The 40th annual Cambridge Arts River Festival energized Central Square on June. 1 with the Kevin Harris Project's performance on the Jazz Stage.

Thank You For A Wonderful Year

All of us at Cambridge Arts would like to thank you for joining us in making our community more creative each and every day of 2019. Relive the highlights in the photos below. And we can't wait for you to see what we have in store for 2020….. 

“Come Play!," in Cambridge Arts’ Gallery 344 in February, offered a free arcade of cardboard games developed by undergraduate students at Lesley Art + Design in Cambridge.

The plan was to print writing from our Sidewalk Poetry program during the River Festival. On April 12, 2019, we (successfully) tested it out with a 2-ton steamroller.

Cambridge Arts' Gallery 344 was renovated in April, getting a new ceiling and new, more energy-efficient lights to showcase art and design.

In April, Liane Noddin (left) and David Fichter installed a mosaic that they made with students at Fletcher Maynard Academy onto the outside of the school. Displayed on the corner of the building at the intersection of Broadway and Windsor Street, the mosaic is one of 11 cultural projects coming to Cambridge’s Port neighborhood as part of Cambridge Arts’ FLOW programming. Funded with $300,000 through the City’s trailblazing percent-for-art ordinance, FLOW is tied to a major City infrastructure construction project to reduce flooding in this neighborhood between Central and Kendall squares.

In “Untold Possibilities at the Last Minute,” an exhibition on view at Cambridge Arts’ Gallery 344 from May to October 2019, local artists explored the state of climate change. “Artists tackle the urgency of climate change with pragmatism, metaphor, and infographics, aiming to present science in ways that strike home,” Cate McQuaid wrote in The Boston Globe on Aug. 11. “Jean Wilcox, David Buckley Borden, and others address what brought us here and where we might be going, with themes including air and water quality and rising temperatures.” And WBUR looked into the exhibition's food programming: "Invasive Species For Dessert? Food Makers Hope 'Future' Sweets Get Us Talking About Climate Change."

At the 40th annual Cambridge Arts River Festival in Central Square on June. 1, artist Liz LaManche led the painting of a "Keep the Earth Bountiful" mural, supported by Oxfam.

The Putnam Avenue Upper school Drumline performed at the River Festival on June 1.

Moonrise Fae danced along Massachusetts Avenue in the Mermaid Promenade at the River Festival, June 1.

People’s Sculpture Racing pushed, pulled, and pedaled contraptions down Massachusetts Avenue to kick off the 40th annual Cambridge Arts River Festival on June 1.

Ideas, Not Theories performed at King Open School on July 18 as part of Cambridge Arts' annual Summer In The City series.

beheard.world, led by Anna Myer and Jay Paris, performed "Invisible Imprints" at Clement Morgan Park basketball court on July 18. It is one of 11 cultural projects for Cambridge’s Port neighborhood funded by the FLOW program.

Urbanity Dance got the audience on their feet during their Summer In The City performance at Ahern Field on July 24.

Over the summer, the second version of the Home Port Ground Mural from the Community Art Center was painted on Windsor Street between School and Washington Streets. The mural, one of 11 cultural projects coming to Cambridge’s Port neighborhood as part of Cambridge Arts’ FLOW programming, is part of the larger Home Port initiative that aims to brand the Port as a place for connection, creativity and culture.

Cambridge Arts Executive Director Jason Weeks (right) was honored with the 2019 Cambridge Jazz Festival Cammy Award on July 28, honoring individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to improving the lives of young adults. … Then on Sept. 19, as Jason rotated off the board of MassCreative, which he helped launch 12 years ago, the State House and Senate honored him with official citations recognizing his “leadership as a founding board member of MassCreative and your passionate advocacy for a more creative, vibrant, and connected Commonwealth.”

At the end of July, Cambridge Arts Director of Public Art Lillian Hsu (center) led a tour of public art around Cambridge's Central Square--including Lena McCarthy's mural "Power" on Green Street at Inman Street. It's one of the murals painted over the past couple years via the Central Square Mural Project, a collaboration between the Central Square Business Association, the Central Square BID, Central Square Cultural District and Cambridge Arts, that has been commissioning murals in high-profile locations along the Massachusetts Avenue Corridor.

Bee Parks and the Hornets Band performed during the Summer In The City series at Riverside Press Park on Aug. 1

Boston Lightsaber Stage Combat Club taught the ways of the Force before a Summer In The City movie screening at the East Cambridge Savings Bank Parking Lot on Aug. 8.

Nova Jiang’s “Same Boat Now” sculpture was installed on the ceiling of the new King Open / Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex cafeteria in August. The artwork is funded by the City’s Percent-for-Art ordinance, which requires that 1 percent of the construction costs on municipal capital investment be designated for use in developing site-responsive public artwork.

Cambridge Arts Collections Care Specialist Nichole Speciale tends to the Fokin Memorial by Konstantin Simun in Brattle Square as part of the Cambridge Arts Conservation Program’s annual summer cleaning and maintenance of the City’s collection of more than 280 works of contemporary public art.

Craig Uram joined Cambridge Arts as our new Director of Art Conservation at the end of August. He comes to Cambridge Arts from Wellesley College’s Davis Museum, where he was a preparator and collections care specialist. He has previously done art and objects conservation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Harvard. In addition to his part-time role with Cambridge Arts, Craig maintains a private practice.

Vermont's legendary Bread and Puppet Theater gave a free performance of its "Diagonal Life Circus" on Cambridge Common on Aug. 31 to wrap up our 2019 Summer In The City series.

In late August and early September, Chelsea-based artist Silvia López Chavez invigorated the facade of Cambridge’s Central Square Branch Library with a new 240-foot-long mural celebrating the ways libraries serve communities. The project was commissioned by the Central Square Business Association/Business Improvement District in partnership with the Cambridge Public Library; Cambridge Department of Traffic, Parking & Transportation; and Cambridge Arts. The painting is also part of the Central Square Mural Project.

