Two fascinating perspectives on local and regional history through the unique lens of the arts will be offered at the Marion Art Center during the SouthCoast Spring Arts festival May 12 and 15.
On May 12, the MAC partners with Friends of the Blackstone, a nonprofit environmental organization supporting the Blackstone River, for a screening of their new short film, Kittacuck Speaks. Instead of the dominant, industrially focused narrative about the Blackstone River, called Kittacuck by Native Americans, the film presents a story told by the river itself. Kittacuck Speaks was written and narrated by Nipmuc tribe member Bruce Curliss, with videography and editing by Gian Mancini. At the event, attendees will meet film directors Vincent Mancini and John Marsland and learn what it means to maintain a Blue Mind, a concept developed by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, in which we become stewards of our planet and live in harmony with the natural world. The screening and conversation will take place from 7:00-8:00 pm and tickets are $5.
On May 15, the Marion Art Center partners with the Sippican Historical Society to present “The Arts in Marion’s Gilded Age” from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. In the late 1800’s Marion became a summer gathering place for artists, writers, actors, musicians, architects and intellectual luminaries. At this panel discussion, our local experts, Wendy Bidstrup, Nancy Mitton, Judith Rosbe and Meg Steinberg, will bring to light some of the characters who made up this lively scene, including Cecil Clark Davis, Charles Dana Gibson, Henry James, Mark Twain, Century Magazine editor Richard Watson Gilder and architects H.H. Richardson and Stanford White. UMass Dartmouth professor and art historian Catherine Moran will set the stage with an overview of the Gilded Age in America. A question-and-answer session follows the presentations. Tickets are $5.
Tickets for all SouthCoast Spring Arts @ the MAC events are available at marionartcenter.org/scspringarts. SouthCoast Spring Arts (SCSA) is a 10-day festival connecting innovative, creative and affordable art and cultural experiences in communities from Fall River to Wareham. More than two dozen local cultural organizations, as well as artists and creative entrepreneurs, have come together for SCSA to celebrate the arts across the SouthCoast region May 6-15. For more information, go to southcoastspringarts.org.