{"id":14356,"date":"2019-11-23T15:18:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-23T20:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=14356"},"modified":"2019-11-23T15:18:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T20:18:41","slug":"artfarm-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/11\/23\/artfarm-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction of Somerville\u2019s ArtFarm Could Begin Next Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disclosure: I’ve worked with the Somerville Arts Council to present festivals in the city.<\/em>
\n* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

Construction of ArtFarm<\/a>\u2014the city of Somerville\u2019s planned cultural and agricultural center\u2014could begin next spring.<\/p>\n

The Somerville Arts Council, which is leading the project, aims to get City Council and Finance Committee approval this winter for bond funding to build at the location of a former waste transfer station on Poplar Street. The 2.2-acre site is near the Brickbottom Artist\u2019s Cooperative, just east of McGrath Highway and Union Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to put it out to bid in January or February and hopefully start construction in the spring,\u201d Arts Council Executive Director Greg Jenkins says.<\/p>\n

\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtFarm, as from the air. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Already, Jenkins says, Green City Growers has been growing garden starts in the greenhouse that was built in 2016. Groundwork Somerville has been using the existing raised beds on McGrath side of greenhouse for their World Farmers Program. And Shape Up Somerville has been using a refrigerator at the site to extend the life of food they provide to low-income neighborhoods, Jenkins says.<\/p>\n

The main entrance to ArtFarm would be on Linwood Street, according to designs from a team led by Boston architecture and design firm OverUnder<\/a>. (Review an October 2019 presentation here<\/a>.) The major building on the site would be the ArtBarn, offering community meeting space and performance space, on the Poplar Street side of the site. It would offer large barn doors opening onto a plaza and \u201cFestival Grove,\u201d so that the structure could be the locus for performance indoors or out.<\/p>\n

Jenkins says the Somerville Arts Council aims to lease the space in the ArtBarn to performance troupes and other cultural groups \u201cfor very little\u201d so that it becomes a busy community rehearsal and performance space.<\/p>\n

A utility shed for Somerville Arts Council would include three bays for garden folks and housing for the refrigerator. At the northwest end of the site would sit the greenhouse, rain garden and a \u201cTree Lab\u201d where they would be \u201cputting in trees to look at climate change,\u201d Jenkins says.<\/p>\n

\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtFarm. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Proposals for ArtFarm have been discussed for some six years, but the project stalled around 2016 and \u201917 as it grew unclear how much Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone still supported the project. Then Curtatone affirmed in an October 2017 letter, on the eve of that fall\u2019s election, that \u201cThe long-term home of the ArtFarm will be the former waste transfer site and \u2026 the only other structure that will share the more than 2-acre site will be the pump station, which will occupy one corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pump station and storm water management infrastructure are expected to be built on the McGrath Highway side of the site in a second phase of construction.<\/p>\n

Previously:<\/strong>
\nOct 31, 2017: \u2018We Have A Home For ArtFarm And We Have It In Writing\u2019<\/a>
\nJuly 21, 2017: ArtFarm Proponents Tell Somerville Mayor They Fear Project May Have Been A \u2018Bait And Switch\u2019<\/a>
\nJune 24, 2016: Construction of Somerville\u2019s ArtFarm begins with greenhouse<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtFarm, as seen from Linwood Street. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtBarn interior at ArtFarm. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtFarm. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtBarn at ArtFarm. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Design<\/a>
Design of ArtFarm, as seen from Linwood Street. (Courtesy Somerville Arts Council and OverUnder)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclosure: I’ve worked with the Somerville Arts Council to present festivals in the city. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Construction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[93,26,382],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14356"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14373,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356\/revisions\/14373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}