee. We now have nine, so we [have] plenty of room. And I say the more the merrier here,” Clarke told the board.
Select Board members expressed support, praising the opportunity to connect students with town government. Board Chair Rhonda Nyman said the initiative would likely require future meetings to finalize details but called the proposal promising. “I think the will of the board is with you to move forward with that,” Nyman said.
Town Manager Joe Colangelo also voiced support, citing his past experience with student members on committees in another community. “We had student members on all committees and boards…[and] my experience… implementing this across all committees was extremely positive and [there was] a lot of great feedback from them,” Colangelo said.
The Cultural Council plans to continue developing a process for recruitment and participation, with Select Board members indicating they would revisit the topic in upcoming meetings.