COLLABORATIONS
Collaborations have been a way to create a larger impact for creative ideas, through involving more people and hence sharing in the best ideas, thoughts and skills. Collaborations seed growth rather than competition and lead to exceptional creative projects. Collaborations spread support of one another collectively in community building and creating a sense of place and belonging. GCI strives to be one of the many stepping stones that share in these mutual beliefs.
Mosaic Gloucester – A Community Mosaic Mural
Gloucester artist Lesley Davison (www.lesleydavison.com) has envisioned a visual representation of Gloucester’s oral history, telling its layered tales – through its citizens – in a lasting, accessible, and engaging way. It is developing as a large, community-driven mosaic mural on the wall of Americold’s Rogers Street plant, with mosaic imagery designed to capture the spirit of Gloucester and be a welcoming gateway to downtown. The project has been undertaken with the support of Americold, the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association, the Rose Baker Senior Center, Gloucester Schools’ art faculty, and the City of Gloucester. As it continues over the next few years, it will bring the community together to depict further stories. Learn more at www.mosaicgloucester.com.
GCI took an early leadership role in 2017 by connecting Mosaic Gloucester with www.patronicity.com, the fundraising site supported by MassDevelopment, which raised and matched the fundraising goal of $7,875 for the project including a $2,000 grant from the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation. Since our initial support, seARTS has assisted with the continuation of Ms. Davison’s work. See the Patronicity fundraising page here.
Archival Workshop
Prompted by the upcoming celebration of Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, GCI sponsored a series of Archival Workshops in partnership with the Sawyer Free Library to help people preserve their family and community histories.
The workshops were hosted and produced by Local History Librarian, Jacklyn Linsky. An average of 45 people attended each of the three sessions, covering such topics as identifying, organizing and conserving their collections of memorabilia.
For additional Archival Resources, please click here.
“Rising Artists”
The Gloucester Cultural Initiative secured a grant of $920 from the Gloucester Local Cultural Council, a program of and funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, To support the Spring 2020 “Rising Artists” program at O’Maley Middle School. In order to enhance a program initiated by the Cape Ann Museum and the Gloucester Education Foundation, the Gloucester Cultural Initiative collaborated with the Manship Artists Residency + Studios to maximize the impact and output of curriculum that has brought professional printmaker/artist Mary Rhinelander into art classrooms as an artist-in-residence since 2016. This grant provided O’Maley Rising Artists the tools and materials necessary to develop their skills and elevate the quality of their artwork. As a result of this multi-organizational partnership, 225 eighth graders were able to design and create a linoleum-wood block after learning about the historic, local art guild, the Folly Cove Designers. Fortunately, most of the students also had the opportunity to print their block on the Manship Artists Residency and Studios’ historic Folly Cove Designer Acorn Press before the pandemic suspended in-school learning.
