HSNA Meeting: Art and Activism AGENDA

Sunday April 29, 2018, 5-7 pm

Washburn Auditorium Lesley University (EDS Campus), 11 Phillips Place

Cambridge Carnival 2017 (Greg Cook/Cambridge Arts Council)

HSNA UPDATES

• Storefront Vacancies: Why are they here, what can we do about it? (City Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui)

• Boston Calling update (Nicola Williams, HSNA and Tom Lucey, Harvard University) --- --Attend HSNA meeting for your chance to win free tickets to Boston Calling!--

• Episcopal Divinity School sale update

• Harvard Square Kiosk/Plaza Updates and “Jade Chain” (Caroline James HSNA)
   -Presentation of Touloukian & Touloukian and Halvorson design progress.       (Presenter to be confirmed)

• HSNA Conservation Study, Preservation and Design Committee Updates (Marilee Meyer, Preservationist and Art Historian, HSNA) Focus: Abbot, Fast Food

• Harvard Square Zoning Petition (Suzanne Blier, HSNA)

• Transportation Committee, focus on dedicated bike lanes, Porter Square Bike Rally, and new Harvard Buses (Nathanael Fillmore, Cambridge Bike Safety)

• Join us! : Membership, Collaboration, and Branding

California artist Daniel Galvez restores and repaints his iconic mural “Crosswinds” on the side of the Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Cambridge, Aug. 10, 2017. (Greg Cook/Cambridge Arts Council)

ART AND ACTIVISM

• Olivia D’Ambrosio, founding director of Bridge Repertory Theater. Newest elected member of Cambridge Arts Advisory Board (2018-2021) and Theater Professor, MIT.   “I look forward to serving (for three years!) and am ever grateful to everyone who set me on the arts / political activism path, and will continue to be part of the journey.” Cambridge is lucky to have you, Olivia!

• Greg Cook, Cambridge Arts Council . Greg is an artist and Marketing/PR Director for Cambridge Arts. Independently, he organizes festivals and parades http://gregcookland.com/wonderland/category/wonderland-spectacle-co/ and just hosted the Starting Over Festival with the Somerville Arts Council to use arts and nature to speak about spring as well as turning over a new leaf socially, environmentally, politically. Here are highlights of my photos from 2017 that will give you a sense of the range of things I'm engaged with.

• EMF Building Resident (TBA), EMF is a Central Square building with over 200 artists facing eviction.        
  

• Cambridge Foundry Project Updates

UPCOMING EVENTS AND NEW INITIATIVES

• Community Engagement

• Summer Hidden Garden Tours

• Committee proposals

• Have a project you'd like to initiate? Let us know!

Find out more at: www.harvardsquareneighborhood.org

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NEWS IN THE SQUARE

1/H. Sq Kiosk and Plaza Re-Design and Programming - 4/25/2018 Public Meeting

Attend the next Public Meeting, Wednesday April 25th, at Cambridge Rindge Latin School, Media Cafeteria, 459 Broadway, 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

Credit: Touloukian & Touloukian, Section Cut of Harvard Square "Out of Town News" Kiosk

Discussions are ongoing on the Harvard Square Kiosk and Kiosk Plaza Renovations, as well as programming. Architects on the project Touloukian & Touloukian are bringing fresh ideas to the process, and discussions are ongoing. Download their March 15, 2018 presentation to the Working Group here. Two HSNA Board Members, Abra Berkowitz and Abhishek Syal, are on the Working Group--please contact them to give feedback. The City is poised to release a Request for Qualifications for Management of the Kiosk. Who will manage the Kiosk? Contact Kathy Watkins, DPW, for more information and to give input: kwatkins@cambridgema.gov.

-Boston Calling Update: HSNA Board Member Nicola Williams and Chair of the Music Committee has led productive meetings with Harvard University, the Boston Calling team and community members about the upcoming Memorial Day weekend concert (Friday May 25 - Sunday May 27) in Allston.  We have brought together neighbors and our own scientists to address acoustics and neighborhood impact. We will have an update at the April 29 HSNA meeting.

5/Abbot Buildings Approved by Planning Board Will Move Forward

The Abbot Buildings (Curious George) project is moving forward despite many concerns from neighbors and local merchants. The application was approved by the Planning Board with some modest modifications. See plans here. The owners, Regency, will next seek approval from the Cambridge Historical Commission, which has asked for a stronger and more integrated penthouse pavilion. They have requested to appear at the May 3 CHC meeting, so stay tuned for updates.

Abbot Buildings Render with Penthouse

HSNA has submitted recommendations for the Abbot Project to minimize disruption to the historic fabric. The new plans accepted the recommend a less drastic interior renovation. Regency will not remove a floor behind the facade with the beloved "Dewey Cheetam and Howe" CarTalk lettering.

CAMBRIDGE NEWS

xEMF Building in Cambridge, home to over 200 artists, is fighting to keep their space. Trinity Properties, led by John diGiovanni, originally gave the tenants less than 2 months' notice to move. At last week's City Council meeting, some 50 people showed up to voice their support for the artists studios, and the Mayor Marc McGovern was able to broker an extension with diGiovanni, who is also President of HSBA. We are following this unfolding story closely. See Globe story, and WBUR coverage, "Uproar Over Closing Of EMF Building Prompts Cambridge To Seek Solutions To Artist Displacement."

• Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery does a book series and hold lectures at the cemetery. Here is one coming up in June about Mt. Auburn's Civil Rights Legacy HERE.