Spreading culture, spreading light

Spreading culture, spreading light PRIME LIVING

Steven Froias

One of the features that now distinguish New Bedford is its Seaport Cultural District, a section of the city centered and containing numerous cultural destinations.

Populating the district are anchor institutions like the New Bedford Whaling Museum, National Whaling Historical Park, and the New Bedford Art Museum. You’ll also find a plethora of creative shops, galleries, small businesses, and signature events, like the monthly AHA! New Bedford celebration.

In all, New Bedford’s Seaport Cultural District contains 49 cultural attractions, over 30 creative economy businesses, and all the amenities of the city’s downtown. It functions as a regional hub on the South Coast, just one hour from Boston, half an hour from Cape Cod and Plymouth, and also just half and hour from Providence and Newport.

Now, the Seaport Cultural District is making room for even more partners by expanding its boundaries. Coming together Launched in 2011 by an act of the state legislature, cultural districts are overseen by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). A cultural district is a walkable, compact area that is easy for visitors and residents to recognize. Each is designed to help tell the story of their communities, and function as hubs of cultural, artistic, and

economic activity. There are a limited number of districts throughout Massachusetts and all are rigorously designated or redesignated by the MCC. The idea of a Seaport Cultural District has been a successful one for the city. Indeed, the MCC has agreed with the City of New Bedford’s recent proposal to expand the boundaries of the Seaport Cultural District throughout the downtown. Along with that agreement, the MCC also redesignated the cultural district within this historic seaport city for another five years.

Pushing the boundaries of arts and culture as well as history further than ever before in New Bedford, the expanded Seaport Cultural District will now include the Abolition Row Historic District and the Mechanics Lane Historic District within its continuous boundaries. In its application to the MCC, Seaport Cultural District steering committee members wrote, “Borne aloft by the wind to the port of New Bedford, Abolition Row is where the revered national historical figure Frederick Douglass first tasted freedom from slavery. It comprises a unique and cohesive group of residential properties along Seventh Street, which represent the city’s significant role in the larger Abolition Movement.”

Meanwhile, Mechanics Lane is aptly named for the laborers who once resided there. It is a distinctive concentration of working-class houses located just east of County Street, today comprised of a narrow lane between North Sixth and Eighth Streets. The Mechanics Lane Historic District also includes or abuts several significant cultural venues. Those include the former First

Baptist Church, currently being renovated by WHALE as The Steeple Playhouse (the future home of Your Theatre Inc.), and Gallery X, the city’s first cooperative arts venue. For the first four years of considerable assets, and in concert with these new elements, New Bedford’s Seaport Cultural District is positioned for amazing growth over its next five years.”

A steering committee of

theaddition oftheAbolition Ro andMechanicsLane HistoricDistricts illdee en theex erienceofs ending timein theculturaldistrict

its existence, the district was handled by the city’s Department of Tourism and Marketing. With the creation of the city’s first ever Arts and Culture Plan, and the hiring of a Creative Strategist to help guide and then implement that plan, it made sense to include the district in this comprehensive vision. It is now managed through the New Bedford Economic Development Council (NBEDC). Diffuse ossibilities Today, Creative Strategist Margo Saulnier at the NBEDC is able to fully integrate the district into the larger arts and culture decision making process. (You can learn more and receive regular arts eNews alerts through the website, NewBedfordCreative.org.)

Saulnier says of MCC’s continued support, “The Seaport Cultural District designation helped enlarge New Bedford’ identity beyond its historic roots as the one-time whaling capital of the world. Today, the city is recognized as a regional arts and culture leader, and having a cultural district validates that appeal. Now, the addition of the Abolition Row and Mechanics Lane Historic Districts will deepen the experience of spending time in the cultural district.

“Together with its already arts, municipal, and business leaders also help guide the course of the Seaport Cultural District, in partnership with other local organizations. In the redesignation and expansion application, the following was submitted to the MCC.

“We believe that the next five years in downtown New Bedford will fundamentally alter the existing status quo and propel the city to new heights of cultural and commercial relevancy on the South Coast. Especially with the looming offshore wind energy industry about to turn New Bedford into the 21st century version of its 19th century self – a city that lit the world and adopted the motto, Lucem Diffundo, ‘I spread the light.’

“It is, then, an opportune time to vigorously seize the mantle of being not only New Bedford’s Seaport Cultural District, but a Seaport Cultural District for all off Massachusetts and New England. A place of creativity, enterprise, and opportunity defined not by borders but by unlimited imagination.”

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.

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