Bartlett Events

Congratulations to Cedric Douglas, one of Bartlett's most visible and prolific artists, for becoming a finalist in this major new public art initiative at Uphams Corner.  Cedric collaborated on the Rosa Parks mural at the main entrance and added several other great pieces to the yard, including the Red Sox tribute featured in this video.  As he says on his profile:

When I walk down the street I don't just see vacant buildings, I see abandoned spaces that are venues of possibility. I see the space being used to create images that can attract, unite, and tell a story.

Cedric is one of 5 finalists selected from the initial pool of 29 applicants.  We wish him the best of luck! If you want to support him, or just find out more about the project, why not attend one of the meetings below or get in touch with the project leaders?

In January 2014 we are planning a number of public forums/open houses to hear directly from the finalists. During these gatherings, residents will have the opportunity to learn more about each finalist’s background and plan for this community-led visioning and design process. We hope you will join us for at least one of these meetings!

January 15, 2014 6:00pm Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative 504 Dudley Street, Roxbury

January 21, 2014 5:30pm Design Studio for Social Intervention 1946 Washington Street, 2nd floor, Roxbury

January 23, 2014 6:00pm Dorchester Arts Collaborative, Erick Jean Center for the Arts  157A Washington Street, Dorchester

The selected artist/artist team will be announced in early February.

Should you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Harry Smith - Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative [email protected], (617) 442 - 9670 ext. 220

Preparations are underway to demolish the buildings at Bartlett and start construction on Bartlett Place, which will eventually have over 300 rental and ownership residences.  Nuestra is having a public meeting about the home ownership opportunities and would like you to come.  They're also looking for volunteers to help spread the word about the meeting this weekend.

Here are the details - please contact Mark Matel for more info about volunteering or to find out more about the meeting.

A CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

 We need your help to help us publicize an upcoming community meeting about new home ownership opportunities at Bartlett Place.

Meet at 10 am this Saturday, January 11, 2014 

at Nuestra Comunidad's Office 

56 Warren Street, Suite 200

 We'll serve coffee, hot chocolate, and have a prep talk before doorknocking and flyering in the neighborhood until 2 pm. 

 Dress warmly!

 Here's information about the upcoming community meeting: 

Come Join us on January 19, 2014 to learn about new home ownership opportunities in Roxbury! 

 Click here for the full flyer.

 Refreshments will be provided.

 WHERE: 

Saint Mark Congregational Church 

200 Townsend Street 

Roxbury, MA 02119  

WHEN: Sunday January 19, 2014 2:00-3:00 P.M.  

Come support Bartlett artist Cyrille Conan and check out the other finalists for the mural and sculpture at the new Dudley Municipal Building!  All the details are below.

Please join the Boston Art Commission and project selection committee members on January 20th and 21st at 6pm for design concept presentations for the Dudley Municipal Center.

In early November, a group of six finalists were chosen to develop public art proposals for the Dudley Square Municipal Center. Since then, the artists have been hard at work on their proposals, and they will be presenting their conceptual designs to the selection committee on January 20th and 21st from 6-8pm in the Community Room at Central Boston Elder Services. Each short-listed artist will have twenty minutes to present their concepts for the Wall Design Project or the Outdoor Sculpture Project. The chosen artists will develop their designs for installation at the Dudley Municipal Center in November 2014.  Presentations are free and open to the public.

The Wall Design finalists are Best Dressed Signs, Cyrille Conan, and Napoleon Jones-Henderson. The Outdoor Sculpture finalists are Christopher Puzio, Madeline Weiner, and Meejin Yoon.

Please join us and make your opinion heard! Comment cards will be distributed to the audience during the presentations for selection committee review. Additionally, artist concepts will be posted at publicartboston.com on January 17th in advance of the presentations. Comments on posted concepts may be submitted by email to [email protected].  

