Gloucester Stage Co. in the heart of the Rocky Neck Cultural District served Wednesday as the backdrop for the Massachusetts Cultural Council to announce $810,000 in awards to 54 state-designated cultural districts, including Rocky Neck and Harbortown in Gloucester, and Essex River in Essex.
On hand in the theater Wednesday were state and local officials, including Mass Cultural Council Executive Director Michael J. Bobbitt, along with representatives of several cultural districts, as the independent state arts agency announced the cultural districts included in this round of funding would each receive $15,000 to support their various activities.
In addition to the two Gloucester cultural districts, this round of grants made through the Cultural District Investment Grant Program included awards to the Riverfront Cultural District in Haverhill, the Beverly Arts District in Beverly, the Essex River Cultural District in Essex, and the Newburyport Cultural District in Newburyport.
The $15,000 in grant money can be used for various items such as marketing and promotion or paying artist or vendor fees. It was mentioned that the grant money was used to provide free transportation by water taxi or shuttle bus between the two cultural districts across from one another in the Inner Harbor during Gloucester’s Culture Splash events on Thursday evenings in July and August.
“I’m grateful for the continued support of the Mass Cultural Council for Rocky Neck and the Harbortown cultural districts,” Mayor Greg Verga said. “Not only do they serve as cultural hubs of Gloucester, but they are also a major attraction for visitors and residents alike. And, as some of you may know, we are in the final weeks of our 400th anniversary commemoration. It has been a year of reflection and honoring our rich heritage and unique culture.”
Funding from the Mass Cultural Council has been leveraged to host Culture Splash. He asked the 40 or so attendees in the audience if any had participated in the weekly series of events spotlighting the city’s museums, galleries, music, or musical artists.
“Anybody use the water shuttle?” Verga asked to whoops from the event attendees. “Me, too. It was a lot of fun.”
Bobbitt joked that he was hoping Verga, a musician, would have had his guitar on hand to serenade them. Bobbitt said Verga has been a great advocate not only as an artist but as someone who hired a part-time cultural planner for the city.
Bobbitt thanked architect Simone Early of Essex, a member of the Mass Cultural Council’s Governing Council who was on hand, and said he was also glad they were joined by representatives from cultural districts across the state including from Fall River, Essex, Beverly and Winchester in addition to the two districts in Gloucester.
Bobbitt said Gloucester should be proud to be represented by two champions of economic and community development: state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, and state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester.
Both were busy at the Statehouse, Bobbitt said, so Kristin McDonald of Newbury, Tarr’s field case worker for constituent services, and Dru Tarr of Gloucester, Ferrante’s research director, were on hand.
Representing the Rocky Neck Cultural District, Gloucester Stage Co. Managing Director Christopher Griffith said Gloucester Stage “is so proud to be a leader of this little part of our magical town that we live in.” He said the investment has been a catalyst for much larger growth and collaboration.
Griffith outlined in a brief interview that the grant money to the cultural district goes to paying artists presenting live performances, to artists who have free demonstrations in their galleries, to marketing and paying for the free water shuttle for Culture Splash.
Representing Harbortown was Michael De Koster, executive director of Maritime Gloucester on Harbor Loop, who said, “Mass Cultural Council, you are enablers, you are enablers of the power of culture.”
Later the grant money goes toward promoting the cultural district and promoting cultural entities within the district through Culture Splash, he said.
Early, who said she has been on the council since 2021, said the cultural district program has been a long-standing priority “and it’s such a clear form of raising a cultural asset and leveraging it to develop community and economic growth.”
“It’s so nice to be supported in all the work that we do, the cultural district, the artists, performers, we all need everybody’s support,” said Janice Brand, co-president of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, which is part of the Rocky Neck Cultural District.
KD Montgomery, executive director of the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum and the Essex River Cultural District, said the $15,000 goes toward an arts and culture festival in Essex with the money going to individual artists, “so that way it incentivizes people to show up,” allowing them to build a community that is nurturing and supportive to individual artists.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714,or at [email protected].