'A game changer': New Bedford Creative has big plans for $1 million grant

Seth Chitwood, Standard-Times
·5 min read

NEW BEDFORD – News that the Barr Foundation awarded the New Bedford Economic Development Council (NBEDC) a three-year $1,000,000 grant is a “game changer” for 2023.

“It’s a game changer for sure,” said Margo Saulnier, director and creative strategist for the nonprofit. “This is a validation for the work that we've been doing for the past five years.”

Since Mayor Jon Mitchell proposed the Arts, Culture and Tourism fund in 2016, investing in the creative sector and positioning the arts as a vital component of economic development, New Bedford Creative has been working diligently, publishing its strategic arts and culture plan, “New Bedford Creative: our Art, our Culture, our Future,” in 2019.

New Bedford artists celebrating grants they received in March 2022 from the New Bedford Creative.
New Bedford artists celebrating grants they received in March 2022 from the New Bedford Creative.

“As soon as you bring in creative people and honor the traditions and the cultures of the people who live here, then magic starts to happen,” Saulnier said,

According to Saulnier, during fiscal year 2022, the $107,600 investment from the City’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Fund leveraged an additional total amount of $1,173,816 from Arts Midwest, Bristol County Savings Bank, MassDevelopment/TDI, Mass Cultural Council, New Bedford Local Cultural Council, New England Foundation for the Arts, SouthCoast Community Foundation, and grantees of Wicked Cool Places and Art is Everywhere!

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“It is a no-brainer investment, when you are investing $100,000 a year, and it is now over a million dollars,” Saulnier said. “To have the Barr Foundation highlight and recognize what we’re doing in such a short time, is amazing.”

The Barr Foundation's $1 million grant, to be paid out over the next three years, will push the arts and culture scene in New Bedford even further and faster toward its goals, Saulnier said.

How this will impact artists in the city

Saulnier said the grant will go toward supporting the general operation of New Bedford Creative, including hiring a second person to oversee the programs.

First starting as a part-time employee in 2017, Saulnier became a full-time employee this past year. Before working in New Bedford, she was the project consultant for the Celebrity Series of Boston, the artistic programming consultant for Rockport Music and the assistant director of artistic planning for the Boston Pops.

Margo Saulnier, director and creative strategist for the New Bedford Creative.
Margo Saulnier, director and creative strategist for the New Bedford Creative.

Not only will the Creative offer more opportunities for training, providing grants for individual arts, but Saulnier’s intention is to grow the creative network and make it more accessible to all artists in the area.

“If you're an individual artist in New Bedford, your network is going to expand pretty dramatically,” she added.

Saulnier also said this year will have several opportunities for artists to integrate with infrastructure projects with the redevelopment along the waterfront, the airport and the South Coast rail project.

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“We want creative artists' input in those types of projects,” she said, adding that she hopes to also integrate more of the creatives directly into other industries in the city.

More recently, the city has been at the forefront of dedicating American Rescue Plan Act aid to assist local artists and arts and culture organizations, with funds distributed under three separate initiatives administered by the NBEDC’s New Bedford Creative: Wicked Cool Places, Art is Everywhere, and ARTnet.

The grant will also increase their output with artists by two to three times.

One of the outdoor community dance parties at Riverside Park hosted by New Moon Dance Party.
One of the outdoor community dance parties at Riverside Park hosted by New Moon Dance Party.

This year, the office collaborated with 44 contracts, 30 individual arts and 14 placemaking contracts. “These are projects that are being done for the most part by residents of New Bedford, for residents of New Bedford,” Saulnier said.

Looking back on a successful 2022

This year, some of the projects funded by the arts, culture and tourism fund included reggae on West Beach, an inclusive, diverse, multigenerational, family-friendly summer series.

Massachusetts Design, Art, and Technology Institute (DATMA) collaborated with New Bedford High School faculty and students, artist Silvia López Chavez, and NORPEL Fisheries to create a three-dimensional public art mural.

Executive Director, New Bedford Art Museum/Artworks! Suzanne de Vegh, right, with artist Devin Nived Mclaughlin, left, who takes his pantings on the road such as at the "Love Letters for New Bedford" event at the Whaling Museum.
Executive Director, New Bedford Art Museum/Artworks! Suzanne de Vegh, right, with artist Devin Nived Mclaughlin, left, who takes his pantings on the road such as at the "Love Letters for New Bedford" event at the Whaling Museum.

New Moon Dance Party presented a series of outdoor community dance parties during warmer months at Riverside Park. These events will be radically inclusive, providing a safe place for self-expression to all dancers.

The Community Economic Development Center designed “Patio de Comida” specifically to serve the city’s Latino population. It features foods from Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and more at Riverside Park.

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In December 2022, the short film titled “New Bedford Love Letters” was created by New Bedford filmmaker Ethan de Aguiar and Beatriz Oliveira as an end of a year culmination of creating a connection initiative with Arts Midwest, which chose New Bedford to be its place-based pilot.

With resources through Arts Midwest, which is a grant from the Barr Foundation, it tested the idea of what happens if you take one place and put in a framework of connecting the values that everyone has with creativity and its arts and culture.

Coastal Foodshed, a program that received a grant from the New Bedford Arts, Culture and Tourism fund, introduces guests to local artists, chefs and musicians during its New Bedford Farmers Market.
Coastal Foodshed, a program that received a grant from the New Bedford Arts, Culture and Tourism fund, introduces guests to local artists, chefs and musicians during its New Bedford Farmers Market.

In the film, several artists speak about their experiences with New Bedford; as well it features some of the Creating Connection Creative Ambassadors such as Mandy Fraser, Candida Rose Baptista, Gerardo Beltrán Salinas, Iva Brito, Cedric Douglas, Rhonda M. Fazio and Julia Roth.

The film is now currently on a film festival run.

Art created by New Bedford's Mandy Fraser.
Art created by New Bedford's Mandy Fraser.

Saulnier said they are already evaluating what worked and didn’t work in 2022, or what needs to be improved, as she formulates an official plan.

“At the end of the day, our success is directly tied to the artists and organizations in New Bedford,” she said.

“People who are on the ground actually making the creative work happen, that is where we need to be sending more and more of our support, because they're the ones actually making an impact in their communities.”

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports.Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford Economic Development Council gets $1 million, sets goals