Melting of the winter snow revealed damaged to many of the artist built street furniture in Union Square. The copper benches got big dings that peeled back the metal, one of the glass benches shattered, the barrel can no longer be closed and the ceramic sculpture, looks like that one is a total loss.
Boston Globe’s Danielle Dreilinger reports.
Before….
And after.
A major reason how the Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion does so much programming in Union Square on a super modest budget, and the secret behind why those festivals, markets and art installations are so varied, innovative and well-attended is because their organized with a Call for Producers Model.
If you’ve got a great event idea you can pitch it to the ArtsUnion team and your project could be among this year’s line-up. From the Fluff Festival (produced by us here at Union Square Main Streets) to Project MUM (thanks ARTSomerville), from the Rock & Roll Yard Sale to last year’s Bloom that brought a field of paper flowers to Prospect Hill and a higher profile of artist Hannah Verlin, local groups and individuals are putting on the show.
The Somerville Arts Council helps with publicity, provides support and base funding to make the program happen.
Want to take part? Check out what happened last year for inspiration. You’ll find the application for 2011 ArtsUnion events here.
Deadline is April 1.
The top photo is by Linda Gritz from the 2010 Fluff Festival. Bottom photo is, I believe, by Hannah Verlin of her installation, Bloom.
The Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion presents “Tales from Somerville: A Community Storytelling Slam.” The event takes place Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 8 pm at PA’s Lounge.
The community storytelling event will feature long-time Somerville residents, business owners, artists and other Somerville community members who will tell stories about their lives in Somerville. Similar to an open-mic style event, each person telling a story will be chosen ahead of time and will tell their story in front of a live audience. Each storyteller will have about 5-10 minutes to tell their story in the casual and welcoming environment of PA’s lounge in Union Square, Somerville. There will be a ballot passed out and there will be voting at the end for the title of ‘Best Somerville Tale’! Co-produced by Bess Paupeck and the Somerville Arts Council.
Tim Devin has been asking people across the city to imagine what the future might hold for Somerville in the future. For nearly two years he collected government plans, think tank vision statements and interviewed ordinary folks about their hopes and fears for the next one hundred years.
He posted this fanciful, sometimes frightening, ever intriguing timeline on the project’s website.
This weekend Tim is presenting his community art project, “The history of Somerville, 2010-2100″ at the Nave Gallery. The timeline as developed will be posted and you can add your own predictions as well. The event includes a short talk by Futurist Seth Itzkan; theremin music by Adam Schutzman; and something I call ”Future-aoke”– where people can step up on the mic for a few minutes, and share their thoughts on the future.
Opening reception is Saturday, February 5 at 6 pm. See the Nave Gallery website for complete details and other open hours.
Posted in -Blog Posts, Development Tools
Tagged community art, events, future, planning