Artist presentations

WHEN

Wall Design presentations Monday, January 20th, 6-8pm

Outdoor Sculpture presentations Tuesday, January 21st, 6-8pm

WHERE

Community Room Central Boston Elder Services Dudley Square 2315 Washington Street Roxbury, MA 02119 Map of location: http://goo.gl/maps/2Yfai Parking is available on the street or in the Taber lot.

Boston Police have alerted us to three arrests made at Bartlett Yard in the wee hours of Friday morning.  From the incident report: 

...Officers Sanon and Lopes responded to the location and apprehended the three who were hiding within the bushes. Through a sweep of the immediate area of where the suspects were located, Officer Sanon located a gray/yellow backpack which was found hidden under the leaves containing ... tools, (electrical saw, electrical screw driver, sledgehammer, hammer, pried-bar...).  

[Suspect 2] who was the first one to be apprehended uttered that they are graffiti artist they heard that this place (Bartletts Garage) was about to be teared down so they decided to come in to take down some of the most important art works so they can preserve them for history. 

We're leaving the names of the three art-lovers out of this for now, although we will note that they were all men in their 30s, listed as "white non-hispanic" in the report, and none of them had home addresses inside Boston city limits.  

We take it as a compliment and have been joking that we're in the same league as the Gardner Museum.  We're also baffled as to how exactly one steals a brick wall.  

Nevertheless, we're compelled to say this.  This was a temporary experiment in art and community. Bartlett Yard is closed to the public. Our programming has concluded, and remediation activities are scheduled to begin in preparation for demolition early this winter.  Entering the site during this remediation and demolition phase is not only dangerous, it's illegal, and you will be arrested if you are caught.  That goes whether you are there to make art or to steal it.

About a year ago, we began planning for Bartlett Events. We knew at the time that we'd have an uphill battle for permitting, but we didn't know just how bad it would be until six months later.  That May, after months of meetings, calls, and emails with officials in 3 offices of City Hall, 3 counters at 1010 Mass Ave, and BPD, we reached out to a handful of elected officials for help. 

Enter John Connolly. Even though he was hitting his stride in the mayoral race and no doubt had a full plate immediately following the Marathon tragedy, he and his staff made the time to make sure that we got our permits in time for Mural Fest.  He was timely, responsive, and personally checked in with us more than once to make sure that the situation had been resolved.  Likewise, everyone we dealt with on his staff was equally as helpful and professional.  After dealing with an uncaring and arcane bureaucracy for so many months, we can't overemphasize what a relief it was to finally get someone who understood our issues and could help us figure out a way to resolve them.  We can say this unequivocally: without the help of John Connolly, there would have been no Bartlett Events this summer.

A few weeks later, he invited the Bartlett Events organizers to a meeting of artists and arts administrators from across the city's broad arts community.  He impressed us again with his understanding of the multitude of issues that face artists in Boston as well as his ability to ask the right questions and actually listen to the answers. And it was very encouraging to us that the meeting wasn't just the big players from the museums and established institutions, but smaller arts groups like us.  We left hopeful that if John won the election, the arts scene in Boston would be much better off.

By the time August rolled around, it was clear that we had a successful series on our hands. We were suddenly fielding dozens of requests to hold events on the site, and started getting some great press.  Now that we were popular, a couple of the other mayoral candidates - previously uninterested in us - suddenly wanted to use our space for campaign events. It would have made sense for John to ask the same, and we certainly would have said yes.  But instead, he asked us for a tour, and invited some other artists groups to join him.  In a field of 12 candidates, John was the only one who actually wanted to see the art we had made and talk about the pros and cons of street art instead of just using us for quick political gain.

For his commitment to the arts, his willingness to take a political risk helping out a bunch of street artists, his ability to hire and manage a great team, his follow through and professionalism, and his thoughtful approach to crafting the arts platform that Boston deserves, Bartlett Events enthusiastically endorses John Connolly for Mayor.  We thank John for his support of our work from start to finish and wish him the best of luck in the remaining days of the campaign.

