Arts + Policy

CommonWealth wins six awards from New England newspaper association

Four first-place honors across a range of coverage areas among the winning entries

By CommonWealth Staff Journalism awards 0 Comments May 5, 2022

COMMONWEALTH WON SIX AWARDS, including four first-place designations, from the New England Newspaper & Press Association in its Better Newspaper Competition. The awards were for articles written between August 1, 2020 and July 31, 2021. The awards were announced over the weekend at the association’s annual convention in Boston. CommonWealth competed in the category of(...)

Using art to address social issues

Projects across state taking up the challenge

By Beth Francis and Peter Taylor Arts and Culture 0 Comments Apr 14, 2022

First in a series of commentaries on arts in community LeLand Gantt’s performance of Rhapsody in Black was an entry point for people in an overwhelmingly White region to talk about race. This compelling one-man show exploring racism, identity, and self-image was presented virtually in 2021 through a Berkshires community collaboration. Clinton Church Restoration is(...)

New Samuel Slater Experience spotlights ‘father of American manufacturing’

Interactive Disney-like museum teaches about Webster mill magnate

By Shira Schoenberg Arts and Culture, Samuel Slater 0 Comments Mar 6, 2022

AS SAMUEL SLATER traveled from England to the United States in 1789, he voiced his ambitions to revolutionize the US textile industry with knowledge he had gained in England. Yet he also heard the voice of his mentor in his head telling him if he left England, he would be considered “a spy, or worse,(...)

Asian-American/Pacific Islander arts face unique challenges post-COVID

Groups struggled with racism, loss of community

By Shira Schoenberg 0 Comments Feb 21, 2022

TWO YEARS AGO, Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy had 200 students learning martial arts in Malden and Quincy. Its performance team was hired to perform lion and dragon dances and martial arts demonstrations at festivals, weddings, and business openings. Then the pandemic hit. Wah Lum offered classes online. But for students used(...)

New Bedford arts groups making connections

Historical society seeks to promote city’s abolitionist history

By Bruce Mohl Arts and Culture, Municipal Government 0 Comments Feb 7, 2022

THE NEW BEDFORD Historical Society, whose focus is the history of people of color in the South Coast city, appears poised for a takeoff. The society is developing a park and a historic district centered around the abolitionist movement in New Bedford and the city’s role in the Underground Railroad. “Between 1790 and the Civil(...)

The Quabbin lesson of doing big things (mostly) together

In a time of division over even incremental steps, the project to deliver water to Greater Boston stands out even more

By Brian Schultz 0 Comments Jan 28, 2022

BEFORE THE FLOOD Destruction, Community, and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin By Elisabeth C. Rosenberg 232 pages, Pegasus Books TODAY IT MIGHT be hard to imagine something that would stir more controversy than a massive dam project, which would displace several towns and thousands of people, and literally inundate the local environment(...)

DCR ghosts artist group in Hull

Local artists seek to convert empty state building into arts center

By Colman M. Herman Arts and Culture, State Government 0 Comments Jan 23, 2022

A FEW YEARS AGO, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation put an early 1900s dilapidated, long-vacant building it owns across from Nantasket Beach in Hull out to bid for renovation and repurposing. The agency got no bids. Now a group called Hull Artists wants to come to the rescue, telling DCR that they would(...)

Making room for everyone in the audience

Come enjoy ‘Stigma-Free at Boston Symphony Hall’

By Ronald Braunstein and Blaise Aguirre Arts and Culture 0 Comments Jan 18, 2022

A MUTUAL COLLEAGUE of ours recently recounted for us a personal story of how a situation she would have normally loved – a classical music concert with some of her favorite pieces of music – turned into a nightmare of anxiety. Carol was out for an evening of fun and culture. Dinner with friends was(...)

High school junior wows Lawrence crowd

Baker calls performance ‘very, very special’

By Bruce Mohl Arts and creativity, Municipal Government 0 Comments Jan 4, 2022

ALLISON CASTILLO, a junior at Methuen High School, got the call on New Year’s Eve. The singer that Lawrence City Clerk Diane LeBlanc had lined up to sing “God Bless America” at Monday night’s inauguration of city councilors and school committee members couldn’t make it. A possible stand-in also said she wasn’t available. LeBlanc heard(...)

Michael Rodrigues takes up cause of restoring Azorean Jewish heritage

Catholic politician helped restoration of abandoned synagogue

By Shira Schoenberg Azores, Michael Rodrigues, synagogue 0 Comments Dec 30, 2021

PICTURES OF THE old synagogue show a decrepit building with peeling paint, broken furniture, and rotting wood. Prayer books were ripped. There were water leaks, vermin, and structural damage. It looked like what it was – a house of worship abandoned for more than 40 years, built to serve a community that no longer existed. (...)