This Is East

This Is East is a National Endowment for the Arts placemaking grant celebrating and promoting East Somerville’s identity during a time of change for the neighborhood. The projects were produced thanks to a partnership with the Somerville Arts Council, in collaboration with Mudflat Pottery Studios and SCATV, and the support of The Beautiful Stuff Project, East Somerville Community School, Somerville Public Library East Branch, and the Somerville Council on Aging. All three components of the This Is East project, murals, videos, and banners, intersect conceptually containing both, portraits of the people in East Somerville, and elements of storytelling. The stories were collected through interviews, and cultural workshops where artists, actors, and the neighbors themselves represented them visually through painting or clay to be part of the three murals.