   Thank You Roxbury! 

Last week, we concluded our experiment in art and community at Bartlett Yard. While the art and events were temporary, we hope that their impacts on the community will be long-lasting. 

The three organizers, pictured above, were Mark Matel, Jeremy Alliger, and Jason Turgeon.  Together, we worked for more than a year to pull the project together.   While it was challenging and frustrating at times, it was also incredibly rewarding. We vastly exceeded our goals of building community and getting engagement in the site, and in the process we discovered that Boston has a world-class street art scene just waiting for a venue to show off its many and diverse talents.

We have now officially finished our work on the site. We have pulled down many of the garage door coverings, removed most of our equipment, and had our goodbye party.  All we have left to do is say thank-you.

With the hundreds of people who were involved in pulling this together, it is almost a certainty that we will miss someone. Our apologies in advance - it isn't intentional!

Thank you to Jeremy Alliger for saying yes when asked to "do something fun at a vacant lot in Roxbury," and for never backing out when the going got tough. 

Thank you to Mark Matel for seeing the potential in the project and bringing it to the development team, and for sticking with it until the end.

Thank you to David Price, Arnold Johnson, George Chin, and the entire team at Nuestra Comunidad and Windale for saying yes when two strangers cold-called you to ask if we could use your space, for your initial financial support, and for your continued support throughout the year.

 Thank you to our funding organizations: the Awesome Foundation, Black Rock Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, and Enterprise Community Partners.  Please don't stop funding innovative, small scale art projects - the world needs more funders like you willing to take a chance on new projects!

Thank you to YouthBuild for signing on to be our first and strongest community partner, and especially to Michael Chavez, Jessica Tones, and Ariel Stokes for all your work. And a huge thank you to the YouthBuild and Designery students who designed and built our benches, tables, and wayfinding around the site. 

 Thank you to our partners at HarborArts for collaborating with us all summer, and for laying the groundwork for large-scale outdoor art in Boston.

 Thank you  to City Councillor John Connolly for helping us push through permitting difficulties early on, to Christopher Cook for your early and enthusiastic support, and to the staff in Commissioner Malone's office and 1010 Mass Ave. for making sure we got what we needed week after week.  Now let's figure out a way to make it easier for all of us next time.

Thank you  to the dozens of neighbors and Northeastern University community engagement volunteers who came out to help us clean up the site over 3 weekends in April and beyond.

Thank you  to Greg Burdett and the whole crew at Artists for Humanity for your services and support, and for coming out to make great art on the site!

Thank you  to Nate Swain for signing on early to be our first artist, for delivering on your promise of jaw-dropping wall coverings, and for all your help sourcing materials and keeping the site safe over the summer.

Thank you  to Mass Art Professor Candice Ivy and her two drawing classes for jumping on board early and for helping us get off the ground with some great artwork early on.

Thank you  to Chris and Kai Grant, Victoria Nadel, Allen Bush, and all of the other neighbors who supported us from start to finish.

Thank you  to Boston Burning Man community for coming together around another piece of awesome and helping in innumerable ways. You know who you are, and you continue to inspire and amaze.

  Thank you  to Lino Delgado and the Floorlords for all your help. We can't wait to see what you do in the next three decades!

Thank you  to the organizers of the dozen events we held after Mural Fest, each of which showed a different facet of the community. 

Thank you  to our three summer volunteers, Blake Jurasin, Corinna D'Schoto, and Diana Walsh, for your tireless efforts to keep this thing moving and your endless optimism and enthusiasm. You guys were amazing!

 Thank you  to the incredible outpouring of support from the artists who made the space what it is. Incredibly enough, there have been over 100 artists on the site - far too many of you to list individually, but you know who you are.  We love what you've done with the place!  You made an indelible impact on the neighborhood and the city and we hope that this leads to more opportunities for each of you.  

