In this panel, we present a series of leading cultural figures to address cultural, artistic and creative projects in the Southcoast. We'll hear about their projects and activities and examine them as case studies that show the potential of an artistic project in articulation with a territory. Creativity can transform objects, places and people's lives. How do their projects inspire/ influence and how can we learn from their best practices? This talk is open to audience participation and will question how cultural projects can have a defining role in the City of Fall River.
Moderator: John Vasconcellos, President, Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts
Panelists:
James Lima, Advisor on the Economics of Placemaking
Roger Mandle, Co-founder & Chair, DATMA (Design Art Technology Massachusetts)
Tracy Barbosa, Owner/Artist Duende Glass LLC/Tracy Silva Barbosa Studio
Roger Mandle has spent his life building and caring for major arts institutions. He is now Founder and Chair of the Board of Massachusetts Design Art & Technology Institute, DATMA.org. For 15 years he was President of RISD. Following, he became Executive Director and Chief Museums Officer at the Qatar Museums Authority. He has been Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Art and Director of the Toledo Museum of Art. He was a member of the Ohio Arts Council and the National Council on the Arts. He is a scholar on Dutch art of the 16th through the 19th century, and has created many international exhibitions. He has served on the boards of numerous cultural institutions. He also has taught at Williams College, Brown University and RISD.
John Vasconcellos has been President of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts since 2016. A New Bedford native, John’s non-profit work has included executive positions with The Trustees of Reservations, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the Buzzards Bay Coalition, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. John’s first career was in banking with Wells Fargo and Chase Manhattan Bank. Currently, John lives in New Bedford and Provincetown with his husband.
Tracy Silva Barbosa began working with glass in 1997 at Mass College of Art in Boston. After graduation, she worked with the world-renowned architectural glass artist, John Lewis, assisting with such glass marvels as the OK City Memorial, and One World Trade, NY. Today, Barbosa is the co-owner of Duende Glass, L.L.C. in New Bedford, MA, and is heavily involved in community art projects. Barbosa’s Azorean heritage, along with her admiration for craftsmanship, greatly influences her artwork. Her artistic process uses painstaking layers of transparent color mixed with various images such as post-industrial architecture, urban sprawl, along with colorful flora and fauna, to create a delicate narrative addressing issues such as age, sensuality, and transcendence.
James Lima has been actively engaged in complex matters of real estate, economic development, and public policy since 1986, with extensive private and public sector experience in the planning and revitalization of urban places at a variety of scales. James founded JLP+D in 2011 after leading redevelopment strategies for numerous large-scale sites as a partner at a major national economic and real estate advisory firm.
Directions:
People Incorporated