Kirsten Swartz, joined Cambridge Arts as our new Community Arts Administrator in September, helping with Cambridge Arts Open Studios, grants and many other programs. She comes to us from Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, where she was Manager of Exhibitions and Events. Previously she was the Museum Education Coordinator at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York, and was a Program Coordinator and Independent Living Counselor at the Learning Disabilities Association in Syracuse, New York. In addition to her work here, Kirsten does watercolor and pen and ink illustration, quilting, and fiber art.

Taylor Mortel (left) sketches portraits at Maud Morgan Arts during the annual Cambridge Arts Open Studios on Sept. 28.

Gail Willett (from left), Poppy Milner and Amy Meltzer exhibit at Antrim Street Studio during Cambridge Arts Open Studios, Sept. 28.

At the end of September, we bade farewell to our friend and colleague Julie Barry, Director of Community Arts for Cambridge Arts, who is moving on to new adventures. Julie oversaw the Cambridge Arts River Festival, Open Studios, Summer In The City, grants and many other cultural programs. “After 11 wonderful years, I have made the very difficult choice to step away from the Cambridge Arts Council," she wrote. "It has been an amazing experience! I have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone here in Cambridge, it has truly been my pleasure and honor to serve this incredible community. That said, this is not ‘good bye’ but only ‘until next time!’ My journey is not taking me far, just a little closer to home. I am thrilled to report that as of Oct. 7, I will be the new Planner of Arts & Culture for the City of Salem, Massachusetts.” (Photo above courtesy of Bimal Nepal , a photographer from Nepal who runs a portrait studio in Cambridge.)

Each year, Cambridge Arts boosts dozens of artists and cultural organizations with tens of thousands of dollars in grants. In 2019 one of the grants supported “Those Who Served: The Stories & Lives of Veterans," a dance piece developed through a series of workshops at the Dance Complex (pictured above) with local dancers, veterans and the military community to explore “the complex challenges facing our military in America 2019.” It was then performed in November at the Cambridge nonprofit.

After three years away, in September, Judy McKie's restored "Alley Cats" benches (pictured above) were reinstalled in the garden outside Cambridge's new Valente Branch Library at the King Open / Cambridge Street Upper Schools and Community Complex. It's just one of the artworks enlivening the facility. Nova Jiang’s new “Same Boat Now” kinetic sculpture hangs from the ceiling of the new schools' cafeteria. Around the other side of the complex at the Frisoli Youth Center, Jay Coogan’s dogs and cats sculptures have returned to energize the playground. A bronze valve plate by Mags Harries and Lajos Heder—part of their "Drawn Water" at the Fresh Pond water treatment facility—was reinstalled in the sidewalk in front of the school. A new sidewalk poetry poem by Jeffrey Walker was imprinted out front of the school. And in early 2020, we plan to install Randal Thurston's new outdoor aluminum artworks at the Goldstar Mothers Pool at the complex.

Cambridge Arts Public Art Administrator Hilary Zelson (left), Community Arts Administrator Kirsten Swartz and the Cambridge Arts team installed fresh art by Cambridge artists at Workbar, the Central Square coworking space on Nov. 6, as part of Cambridge Arts’ Creative Marketplace corporate exhibitions program. The program supports local artists while enlivening corporate and business environments in the city. “You’re lifted up. … You’re more energized,” Jerome Maryon, an attorney and professor who uses Workbar, says of the art there. “Once you’re energized your work day is going to flow that much better.”

Our Cambridge Arts’ Public Art staff led a tour of artworks around Central Square—including Graffiti Alley—for elementary school art teachers from Cambridge Public Schools (picture above) in November. Want to schedule a free tour of public art in the city for your group? Email [email protected].

Cambridge artist Karl Baden (right) celebrated the debut of his "Mass Ave, Cambridge" exhibition at Gallery 344 on Nov. 18 with Cambridge Arts Director of Public Art Lillian Hsu. The spark for the documentary project began with a conversation they had and then led to Baden photographing the Cambridge thoroughfare for two years.

In November, David Fichter (left) worked with guests at Cambridge's Moses Youth Center on a community mosaic for the exterior of the building. The collaborative artwork is one of 11 cultural projects coming to Cambridge’s Port neighborhood as part of Cambridge Arts’ FLOW project.

On Dec. 4, a panel assembled to review grant applications for musical projects. Each night that week arts experts examined all the applications we received this fall. The grant program is serious work And it embodies the heart of what we do at Cambridge Arts: Nurture all the creativity of our community.

Cambridge Arts showcased locally-made arts and crafts in two Holiday Art Markets in December--at the Harvard Square Kiosk (pictured) and Harvard University's Smith Center. The Creative Marketplace project is one of the ways Cambridge Arts fosters economic opportunities for local creatives.

Cambridge Arts is the River Festival, Open Studios, Gallery 344, Sidewalk Poetry, Summer In The City, Community Supported Art, grants to artists, street performers, more than 280 works of contemporary public art in every neighborhood of the city, and a conservation program to preserve them for the future.

We are the Cambridge Arts Council, a City agency that funds, promotes, and presents high-quality, community based arts programs for the benefit of artists, residents, and visitors in Cambridge. Active since 1974, Cambridge Arts is one of the most dynamic local arts agencies in the country. Cambridge Arts exists to ensure that the arts remain vital for people living, working and visiting Cambridge.

 

The City of Cambridge does not discriminate on the basis of disability. We will provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternate formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to persons with disabilities upon request. 

For information contact Cambridge Arts: [email protected], 617-­349-­4380 or TTY: 617­-349­4621