Even though we can't possibly thank all the artists, we do want to give a special shout-out to Cedric Douglas, Barrington Edwards, Liz Manicatide, Deme 5, Ge Ortega, Merk Those, Jeanne Williamson, Rufus Faulk, and Carolyn Lewenberg. We saw you there at the site week after week making improvements, doing new work, helping out, and keeping an eye on things. We appreciate everything you did!

 Thank you  to the neighbors of the site for supporting us and, to so many of you for getting involved in ways big and small to make this a success.

When we last posted a month ago, we had high hopes that we would be able to continue having events through September.  Unfortunately, things don't always go according to plan and we are stopping just a bit earlier than we originally anticipated.  

As an all-volunteer team, we just couldn't keep up with the demands of keeping a large industrial site safe and suitable for public events.  A series of vandalism incidents and petty thefts were compounded when we lost a grant we had been counting on to help us pay the bills.  It's simply become more than we can handle to keep the site going safely.

In the end, we stopped 4 weeks short of our goal. And while we wish we could have made it to the end - and we are deeply apologetic to the two event organizers who we had to cancel on after they had done considerable work to prepare for great event - sometimes you just have to know when to fold 'em, as the song says.  

But in spite of this small setback, we couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. We have vastly exceeded the expectations we had when we originally set out to turn this barren lot into a community resource last winter.  We had envisioned a site for small neighborhood gatherings and a place for people to meet on the weekends to enjoy some pop-up urbanism.  What we ended up with was a testament to Boston's incredible collection of street artists that has quite literally put Roxbury on the world stage.  We are happy to report that we now have pieces by artists from Berlin, Paris, Buenos Aires, Montreal, and Bogota on our wall in addition to equally amazing pieces from artists who grew up right here in 02119. We never imagined the depth and breadth of talent that existed in Roxbury.

But more than just creating a venue for street art, we also feel that we have exceeded our goals in fostering community in Roxbury with our event series.  We have seen Roxbury grandmothers enjoying music next to college students from Northeastern and MassArt while the young children of new homeowners run by.  We have met immigrants from every corner of the world who now call Roxbury home.  We have had strangers stop us on the street to tell us about their memories of the old bus yard and elevated train line. We have had mothers and daughters collaborate to start a community garden, Russian immigrants drop by to give us a free piano, and young adults build us benches.  Every day that we've been open, we've had a new opportunity to meet someone we never would have encountered in our ordinary daily grind. Roxbury is one of the most diverse areas in the city, if not the entire country, and we truly feel like we had the opportunity to meet someone from every walk of life this summer.  We hope that you have had the chance to make your own memories and your own new connections with neighbors.

It’s shaping up to be a beautiful summer weekend in Boston, and we want to help you make the most of it with two great events!

Today from noon to 4, come on down to see your neighbors at the Roxbury Collaborative Community Block Party.  Fort Hill resident Candace Cheatham has spent the last couple of months putting together a fantastic event with vendors, food by TJ’s barbecue truck, and non-stop musical acts from Roxbury and beyond. There will also be a charity raffle featuring a 2012 team autographed basketball donated by the Celtics that’s adorned with the signatures of all the greats from last year’s team including Pierce and KG!  Get all the details at the event Facebook link.

Tomorrow from noon to 6, stop by for another in our series of Caribbean events in the runup to Carnival next weekend.  This one, Fete of D’Year, will again highlight that great Caribbean beat  with DJs from Big City 101.3 FM and music by the Vital Rhythm Section.

This weekend we have a ton of great stuff happening in Fort Hill!  Come on out to make the most of this great weather and enjoy free music and art!

SATURDAY: Shuckin' for YBB.  Support our partners at YouthBuild Boston with a free jazz concert, a participatory art event by artist Susan Israel from HarborArts, and enjoy a lobster boil hosted by the Boston Shuckin' Truck with prices starting at just $25.  Don't miss what's sure to be one of our most memorable events of the season!

