SOMERVILLE WIRE: November 23, 2021 WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Transgender Day of Remembrance, art spaces have been activated, and Sparkle the dog passes away
Announcements
The Somerville Wire will be taking a week off and returning on December 7. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Articles
WINTER HILL STAR MARKET SITE DEVELOPMENT IN DISCUSSION
The potential project, still in an early stage of planning, has benefited from community feedback
The Somerville based sculpture creator reflects on indoor and outdoor works
OPINION: THE ‘TAKEOVER’ OF SOMERVILLE FALLS FLAT
“Despite the substantial amount of money that came from contributions from all over the U.S., and the hundreds of out-of-town volunteers that DSA recruited, DSA/ORS backed candidates lost three of the five competitive races for City Council that they ran in.”
Shorts
Transgender Day of Remembrance celebrated by the City
Mayor Joe Curtatone, the Somerville Department of Health and Human Services, and the Somerville High School Gender and Sexuality Awareness Alliance will be honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 23. The ceremony will be held on the City Hall concourse at 93 Highland Avenue. Speakers include Curtatone, Somerville LGBTQ Liaison Jack Treanor, and local transgender educator and advocate Matisse DuPont. There will be a raising of the Transgender Pride Flag. The event will be open to the public, and all Somerville community members are welcome.
Sparkle, cherished Somerville dog, passes away
Sparkle the dog, a beloved Corgi mix, affectionately called the “Mayor of Somerville,” passed away on Nov. 17. She had been diagnosed with jaw cancer that could not be cured. After her owner, Melora Rush, posted a tweet that said Sparkle had had “a really hard day,” during the evening, Rush announced the news on Twitter.
“It is so hard to share this news with all of you who have sent so much love to Sparkle … She is no longer with us … She is at peace … Thank you for the love,” wrote Rush.
Sparkle had been known to sit on Rush’s front lawn to greet people passing by, regardless of what the weather was like outside. In her final days, she received an outpouring of support from community members and news outlets, becoming a veritable national celebrity.
She will be dearly missed.
ArtAssembled space in action
The Somerville Arts Council, in partnership with Federal Realty at Assembly Row, has launched a project called ArtAssembled, and it is currently in full swing. ArtAssembled activates vacant storefronts and transforms into spaces for artists to use for creative purposes. The project currently has over 50 participating artists using spaces primarily for rehearsals.
Artist Emily Beattie recently used the space to perform her work, “Hyphae,” an interactive installation for a select audience. ArtAssembled has a partnership with Monkeyhouse’s Residency program and will be giving a total of 120 hours of rehearsal time to 6 selected movement artists, chosen by Monkeyhouse.
“After all the dance space closings in recent years, this new fully accessible, interdisciplinary performing arts space so close to the Orange Line is vital to the local dance ecosystem, ” said Karen Krolak, founder and artistic director of Monkeyhouse, in a press release.
ArtAssembled has a 15’x40’ sprung dance floor “covered with marley, black curtain on a track, LED lights, and sound system. [Their] capacity is 10 people at a time and is best used as a rehearsal space for art-making/performative practices. ArtAssembled is fully ADA compliant and accessible.”
Performing artists with a low-sound profile, looking for a rehearsal space should visit www.artassembled.org.
Somerville’s Non-Profit of the Year
The Somerville Chamber of Commerce announced that the local hunger relief and food rescue organization Food for Free was named Somerville’s Non-Profit of the Year. The award came only a few months after the group moved to a new space in Somerville at 59 Innerbelt Road, an action that will allow them to reach more people than ever before.
This article is syndicated by the Somerville Wire municipal news service of the Somerville News Garden project of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.
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Shira Laucharoen is assistant director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and assistant editor and staff reporter of the Somerville Wire.
