New Bedford Earns Prestigious Grants to Advance Culture, Heritage, and Arts
Awards Highlight City’s Role as a Historic Beacon of Progress and Creativity
By Steven Froias
Special to New Bedford Creative at the NBEDC
NEW BEDFORD, MA – Throughout American history, New Bedford has played a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s cultural and social landscape. In addition to its 19th century fame as the nation’s whaling hub, the city became a sanctuary for freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, a center of maritime innovation, and a testament to the resilience of immigrant communities.
Today, this legacy of progress and inclusion continues, as New Bedford has in recent months been awarded several prestigious grants that will further its commitment to historical preservation, cultural enrichment, and public art initiatives. These grants, awarded to local organizations and creative teams, highlight the city’s enduring influence and dedication to fostering a vibrant and inclusive arts scene.
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) have both recognized New Bedford organizations, while the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and Mass Humanities have moved to further bolster the city’s creative initiatives. All the awards will fund crucial projects that explore New Bedford’s past, celebrate its diverse communities, and enhance public spaces through art and storytelling.
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center: Honoring the Voices of New Bedford’s Waterfront
For its groundbreaking exhibit, Casting A Wider Net, the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center was awarded an Expanding Massachusetts Stories grant from Mass Humanities, which received support from Mass Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, with additional support from National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant and a Wicked Cool Places grant from New Bedford Creative.
This exhibit explores the contributions of Cape Verdean, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran communities to New Bedford’s thriving fishing industry. Through oral histories, photographs, and personal narratives, Casting A Wider Net provides an intimate look at the individuals who have shaped the working waterfront.
The exhibit, which is on display through May 31, 2025, will later travel to locations throughout the community, broadening its impact. It is the culmination of a years-long effort to document the experiences of historically underrepresented communities in the fishing industry. As part of this project, nine individuals from these communities received ethnographic training and conducted 14 interviews in English, Spanish, Kriolu, and Vietnamese. The recorded stories and transcripts will become part of FHC’s archive and NOAA’s Voices web-based archive, preserving these vital narratives for future generations.
The FHC also wants to ensure that the community stays involved in this effort. If you are an educator – or know of a youth or school group that would be interested in visiting the Center to engage with the Casting a Wider Net exhibit – please reach out to Joe Ritter at programs@fishingheritagecenter.org.
New Bedford Historical Society: Preserving the Story of the Underground Railroad
The New Bedford Historical Society received a significant NEH grant, this one focused on professional development for educators. The grant will fund Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad, a two week-long workshop in July 2025 that will bring together about 80 educators teaching K-12, as well as eminent historians, literary scholars, architectural historians, and archivists.
This program will illuminate New Bedford’s pivotal role in the national abolitionist movement, its status as a sanctuary for freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, and the development of its vibrant African American community. By engaging with primary source materials and historical narratives, participants will gain new perspectives on this critical chapter of American history.
This work is nothing new to the Historical Society. It has been awarded NEH grants on African American history for the past 20 years, and Sailing to Freedom has sparked exhibits about the maritime Underground Railroad in port cities up and down the east coast, as well as inspired new scholarship on the maritime trades, freedom, and the larger Underground Railroad.
Hosted at the New Bedford Port Society, the workshop in 2025 will once again provide educators with the tools to bring these rich stories into classrooms across the country.
NEFA Grants: Envisioning More Inclusive Public Spaces
In addition to the above projects, two teams from New Bedford have been awarded the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Collective Imagination for Spatial Justice (CISJ) grants. NEFA announced nine grants totaling $54,000, with each awarded team receiving $6,000 and participating in a six-month learning cohort. The CISJ program supports Massachusetts-based artists and community members in exploring how public art can create more inclusive and just public spaces.
The first New Bedford team includes Candida Rose Baptista, Iva Brito, Ana Paola Songs, Dr. Aminah Pilgrim, and Lori Tolentino. Their project, entitled “Kriolas di Muzika: Amplifying Cabo Verdean and Cabo Verdean American Women’s Voices in Music” will engage in practices that foster belonging and explore complex and historical narratives, especially those of Cabo Verdean women in music, art, and other creative endeavors. The second team consists of Paulina Fuenzalida-Guzmán, Gerardo Beltran, and Rolando Oliva, who are similarly dedicated to using art as a tool for social engagement and transformation.
Although their artistic approaches may differ, both teams share a commitment to using creativity to reshape public spaces and amplify underrepresented voices. By participating in the CISJ learning cohort, they will refine their visions and collaborate with other artists to develop projects that make New Bedford’s public spaces more welcoming and reflective of its diverse communities.
New Bedford Creative: Strengthening the City’s Arts Scene
Beyond these individual and organizational awards, New Bedford’s broader arts community has also received a major boost. New Bedford Creative, part of the New Bedford Economic Development Council, has been approved for a Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the amount of $70,000.
This funding will support New Bedford Creative’s grant programs Wicked Cool Places and Art is Everywhere. These initiatives aim to enhance the city’s creative landscape by supporting projects that engage residents, revitalize public spaces, and foster artistic innovation. The Art is Everywhere program specifically funds projects that use artistic solutions to address pressing community issues, while Wicked Cool Places focuses on creating vibrant, inclusive spaces that bring people together through creative expression.
A Bright Future for New Bedford’s Cultural Landscape
These recent grant awards highlight New Bedford’s deep commitment to celebrating its history, uplifting diverse voices, and fostering a thriving arts and culture sector. From oral history projects and educational programs to public art initiatives, these grants will provide the city with the resources to continue shaping its identity as a center for creativity and cultural preservation.
As these projects unfold, they will offer opportunities for New Bedford residents and visitors alike to engage with the city’s rich history and dynamic arts scene. The recognition and support from national and regional grant-making institutions affirm what locals have long known – New Bedford is a city where the past and present intersect in meaningful and transformative ways.
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