SUNDAY: We have two band-launching parties for Carnival!  From 12-3, join Peace Mas, then stick around from 3-6 for Pan United! 

We had a great time last Sunday at the J'ouvert Caribbean Festival and we hope you're all pumped for an action-packed August, featuring events almost every single weekend day! 

In particular, we want to make sure everyone knows to bring their friends and family to Bartlett on August 3 for our lobster boil in coordination with the Boston Shuckin' Truck and YouthBuild Boston!  We'll have great live music by the Witness Matlou Trio, awesome food, and live art.  Noon to 4 on August 3rd, more details at the event Facebook page.

We have an official partnership with HarborArts over in East Boston to cross promote and share events.  They're the other big industrial free public art space in town, and we love what they're doing! 

So in the spirit of friendly cooperation, here's a list of the events they have lined up for the summer as part of their season-long exhibition OccupyING the Present.  Note that these are NOT AT BARTLETT!  HarborArts is at the East Boston Shipyard.  It's not as far as you think, so take a day trip and check them out... 

OccupyING The Present at HarborArts - Summer Events 2013

Saturday July 20th, 4PM, 5 PM

4 PM:  “Hands On!” Artist-led tour and discussion, Karen Klein, Sculptor/Dancer/Poet and Susan Israel, Artist/Architect. 

5 PM:  “Energy Necklace” Team Sculpture-Build-- Create a structure emphasizing clean energy sources, with Susan Israel, all ages welcome. 

Thurs Aug 8th, 5PM, 6:30 PM

5 PM “Drawing on the Waterfront” with Elizabeth Michelman, Curator, and Kerri Schmidt, Sculptor---Bring your own sketchbook, camera or favorite art materials

6:30 PM Curator’s tour, with Elizabeth Michelman, Curator of OccupyING The Present, and Kerri Schmidt, Sculptor

Saturday August 17th, 4PM, 5PM 

4PM Artist Talk, “Sculpture and Site-Responsive Installation:  Same Process?” Sculptors Peter Lipsitt, John Powell, David Lang, Moderator, Elizabeth Michelman

5PM Drawing on the Waterfront w/Peter Lipsitt (Bring your own art materials)

Sunday Sept 15, 2:30 PM, 4 PM

2:30 PM: Build the “Children’s Chairs” Project with Gail Bos, Sculptor.

4 PM:  Artist Tour, “OccupyING/Ocupando” with sculptors Maria Ritz, Gail Bos, Nora Valdez

Saturday Sept. 21 HarborArts Festival (hourly artist tours)

Help sculptors and students of James Otis School create Community Mosaic Hokusai’s “The Wave” with Bette Ann Libby, build Children’s Chairs” Project with Gail Bos, and "Message-in-a-Bottle” with Susan Israel.

We hope you all had a great 4th of July week and are geared up for the coming events with Outside the Box.  We're taking a break from the events this weekend and the site will be closed both Saturday and Sunday.

Next week, we'll be closed on Saturday, but join us Sunday the 21st from 2-7 for J'ouvert, an outdoor celebration of Caribbean culture and steel pan bands.   

We'll be taking another break on the weekend of July 27th and 28th as we shift our attention to FIGMENT Boston on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. 

We've been calling the little salmon-colored cinderblock building on the north wall of the bus wash the "piano shack" for months now.  Now we're pleased to say that we actually have a piano in the piano shack! 

Yesterday we had a great day of sunshine and neighborly happiness with Chris Grant and friends' event Bringing Down the Walls.  A couple of hundred people came out to experience the art and music, and we took advantage of the day to make a number of improvements around the site. 

First things first: a big get-well-soon to Barrington Edwards, who gave us all a fright when he pushed just a little too hard to make his art project happen.  Hope you're back on your feet soon!  A huge thank-you to the rest of the crew for carrying on the day and making it a success even though we were all worried about Barrington.   

