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A&E Committee had busy year of benefitting Berlin

Among the activities of the Berlin Arts and Entertainment Committee last year was installation of a bike rack, doubling as a public art piece, near the corner of William and Pitts streets.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(March 15, 2018) Members of the Berlin Arts and Entertainment Committee presented the committee’s annual report to the Town Council Monday night, showing off activities that benefitted both the downtown and the greater Berlin community.

Committee Secretary Stephanie Fowler said the group oversaw monthly 2nd Friday art strolls and outdoor Makers Markets, as well as the free Movies in the Park and Movies on Main Street series.

She said the committee participated in the annual Memorial Day parade by decking out a large bus to honor former Berlin Shoe Box owner Jesse Turner.

The committee also finished the third panel of a public art mural hung on the north-facing wall of the Berlin Welcome Center. The panel was created during two public painting sessions, first at Berlin Each Festival in August and later at the Germantown School Community Heritage Center. A fourth panel is planned this year.

Working with St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, the committee helped feed more than 200 local people during the second annual Artists Giving Back dinner in November, and Fowler said that event would continue this year.

She said the second annual Artist’s Holiday Studio Tours, always on the first Saturday in December, was well attended and would also continue.

Committee Vice President Robin Tomaselli said a bike rack, doubling as public art, was installed at the corner of William and Pitts streets. The committee plans another, to be created by local artist Garry Moore, for the Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services area on Main Street or by the Worcester Arts Council Building on Jefferson Street.

She said a mural created about 25 years ago by Patrick Henry and students at Buckingham Elementary School would be used either as an outdoor mural or as a traveling indoor mural.

Two other mural pieces would be presented to the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum and the Germantown School, Tomaselli said.

Additionally, the committee plans to continue fundraising efforts, including an annual exhibition at The Globe in December, and to continue involvement in community events including National Night Out.

Tomaselli pledged “to always participate in anything we can involving the community … and to highlight the artists who live and work in this community who are trying to make a living.”

“Anytime we do anything that needs to be constructed or drawn, we always look to local artists to do that for us,” she said.

Councilman Zack Tyndall said he liked the downtown planter box, a device intended to replace at least some of the bulky sandwich board signs on sidewalks. Decorative shingles hung on the box, currently placed in front of the Atlantic Hotel, point the way to different businesses.

“I think that’s been kind of tabled for now,” Tomaselli said. “We thought it was a great idea and our involvement in it was to solve what everybody sees as a problem now, which is ease of use of the sidewalk.”

She said feedback was initially positive, but that apparently evaporated.

“The majority of people said if they were given the option of one or the other, they would not pick the shingle over their sandwich board sign,” Tomaselli said. “I was super disappointed about that myself. As a business owner, my sandwich board sign probably does bring more business to me, but I think first and foremost we should all be concerned about the safety of people that live and visit our community.”

Mayor Gee Williams said many new ideas take time to become accepted.

“I think there will be times where this will become more and more popular,” he said. “I sometimes find that letting people discover these things is my preference first, versus mandating them.”

Williams complimented work done by the committee.

“Some of these ideas are just unbelievably creative and helpful to the community,” he said. “Just hang in there, keep creating … right now it looks like you’re on a roll.”

For more information on the Berlin Arts and Entertainment Committee, visit www.artsinberlin.org.