This month our AHA! partners are offering a variety of both virtual and IRL (in-real-life) programs.
Look for the Virtual and IRL icons to help you plan your AHA! activities.
Virtual
IRL
Click For Tips To Help Get The Most Out Of Your Vaha! Experience
Find archived programming from the September VAHA! on our Connect From Your Couch page.
AHA! In The Afternoon
Our downtown New Bedford museums, galleries and institutions are welcoming back visitors.
Visit their websites for more info about current hours, programs, exhibits and COVID19 safety protocols.
New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center
Open on AHA! 10am – 4pm
& extended AHA! programming from 6-7pm (see listing below)
Click For More Info
New Bedford Port Society
including Seamen’s Bethel & Mariner’s Home
Open on AHA! 10am – 4pm
Click For More Info
New Bedford Farmers Market
in Custom House Park
Open 2-6pm
Click For More Info
New Bedford Whaling Museum
Open on AHA! 10am – 4pm
with reserved timed admission
Click For More Info
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
Open on AHA! 10am – 4pm
Click For More Info
Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum
Open on AHA! 10am – 4pm
Plus virtual AHA! programming at 5pm (see listing below)
Click For More Info
Please consider shopping or dining in DNB throughout the day
to help support our small biz community.
Follow DNB, Inc. on Facebook /dnbinc or Instagram @dnbinc for updates about indoor and outdoor dining and retail shopping.
Celebrating your Art, History & Architecture from home?
Order up some take-out or delivery from one of your
favorite downtown eateries and enjoy all the
VAHA! programming from the comfort of your couch or yard.
Click For Dining Options
SHOPPING SPOTLIGHT!
Subtext Bookshop
209 Union Street
Who’s ready for ‘hot apple cider and a good book’ season?
Stop by to shop the Fall Book Sale.
5-8pm
DINING SPOTLIGHT
Play Arcade
34 Union Street
Play is an old school 80’s style Arcade offering craft-made food and beverages including many vegan options. While the games are off-limits due to COVID19 restrictions, we invite you to dine and drink at downtown New Bedford’s newest attraction. Be sure to check out the hammock seats on the roof deck complete with harbor views as well as some amazing murals created by local artists.
noon-10pm
Virtual Block Party at 7pm / Zoom Dance Party at 8pm
(V)AHA! Programs
Art with Alison
Noon – 6pm
At the Alison Wells Gallery
Stop by for the Gallery’s first IRL (In Real Life) event in six months.
Chat with Artist Alison Wells about her new exhibit at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and view info/price sheets to learn more about the paintings. Check out the new look of the gallery and view what’s on the walls including original artwork, prints, and notecards. Gift Certificates available for purchase. Due to Covid-19, visitors will be limited to 4 guests at a time, masks will be required of everyone and hand sanitizer will be provided.
In the Neighborhood
A Virtual Tour of Alison Wells’ New Exhibit at the NB Whaling MuseumNew Bedford has been Alison’s home away from home for the past 15 years. This area has and continues to serve as a major source of inspiration throughout her career in the United States, both consciously and subconsciously. She is influenced greatly by its rich architecture; its prolific fishing harbor; its fascinating histories of Whaling; the Underground Railroad & Textiles; its multicultural backbone and the artistic veins that pump the city with life and vitality. She fuses these significant influences along with her Caribbean culture and sensibilities to create unique and vibrant mixed media, large scale paintings in this series titled In the Neighborhood.
3pm on Facebook Live
5 Pillars of Hip Hop Series
presented by 3rd EyE Unlimited
& the NB Whaling National Historical Park
Featuring music, spoken word, a community conversation, live painting plus interesting info and interviews with Park Rangers.
Get Creative with NBAM/Artworks!
3-5pm
In Custom House Park
Join the artMOBILE at the New Bedford Famers Market.
Look for the purple van with experienced artists and fun art activities for you! The artMOBILE travels the South Coast to lead art workshops and hand-out specially designed art kits.
5-7pm
In front of NBAM/Artworks!
Weaving of Voices: An Interactive Activity New Bedford Children, a new nonprofit organization working to promote high-quality early childhood education in the city of New Bedford, will be in front of NBAM creating a “weaving of voices”. Stop by to add to the weaving, and to share your hopes and dreams for early childhood education in our city!
7pm
On Facebook & Instagram
Bark Ranger
Explore NBAM’s exhibitions with Museum Dog, get crafty with Creative Canine, and this VAHA! take a tour of Wings Court with Bark Ranger!
Visit newbedfordart.org/stay-connected to watch previous episodes of Museum Dog and Friends.
Bark Ranger is brought to you by NBAM and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.
