May 23, 2013 — In September 2013, the Working Waterfront Festival will mark its’ tenth anniversary. To celebrate, we are presenting Portholes, a series of free, monthly programs designed to engage local residents and members of the commercial fishing industry in conversations about critical issues facing the working waterfront. The Portholes Project is partially funded through a grant from Mass Humanities. Each month’s programming centers around a theme. Programming during the month of May explores the Cultural Mosaic of the Working Port.
MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Orleans, Director 508-993-8894, info@workingwaterfrontfestival.org
On Thursday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m., we will present Cultures of the Port in Song and Story. The event is open to the public and presented free of charge at the New Bedford Art Museum (608 Pleasant Street) in conjunction with their exhibit, New Bedford Harbor in a New Light.
The Port of New Bedford is dominated by fishing families who emigrated from Portugal and Norway. Retired fishermen Reidar Bendiksen and Manny Vinagre will talk about fishing in the old country. Reidar immigrated to New Bedford from Karmoy, Norway in 1963 and fished for scallops and groundfish before coming ashore to open a gear shop in the 1980s. Manny Vinagre, who immigrated from Figueira da Foz, Portugal, fished for cod off the coast of Greenland with the “white fleet” before coming to New Bedford.
Ana Vinagre (Portuguese fado singer) and Luana Josvold (Norwegian accordion) will share songs and tunes from their homelands. Ana Vinagre is one of the area's best known, and most respected Fadistas. Born in Portugal, she immigrated to New Bedford as a young woman with her husband Jose. Both had been members of folkloric dance and music ensembles and they have continued to perform at area Portuguese restaurants, community events, and in festivals and concerts around the nation. Luana Josvold grew up in the Norwegian community in Seattle and has been playing accordion since she was six. She spent four years living, teaching, and playing music in Norway. She plays accordion, flute, alto flute, and sings with SAMspill.
The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. The FREE festival, a family friendly, educational celebration of New England’s commercial fishing industry, features live maritime and ethnic music, fishermen’s contests, fresh seafood, vessel tours, author readings, cooking demonstrations, kid’s activities and more. It all takes place in New Bedford, MA, America’s #1 fishing port, on the last full weekend of September. Navigate to us at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.