AN INDEPENDENT ARTS & CULTU
R E GUIDE
SEP 202
3 I
SS U E #161
ART BY:
Ted Lee DESIGNERS: Phoebe Delmonte: p. 1, 4, 5 Hannah Blauner: p. 2, 3, 7 Adrian Alvarez: p. 6, 8
NOTES FROM THE CREW: THE EDITOR’S FAREWELL
Rewind back to the early 2010s: I’m deep in music school at UMass Lowell, in class all day, playing music all night, and coming home to shows in my basement. Entrenched in music and art. It was as glorious as any other reckless college experience that balances getting work done while flailing around a dirt floor basement most nights. Although, the real glory existed outside of myself. Lowell was bursting with artists throwing shows by any means necessary. From the experimental and noisy heartbeat of spots like the 119 Gallery and unchARTed to dim cellars with nonsensical names, there was SO much to experience any night of the week. As I pushed through school, I started to get sick of focusing on my own work and wanted to show the world what the heck Lowell was up to! It seemed like the only people in-the-know were people who lived there. I got the craving to curate SOMETHING to spread the news. I didn’t have to worry too much though…there were all those BCN stapled to my bedroom door for show dwellers to peruse while sippin’ their 40oz. Oh, also the smaller form Lowell Son that pointed people to shows, but in the end I felt like there wasn’t enough attention on the old mill city. This craving to curate and show people what’s up lived a little longer but eventually went dormant. I continued on my musical journey…playing shows and teaching classes until one day in 2018 I saw an open position for Production Manager for this very newspaper. Here was my chance to live that mission of spreadin’ the word. I had known folks like Sam P from years of bumpin’ around basements, so I settled in nicely and immediately felt appreciated and important which was kinda strange. This kid with no journalism background was entrusted to help run a paper. You know…this kinda thing symbolizes my whole journey with BCN. A journey of love and passion; not like that, ya punk!…like everyone LOVED art and would do anything to see it flourish. It was a blast showing up to our weekly Brain Arts Org meetings with dozens of eager peeps. I felt inspired and privileged that I got to run the newspaper that I had been gawking over for years with an extremely rad group of artists. Eventually, I worked my way up to Editor-In-Chief and held the reins. I took on interns, grew the paper back to 8 pages,
tabled events, made friends, and began to pay BCN team members and contributors for the first time ever. It turned into the coolest job I could have imagined (and I teach music as well, hehe). Now here we are, fresh into my 3rd Earthly decade, and life is beginning to look a lot different.
2ND ANNUAL VETERANS POWWOW IN CANTON
After the success of last year and many tireless hours by the powwow committee, the North American Indian Center of Boston, the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, and the VA Boston are excited to announce our 2nd Annual Veterans Powwow, held at Prowse Farm in Canton, Massachusetts on September 16th and 17th from 12-6pm.
I been teaching music…a lot…loving it…a lot, and making this lovely lil’ paper but it is time for change. I have decided I need to focus solely on music…creating it, teaching it, spreading it. The most recent BCN, #160, was the last I produced. After 5 years and 60 issues, I have decided to hang my hat as BCN EIC. I have been extremely fortunate to have been granted this position. BCN founder, Sam P, has been an amazing mentor to me. To mention a few things he taught me: project management, relationship building, email grind, curation, grant writing, distro coordination…I could go on forever. I have endless thank yous to him for providing me with a diverse skill set that I can carry with me forever. Remember…I went to school for music performance and this dude took a chance on me, and because of his love and patience we succeeded for 5 years! Also BIG thank you to Emma L, Amyas, Marc, Michelle, Phoebe, Adrian, Hannah, all the writers + artists, editors, Marco, Bota, Julia B, Taraneh, distro peeps, every volunteer and intern! Every person I got to work with has been so dope. THEY are the real backbone of this paper. They stuck around month to month, doing the work with little to no monetary compensation. It is thanks to them that we’ve been printing this rag for over 10 years. As I make my leave, I can’t help but be excited for BCN’s future. Change is good and to see the paper morph and change shape is actually quite exciting. BCN will always be around, supporting local art and culture any way it can as long as the love for work and the scene is there. Stick around to see who will be brought on to keep BCN chugging along! Thank you, readers, for the support. I’ll truly miss this rag!
Our host drum will be Red Hawk Singers and Dancers, a Mashpee Wampanoag drum and our invited drum is Eastern Medicine Singers, an intertribal drum from the New England area. The head lady dancer is Attaquay Peters, Mashpee Wampanoag and the head man dancer is Andre Strongbearheart Gaines Jr., Nimpuc. NAICOB, Massachusetts’s oldest urban Indigenous center, has been in existence since 1969, formally as the Boston Indian Council on Washington Street in Dorchester. We have been entrusted with the privilege of supporting intergovernmental relations between the Commonwealth and the tribes whose historic territories are held within so-called Massachusetts. The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag is one of the tribes of first contact when the English settlers arrived in 1620. With their traditional territory stretching across much of the Greater Boston area, it is with gratitude that we are able to work in partnership with the tribe and host this powwow together. Learn more about them at http://massachusetttribe.org/. The Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center is a long time supporter of Native Veterans and was a proud partner of last year’s powwow. Their goal is to continue to support American Indian/Alaskan Native veterans in life after service such as health care, cultural support and more. —North American Indian Center of Boston (NAICOB)
—Kevin Dacey
THIS PAPER IS AN ONGOING PROJECT OF BRAIN ARTS ORGANIZATION, INC., A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT. PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING TO, VOLUNTEERING OR OTHERWISE SUPPORTING US: BRAIN-ARTS.ORG
THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE BOSTON CULTURAL COUNCIL, A LOCAL AGENCY WHICH IS FUNDED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS CULTURAL COUNCIL, AS ADMINSTRATED BY THE MAYOR'S OFFICE OF ARTS + CULTURE