{"id":27621,"date":"2026-04-10T20:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=27621"},"modified":"2026-04-10T20:17:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:17:46","slug":"jenkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2026\/04\/10\/jenkins\/","title":{"rendered":"Somerville Arts Council Director Greg Jenkins Honored"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A party was held last night to honor my friend Greg Jenkins, who was pushed out of his role as director of the Somerville Arts Council in February. The “Arts in the ‘Ville” party at Warehouse XI, Somerville, on April 9, 2026, celebrated Jenkins, under whose watch the council launched Porchfest, which inspired and transformed the whole region; Fluff Fest; efforts to preserve artist spaces; and numerous other beloved programs. (They also helped me present the Pity Party and other wonderful festivals.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the news became public on Feb. 13, Jenkins posted the following public message<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends & Colleagues,
I\u2019m writing to let you know that the new Somerville administration has decided that the Somerville Arts Council will go in a new direction and I was asked to leave.
Although this is surprising, and not at all what I wanted, it\u2019s been my pleasure to serve many Somerville administrations over my near 25 years as Director of the Somerville Arts Council.
I\u2019m extremely proud of the work our staff has accomplished on behalf of the creative community of Somerville, including the festivals, programs, policies–as well as the collaborations with other city departments, partners, and sister cities. I truly believe Somerville is a true arts city, and over the years, together we\u2019ve made it a wonderful place to be an artist, to enjoy the arts, and to support the creative community.
It\u2019s been many years of important civic work — all of it, my honor. I look forward to what comes next for the Somerville Arts Council, all of you, and also for me.
Thanks — I will be further in touch shortly.
Greg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by\u00a0contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And\u00a0sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a>\u00a0so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9 Greg Cook 2026 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Greg
Greg Jenkins (left) and friend at “Arts in the ‘Ville” party honoring Gregory Jenkins at Warehouse XI, Somerville, April 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Arts in the ‘Ville” party honoring Gregory Jenkins at Warehouse XI, Somerville, April 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Arts in the ‘Ville” party honoring Gregory Jenkins at Warehouse XI, Somerville, April 9, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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“Arts in the ‘Ville” party honoring Gregory Jenkins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A party was held last night to honor my friend Greg Jenkins, who was pushed out of his role as director of the Somerville Arts Council in February. The “Arts in the ‘Ville” party at Warehouse XI, Somerville, on April 9, 2026, celebrated Jenkins, under whose watch the council launched Porchfest, which inspired and transformed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[1384,382],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621"}],"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=27621"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27625,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27621\/revisions\/27625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}