Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center 5th Anniversary Celebration This Weekend

June 21, 2021 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center:

This weekend, we are celebrating the Center’s five-year anniversary and the official grand opening of More than a Job with an event on June 26th from 10am-4pm! The celebration at 38 Bethel Street will include demonstrations of industry skills, kids’ activities, and live music by the Rum Soaked Crooks. A speaking program will begin at noon with remarks delivered by elected officials and a keynote address delivered by Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities. Click here for a full schedule. This event is free and open to the public!

This event will also feature a free vaccine clinic for the COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Fishing Partnership and Greater New Bedford Community Health Center. Vaccine offered: Johnson & Johnson for adults; Pfizer for kids 12-17. Free $20 Dunkin Donuts cards to first time vaccinators both for child AND adult!

Funding for More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Fishing Industry is provided by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and significant support from Bristol County Savings Bank. Major in-kind support for this exhibit was provided by Fairhaven Shipyard and Blue Fleet Welding.

Also on view, We Came to Fish, We Came to Work: Stories of Immigration is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Creative Commonwealth Initiative, and the Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, and New Bedford Cultural Councils.

Contact programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center receives $6K grant

December 20, 2018 — Mass Humanities awarded grants totaling $134,649 in support of humanities projects in communities across the state, including New Bedford.

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center received $6,960 to explore how changes in technology have affected the city’s fishing community over time. The grant will go toward archival research and ethnographic interviews with members of the fishing community, exhibits, discussions, and curricula for elementary and secondary school children.

“We were impressed by the range of relevant, dynamic projects in this round of applications,” said Brian Boyles, Mass Humanities executive director, in a statement. “Organizations around Massachusetts are responding to their communities through new approaches to the humanities. They’re asking big questions, reaching new audiences, and shedding new light on our shared history and culture.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Director of New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center to receive Massachusetts History Commendation

June 7, 2017 — The following was released by the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center: 

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is pleased to announce that its Executive Director, Laura Orleans, will receive the Massachusetts History Commendation at this year’s Massachusetts History Conference.  The award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the interpretation and presentation of Massachusetts history.  The award ceremony will take place at the 2017 Mass History Conference to be held on June 12 at the College of Holy Cross, Worcester. 

Ms. Orleans will be recognized for her more than 20-year commitment to documenting and presenting community history of New Bedford’s working waterfront. Her work emphasizes programming that gives voice to those who are often unheard and helps communities find common ground. These ideals drove her early career as an ethnographer and folklorist and also led her to more recent work as Founding Director of both the Working Waterfront Festival and the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center. Orleans is also an Archie Green Fellow with the Library of Congress, documenting workers in the shore-side trades of the New Bedford/Fairhaven fishing industry. 

Now in its 13th year, the Massachusetts History Conference draws hundreds of organizations each year to discuss preserving, interpreting, and deepening the exploration of Massachusetts history. This year’s conference will focus on the ways that public history organizations and institutions large and small inspire and engage audiences and constituencies.  

The event is co-sponsored by Mass Humanities and a coalition of historical organizations around the state. The full program and registration information are available online at masshumanities.org. Mass Humanities joins the rest of the conference committee in congratulating the awardees. 

The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to preserving and presenting the story of the commercial fishing industry past, present, and future through exhibits, programs, and archives.