The good news is that Chris and company had so much fun that they want to make it a monthly event for the rest of the summer.  So mark your calendars for July 13, when we'll do it again! 

If you missed yesterday, you've got some new stuff to look forward to when you visit us next time.  Nate Swain has another one of his huge new pieces up (quote of the day: "your walls aren't big enough for my art").  We put up two prints of the elevated orange line from 1986, courtesy of Keitha Hassell. And we are happy to be hosting a new raised bed herb garden brought to the site by Winona and Cassandria Campbell and their friends.  

We also installed a huge new piece of white vinyl as another legal painting surface.  Feel free to paint and repaint this surface.  It's intended to be a spot that continually changes, so don't get too attached to any one spot. 

We were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather and some amazing musicians at this weekend's sculptural potluck event.  We had small but enthusiastic crowds both days and we're very grateful to London Bridgez and the NeoLogic Beatnik Assembly for putting together two great lineups of performers.   Thanks to all the performers who came out!

Tara from NeoLogic did a great job of documentation.  Photos of both events are available at her facebook album here, and videos of every performer are embedded below. 

We had a great turnout for last weekend's Me and My Folks Fest.  Thanks to those who came out, our volunteers and interns for keeping things running smoothly, and all the great musicians who came out to play.  

This Saturday and Sunday we'll be celebrating our partnership with Boston's other awesome outdoor industrial art space, HarborArts.  The event is at DIFFERENT LOCATIONS on each day!  Saturday it's at Bartlett, Sunday it's at HarborArts at the East Boston Shipyard.  If you haven't been to see their sculpture collection and other works, you owe it to yourself to make a trip out there.  You can get there from the Blue Line (Maverick), there's plenty of parking, or you can even take a water taxi over!

The events each run from noon to 5PM.  We'll have music and spoken word performances both days by London Bridgez and friends.  We'll also be featuring the creation of some new sculptures by our intern/artist Diana Walsh.  Diana will be making use of the empty spray cans from Mural Fest.  If you've been collecting your empties, please bring them for her to add to the work!  That's the potluck part of the event.

We're also having an art swap. Bring down some artwork (whether you made it or bought it) to swap out for something new! 

It doesn't look like we'll have a food truck this time around, so bring a picnic lunch to enjoy, and don't forget to bring water. 

We will be opening the site from 11-4 tomorrow for people to come by and paint or just to bring your friends and walk around.  If you've been wanting to take pictures, show off your work to your mom, or just enjoy the space, come on down!  There won't be any  music or food trucks, just a great space to enjoy a hot summer day.

If anyone wants to volunteer, we could use help cleaning up the site, pulling weeds, repairing some of our barriers, and doing other housekeeping tasks.  

We'd also like to get some small scale flower beds in planters and along the fence if you're a gardener.  Bring all your own supplies, seeds, plants, etc., including bulk water if you want to garden.  There's no hose on site.

Starting next Saturday, we will begin having weekly events (pending permits from the City).  

Our first event is the "Me and My Folks Fest" (Facebook link).  There will be 3 musical acts including a repeat performance from the Floorlords.  12-6, Saturday, June 8.

Our next event is "Sculptural Potluck."  (Facebook link).  This is a two-day event to celebrate our partnership with HarborArts.  BRING YOUR EMPTY SPRAY CANS!  We'll be turning them into two sculptures.  There's also an art swap, so if you have a piece of art you've made or bought that you'd like to exchange for something else, now's your chance. Boston's own London Bridgez will be performing her unique brand of spoken word and soulful hip-hop both days, with special guests to be announced.  At Bartlett Saturday, June 15, 12-5.  At HarborArts in East Boston, Sunday, June 16, 12-5.

We're also working out the details for a larger musical event on Saturday, June 22.  

Sundays we are still hoping to open up the site for pickup soccer and general viewing.  We're just waiting on some insurance paperwork.