Cultural Districts – Creative Minds Out Loud

Episode 92: Youth Voice Transforms a Neighborhood

Celina Miranda, Executive Director of Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), discusses the integral role of young people in the creation of Boston’s Latin Quarter Cultural District. She says that HSTF youth were compelled to speak up about the importance of having a place to call home and a place that recognizes their strengths and assets. The voices of these young people were powerful and central in the transformation of their neighborhood.

Celina Miranda is Executive Director of Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF), a youth development organization located in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. Before joining HSTF in August of 2016, she was senior program officer at the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, where she managed grants in education and economic mobility.

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Episode 75: South Shore Cultural Community on the Map, Here and Abroad

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Patrice Maye, Executive Director of the South Shore Art Center and Scituate Harbor Cultural District, discusses creative placemaking across the South Shore, including Scituate’s Sister City Projects with West Cork, Ireland and Sucy-en-Brie, France.

A non-profit executive with 20 years of experience in building resources and audiences for diverse mission-driven organizations, Patrice Maye joined South Shore Art Center as Executive Director in April 2017. This position was a natural outgrowth of both her professional work to raise funding and awareness for youth arts and social justice programming and her many years of volunteer work to embed art experiences in the local schools and communities. Continue reading “Episode 75: South Shore Cultural Community on the Map, Here and Abroad”

Episode 63: Boston’s Literary District Engages Writers of Today with the City’s Rich Past

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In 2014, Boston became the first American city to have a Literary Cultural District. Last year we spoke with Eve Bridburg, Executive Director of GrubStreet and Founder of the Boston Literary District, and Alysia Abbott, Director of the Boston Literary District. They discuss what it takes to support long-term collaboration between organizations of different sizes and missions. Alysia says a big part of her job is sustaining engagement in shared work while providing a partnership flexible enough to withstand institutional needs and transitions.

Eve Bridburg and Alysia Abbott Eve Bridburg is the Founder and Executive Director of GrubStreet which has grown into a national literary powerhouse. Her mission is to work with her team toward building the most inclusive and accessible writing center in the country. Interested in the connection between civics and the narrative arts, Eve sits on the Executive Committee of the Boston’s Literary Cultural District and is an active partner with the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
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Episode 53: Unearthing and Cultivating a Hidden Economy

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Jessica Allan, former City Planner for Easthampton, MA, discusses the trajectory of the city’s work to identify and cultivate Easthampton’s unique culture and artists, and bring them to the forefront of the local economy.

Jessica Allan has been with MBL Housing & Development since December 2017, and has over 17 years’ experience in land use planning, zoning, and permitting. Prior to joining MBL, Jessica served as the City Planner for Easthampton, MA, where she developed and implemented short and long-term community plans, administered the zoning code, provided permitting assistance to private developers, wrote and managed grants, managed and procured public infrastructure projects, and provided technical planning assistance to various city boards and committees.
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Episode 50: Mission-Driven Commercial Development Afoot in Roxbury

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Edmund Barry Gaither, Director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, says this moment in Roxbury is “a moment of becoming.” He discusses work underway by Elma Lewis Partners and the recently-designated Roxbury Cultural District to use economic development to gift a community with a first-rate cultural and educational institution by 2020.

Edmond Barry Gaither Edmund Barry Gaither is Director of the National Center of Afro-American Artists and its Museum Division, and Special Consultant to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. At the National Center of Afro-American Artists, he developed its museum from a concept to its present operation with collections representing the visual arts of the black world, and an exhibition record of 45 years. At the Museum of Fine Arts, he has served as Adjunct Curator for 11 exhibitions since 1970, as well as administering the long-standing collaborative relationship between the National Center and the MFA.
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