![Virtual Dock-u-mentaries: The Port of New Bedford- Then and Now @ ZOOM](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/b7ecb38e-92cd-4123-8882-2d75427457cd-300x195.png)
Tune in for a virtual presentation about the Port of New Bedford- then and now! First, we will share a recently digitized slideshow made in the 1960s about the port. After, photographer Phil Mello will share his own updated version featuring contemporary images of the working waterfront. Join the ZOOM meeting by clicking here.
![Women and the Sea: Exploring Women’s Roles in Maritime Songs, a Virtual Concert and Lecture by Debra Cowan @ Facebook Live](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WomenSeaCover-1-300x225.jpg)
Tune in for a virtual concert and lecture by Debra Cowan! This program offers an engaging and informative look at the often overlooked and varied roles and experiences of women and the sea through the lens of Maritime songs and ballads. The program will be live-streamed on the Center’s Facebook page.
Cross-dressing? Heroic young girls saving manly men on storm-tossed seas? Beautiful women luring unsuspecting sailors to their doom? Women working in seafood processing plants? All these subjects and more are the focus of Debra Cowan’s Women and the Sea: Exploring Women’s Roles in Maritime Song program.
There are an abundance of songs that describe the many different and diverse roles that women have played in Maritime songs and stories. Sirens and supernatural women, the women left behind and women disguised as men are among the themes explored in this program. Debra also discusses these roles and sings examples of contemporary and traditional sea-songs in which women are featured as the main characters. Debra emphasizes that women can overcome adversity and in some of these songs and stories, take charge and win the day.
“Stunning” is a word that is often used to describe Debra Cowan’s vocals. She performs unaccompanied and with guitar, interpreting a wide range of traditional and contemporary folk songs. Debra’s performances impress listeners with her clarity, warmth, agility, all the while encouraging the audience to join in on choruses and refrains. Her four recordings have been met with high praise world-wide and in June 2015, she was featured in the UK folk music magazine, Living Tradition.
This program is part of a series related to the Center’s project, Women’s Work: At Sea, On Shore, At Home, In the Community. Funding for this project is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, the Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Dartmouth, Westport, and Mattapoisett Cultural Council.
![Virtual Dock-u-mentaries: Women in the Fishing Industry in Point Judith @ ZOOM](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Women-in-the-Commercial-Fisheries-225x300.jpg)
Tune in for the Center’s latest Virtual Dock-u-mentaries event, Women in the Fishing Industry in Point Judith by filmmaker Markham Starr. Starr will be speaking about the documentary and filmmaking process as well as answering audience questions. Click here to join the Zoom meeting on March 19th, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84928218789
We will not be screening the film during the Zoom call and are asking guests to watch the film on their own using this link, https://vimeo.com/518567018/f3dc97801b
While over the years a few women have successfully worked as commercial fishermen out of Point Judith, Rhode Island, the industry has overwhelmingly been dominated by men. As with other traditional industries throughout the country, tightening labor markets and a dwindling supply of men willing to commit to heavy work has created opportunities for women. This film follows a handful of women now working in the industry through a typical day on deck or on the factory floor. This film is part of a larger series documenting the commercial fishery in Point Judith for the Library of Congress.
Dock-u-mentaries are presented by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. This program is part of the Center’s series about women’s roles in commercial fishing which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils. The program is free and open to the public.
![Women in the Workplace, Women on Deck: Fisherpoets Virtual Round Robin @ Facebook Live](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG_9950-225x300.jpg)
Tune in for a virtual event featuring female fisherpoets from around the country! These fisherpoets will share stories, poems, and music related to their experiences in the fishing industry and community. This event will be led by Moe Bowstern and will feature Tele Aadsen, Meezie Hermansen, Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento, Meghan Gervais, Kate Murphy, Billie Delaney, and Melanie Brown plus others to be announced!
This event will take place on the Fishing Heritage Center’s Facebook page as a Facebook Live event. You can watch by visiting the Center’s Facebook page at 7:00pm EDT on Thursday, April 8th.
Women in the Workplace, Women on Deck is supported by a Bridge Street Scholarship from Mass Humanities. This program is part of the Center’s series about women’s roles in commercial fishing which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, Marion, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils. The program take place on April’s AHA! Night and is free and open to the public.
Performer Bios (more coming soon!)
Moe Bowstern is the editor since 1996 of Xtra Tuf, a zine that chronicles the experiences and adventures of commercial fisher folk in Alaska and beyond. Moe worked on fishing boats starting in 1986, when as a miserable 18-year-old boat cook she once inadvertently threatened the lives of the crew by serving pasta tossed with shards of glass. She has fished salmon, halibut, herring, tanner crab, cod in Alaska, shad on the Hudson River, shrimp in Miami and mackerel, crab and lobster in the Moray Firth of Scotland. She lives in Portland Oregon, where she writes for the It Did Happen Here historical documentary podcast telling the story of Portland activists who chased fascist skinheads out of town in the late 80s/early 90s.
Melanie Brown fishes for sockeye salmon in the Naknek River District of Bristol Bay with her kids on the set-net site that her Great Grandfather, Paul Chukan, staked out. She winters in Juneau, Alaska and advocates for salmon and wild salmon habitat with her colleagues at SalmonState.
Tele Aadsen is an Alaskan salmon troller who sold her first catch for the price of an ice cream cone in 1984. She fishes the F/V Nerka with partner Joel & cat Halcyon, living ocean-summers in Lingit Aani, Southeast Alaska, & land-winters in the Coast Salish territory of Bellingham, Washington. www.nerkasalmon.
Kat Murphy is a power troller in southeast Alaska. She targets salmon in the summer months and in the off season, direct markets her catch and sells other fish she’s sourced from small boat fishermen in and around Port Townsend, WA through her business, Katfish Salmon Co. When she’s not fishing, selling, and thinking about fish, Kat enjoys mushroom hunting and catching up on sleep.
![Virtual Dock-u-mentaries Discussion: The Long Coast @ ZOOM](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Coast-with-title-300x168.jpg)
Join us for a virtual discussion with Robyn Metcalfe, Executive Producer of the film, The Long Coast. Click here to join the Zoom meeting on Friday, April 16th at 7:00pm. Watch the trailer for The Long Coast by clicking here.
We will not be screening the film during the Zoom meeting. You can watch the film on your own by registering here. Register by April 15th to receive access before the discussion on April 16th. Once you receive the link, you will have 48 hours to watch the film.
In a series of lyrical portraits, The Long Coast illuminates the stories of Maine’s seafolk, those whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably connected to the ocean. This atmospheric film shows the beauty, intimacy, and uncertainty that coastal dwellers face in rooting their lives in the ocean, particularly as human actions — from overfishing, to aquaculture, to warming seas — confront Maine and its people with profound change.
Please contact Hannah at programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.
Dock-u-mentaries are presented by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. Thank you to Zapalac Advisors for funding this event.
![Mothers, Wives, and Daughters: Stories from Fishing Families @ ZOOM](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/082e31dc-ace6-417a-8049-d4161bd265dd-300x222.jpg)
Tune in for a virtual event featuring women from fishing families. These women will share their stories about the unique dynamics within fishing families and the role women have played in supporting those who work the sea. Takes place at 7pm over ZOOM, https://us02web.zoom.us/
This event is supported by a Bridge Street Scholarship from Mass Humanities. Mothers, Daughters, Wives: Stories from Fishing Families is part of Women’s Work, the Center’s series about women’s roles in commercial fishing which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, