Arts Council

The Billerica Arts Council, renamed the Billerica Cultural Council about 2021, is the town's local arts lottery council, established under Chapter 790 of the Acts of 1979, the act that created a state lottery for the arts. Local councils are appointed by the town's executive body, the selectmen, and have at least five unpaid members serving two-year terms, who may be reappointed for no more than two further terms; lottery funds were first distributed to towns on June 1, 1981. The first Billerica council appears in the 1980 town report, with Bradford Nyhan as chairman.

Funded through the state arts lottery and later the Massachusetts Cultural Council, it awards grants to local artists and to groups for arts, science and cultural programs, such as library events, town celebrations and projects of the Billerica Historical Society. Around 1991 it ran an art gallery in the lower level of Town Hall and took part in the Yankee Doodle Weekend. Rows here come from the officer lists in the annual town reports; the missing 1986 and 2007 lists are bridged.