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Community Forum –

Fight for Freedom Public Art Project in Monument Square

Three semi-finalists have been selected to present their proposals for a temporary work to be installed on Monument Square in the fall of 2024. The works explore ideas to creatively interpret the ways in which people have struggled for the fight for freedom through time in Concord, Massachusetts. Taking inspiration from the 250th anniversary of the start of the American Revolution in 2025, the town seeks artists to consider the ways in which two 19th century Concord residents – Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) and Ellen Garrison (1823 – 1892) – continued this fight for independence through the abolitionist cause. Through a visually compelling artwork, we hope to more deeply investigate a pivotal time in Concord’s past to bring overlooked stories to the fore and to more actively grapple with our generation’s work to provide liberty and justice for all.

On March 6, 2023 at 6:30 PM, in person and on Zoom, the public is given the opportunity to meet the artists, view presentations and models of the work, and provide feedback that will inform the final projects presented by:

Silvana Mizrahi
Liz Helfer
Krystle Colleen Brown

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

In person:
Hearing Room
Town House
22 Monument Square

Zoom :
bit.ly/3OQ9JrZ

This project is presented by the Town of Concord as part of “Making It Public,” a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) with Forecast and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). This program seeks to support more diverse, inclusive, and equitable public artmaking across Massachusetts.

Friends of Minute Man National Park Winter Lecture Series: “Radical Spirits: The Material Culture of Drinking at Minute Man National Historical Park” with Nikki Walsh

March 24 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

FREE

Join us for the Friends of Minute Man Winter Lecture Series. Punch bowls, and tankards, and bottles, oh my! Minute Man National Historical Park’s museum curator Nikki Walsh will present a lecture about the material culture related to drinking in the park’s collections. This lecture will focus on 18th-century drinking culture and include aspects of drink in earlier and later periods of history.

Nikki Walsh is the curator of Minute Man National Historical Park. Nikki has worked for the National Park Service since 2009 and has worked with over 45 parks as a Museum Specialist in the Northeast Region. Her area of expertise is material culture and decorative arts of 18th-century New England. She received a B.S. in Public History and Geology from Salem State University and an M.A. in Historical Archaeology from Boston University. She has been at Minute Man since 2018 and first fell in love with the park on a school field trip in 5th grade.

Registration is not required for this in-person event. The lecture will take place in the Goodwin Forum room of the Concord Free Public Main Library at 129 Main Street, Concord, MA. Please visit the library webpage for parking and accessibility information. For more information, please visit our website at https://friendsofminuteman.org/events/#Walsh-lecture.

The Winter Lecture Series is co-sponsored by Friends of Minute Man, Minute Man National Historical Park, and the Concord Free Public Library. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Concord Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Image: Green Dragon Tavern, Boston, MA. c.1898. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library. Drinking vessel from the Minute Man National Historical Park archives.

Women of the Great Field: The Robbins and Garrison Women and their Neighbors

March 26 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Goodwin Forum Main Library

129 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742
Women of the Great Field: The Robbins and Garrison Women and their Neighbors
Join us for a Women’s History discussion with The Robbins House on the history of the women residents of the Great Field, a predominantly African American and indigenous area of Concord in the 19th century. Hear some of the stories and accomplishments of women like Lydia Bay, Fatima Robbins, Susan Garrison and others who lived and worked on the periphery of the town in the 1800s. This event is generously cosponsored by The Robbins House: Concord’s African American History and The Concord Free Public Library

https://concordlibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/women-of-the-great-field-the-robbins-and-garrison-women-and-their-neighbors/

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