Creating a bold 2021

By Steven Froias

The New Bedford arts community and creative businesses have big plans to put some sizzle into your winter and some engaging culture into your entire year as it plans for both a pandemic, and post-pandemic, 2021.

First up is #nbfestive Winter Places. This pop-up series will take place at various hot spots throughout downtown New Bedford – places where residents and visitors can “warm up, chill out, shop small, and eat local,” beginning on the weekend of Thursday, February 11 through February 14 and continuing every weekend thereafter until spring. On those weekends, artists, performers, and downtown businesses will offer a variety of special events and programming in the city that are safe and fun for all ages.

Preservation Planner Anne Louro explains, “The City of New Bedford received a Winter Placemaking grant through Bench Consulting’s ‘Winter Places’ program, with funding support from the Barr Foundation, to implement programming and placemaking within the downtown’s public spaces.”

Highlights of the series include the following: the CVPA star series will run through May 2021 at the corner of Purchase and Union Streets from 6 to 8 pm. It will feature performers, artists, video, and more inside its street-level display windows while patrons watch from outside or on a live stream.

Wings court, entered into via Purchase or Union Streets, will host fire pits and curling games on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 8 p.m. all winter long. Between activities, you can enjoy the plethora of small businesses and eateries which circle Wings Court and radiate out for blocks around.

Also on Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m. over in custom house square ParK, a snow-making machine will lend a hand to Mother Nature so that you can take advantage of some sledding on the rolling landscape.

At all times throughout the winter months of #NBfestive Winter Places, patrons can enjoy special lights installed in Wings Court and Custom House Square and public art displays – including a large five-foot snowflake by city artist Jessica Bregoli, a six-foot lantern by Tim Catz, and an 18-foot selfie-ready scallop boat made by carpenters of the city Public Works Department and painted by Mandy Fraser.

To add to the #NBfestive atmosphere, downtown’s many storefronts will be beautifully decorated and specially lit, and colorful banners will be flying above the streets.

#NBfestive Winter Places partners the City of New Bedford with Destination New Bedford, New Bedford Creative, UMass Dartmouth CVPA, and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park along with its hip destination small businesses and creative residents.

Jennifer Smith, Superintendent of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, emphasizes that the event is part of a year-round effort to engage the community. “The winter placemaking activities planned are in support of the National Park Service’s efforts to provide safe and engaging outdoor recreational opportunities for our visitors.”

Chill out

Meanwhile, this year’s Wicked Cool Places arts and culture grants have been selected for projects that will stretch across all of 2021, and hopefully embrace a post-pandemic future.

Wicked Cool Places is the City of New Bedford’s grant program for creative placemaking, funded by the city of New Bedford’s Arts, Culture + Tourism Fund, with additional funding by Bristol County Savings Bank.

New Bedford’s Creative Strategist, Margo Saulnier explains, “Wicked Cool Places seeks to unite both property and business owners with artistic and cultural groups and design and preservation specialists with business and development experts to help transform New Bedford’s overlooked or undervalued places.”

2021 grants

3rd EyE Unlimited, a youth empowerment group, is putting on (Y)Our New Bedford: The Secret City Revealed, which will consist of four interlocking complementary components, drawing upon the creativity and energy of multiple members of the 3rd EyE team. “Secret City” is the idea that New Bedford contains hidden cultural treasures.

In an effort to continue supporting Black-owned businesses, the organization BuyBlackNB will host an outdoor market in Custom House Square Park, downtown New Bedford, where all people are invited to come purchase goods and services from BIPOC- (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Owned Businesses in a safe and inclusive place.

Another project seeks to revitalize the park space at the corner of Phillips Avenue and Acushnet Avenue – the PhilliPs ave PocKet ParK. Currently, the park lacks adequate shade or shelter structures, lighting, interactive elements, and recycling and trash receptacles. It’s continuation of design proposals developed by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Interior Architecture + Design (IAD) students in Fall 2020.

Downtown New Bedford, Inc. (dNB) will coordinate a series of seasonal placemaking events in partnership with downtown businesses, shops, restaurants, museums, nonprofits, and other establishments to draw residents and visitors to the city. Artists, musicians, and performers will be hired for each event, and each will celebrate New Bedford’s unique culture and sense of place.

“New Deadford,” by artist Fitzcarmel LaMarre, is a multifaceted, community-inclusive project based on a graphic novel telling the rich history of New Bedford through the lens of a zombie apocalypse. Part of the project entails robust community outreach, working with underserved youth at creative arts workshops, in collaboration with 3rd EyE Unlimited, Our Sisters School, and the New Bedford Housing Authority.

A teen Yoga Project entitled teensXyoga intends to inspire the last stage of the Creative Courts project at Clasky Commons Park – completing the mural on the walls surrounding the court. The Creative Courts project is based on dialogue between locals and the artist, Marie Molteni, and teensXyoga plans to ignite conversation in the space while practicing yoga, meditation, journalling, and communication.

The New Bedford Art Museum’s Artmobile will continue to be a travelling creative placemaking locale in 2021, where youth will engage in artistic and inventive instruction with quality art supplies. This year, it will be incorporating mediums and materials that highlight the Museum’s tour-de-force summer exhibit featuring Ruth E. Carter, Academy Award-winning costume designer of Black Panther, Malcolm X, Amistad, Do the Right Thing, and other outstanding motion pictures.

The New Bedford Festival Theatre’s Summer Academy will offer a third year of performance opportunities for teen artists – with a helping of social justice theatre. The focus for the Summer Academy 2020 production will be a piece of theatre that allows for diverse casting which is representative of the New Bedford community.

And finally, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra’s music in the streets programs will enable the orchestra to collaborate with a number of organizations, bringing music to streets and outdoor locales across the city. These areas may include parks, mural sites, housing authorities, and parts of towns that are home to diverse ethnic groups.

So, rest assured that between #NBfestive Winter Places and Wicked Cool Places, New Bedford will have plenty to offer residents and visitors alike during the year. And don’t we all just need it by now?

Keep updated on all that’s happening at NewBedfordCreative.org.

Steven Froias is a freelance writer based in New Bedford and is a regular -contributor for The South Coast Insider and South Coast Prime Times. He can be reached at NewBedfordNow@gmail.com.