5pm on Facebook Live
VAHA! Mini-Concert
hosted by Scott Bishop
Tune in for this mini-concert featuring
2 South Coast-based artists playing
original music:
Neal McCarthy
Neal McCarthy has played in bars and restaurants in the Southcoast for 30 years, and is lucky to have had the pleasure of playing with dozens of other locals. Neal is currently having an interesting time playing solo acoustic online during the pandemic.
Facebook
Website
Skyjelly
A band from Fall River that plays in a scary old mill – one floor up from a mean Southern Rock band who wondered if they were having séances (they weren’t) (not really). Skyjelly plays psychedelic, middle-eastern blues and has had four releases to date. Thier latest release, In The Running, is a split vinyl EP with the band Solillians.
Bandcamp
Spotify
Website
5-8pm
At Judith Klein Art Gallery
Swing by the South End and visit the new location for the Judith Klein Art Gallery.
Featuring new work by Judith Klein, jewelry by Nitza Attali, ceramics by Edgar McGarvy and Martha Moffitt, and woodwork by Andrew Preppard.
127 W. Rodney French Blvd, use main entrance, 2nd floor Suit 2-87
Visitors limited to 2-3 people at one time, masks must be worn.
5pm on Zoom
Registration Required
Annual Meeting & Special LectureHosted by the Rotch-Jones-Duff House
& Garden Museum The Annual Meeting agenda includes the approval of a new slate of trustees, a report on the activities and finances of the Museum, a vote on bylaw amendments, and a special lecture by Carrie Taylor, Director of the Lippitt House Museum in Providence, Rhode Island. “To Labor for the Common Good: Recontextualizing the Historic House Museum Experience”Carrie Taylor, Director, Lippitt House Museum, Providence, RILippitt House has been a landmark for over 150 years – a reflection of the great wealth created in 19th century Providence from manufacturing. But what relevancy does a Victorian mansion have today in our post-industrial age? Ms. Taylor will discuss the evolving role of historic house museums as a community resource and efforts to engage community through innovative partnerships and programs.
5:30 & 7:15pm
On Facebook
Centre Street Sessions:
The Whaling City Sound Annual Jazz SeriesFeaturing two sets by the John Stein Trio,with Ed Lucie, electric bass, Mike Conners, drums and John Stein, guitarist.Filmed at NBAM/Artworks
6-7pm at the NB Fishing Heritage Center
Baile de la Conquista Outdoor Performance This traditional Mayan dance from Guatemala will take place in the FHC parking lot. Masks and social distancing
are required. Click To Learn More About This
Dance Tradition
6pm at Pilgrim UCC
Sea Chantey Music Austin Burns will present a program of Sea Chanteys in the Parking Lot behind the Church (635 Purchase Street).
History & Architecture with the NB Preservation Society
Postponed due to weather
The Definitive Tour The season’s walking tour series concludes with a tour of the city’s central business and retail district. The quintessential buildings on Pleasant, Union and Purchase Streets will be featured.
Any Time!
Virtual Tours
Including An Introduction to Historical New Bedford and Tour of Howland Mills: A history of the New Bedford textile industry and a utopian workers village.
6:30pm On Zoom
Soo Sunny Park:
Light As a Sculptural Material
Hosted by UMass Dartmouth Galleries
Artist Talk by Soo Sunny Park will contextualize Photo Kinetic Grid, site specific light installation.
This reflective light installation was admired this summer by many New Bedford residents and visitors at the corner of Union & Purchase Streets at the UMass Dartmouth Star Store Campus’ new Swain Studio.
7-8pm On-Line
The Worry Workshop Hosted by The Drawing Room A special online event with Carrie Foster Vinson, LICSW, Life Coach, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapist.Carrie is an expert in helping people deal with the universal emotion of worry. Carrie will share her expertise in a livestream about facing worry.
7pm On Zoom
Anomaly Poetry Open Mic Hang out on ZOOM with your friendly neighborhood poets.
Any Time!
Virtual Exhibits at Gallery X
Any Time!
Virtual Program:
Ripples. Through a Wampanoag Lens
Join artist Elizabeth James Perry for a conversation about her art and the concept for her exhibition, “Ripples. Through a Wampanoag Lens,” which opened at the Whaling Museum on September 3. Elizabeth, an Aquinnah Wampanoag whaling descendant and marine scientist, will discuss how her designs and the raw materials for the exhibition have personal and historical cultural meanings.
This engaging conversation, moderated by Whaling Museum Curator of Social History Akeia de Barros Gomes, will touch on Indigenous gender roles and responsibilities, the environment, and important adaptations to centuries of close contact between Wampanoag communities in New England, Wampanoag whalemen and naval officers, and cultures around the world. Elizabeth will share with us how this history influences and inspires her work.
Have an idea for some virtual programming you’d like to bring to the party?
Have some tips or tricks you can share about virtual event best practices?
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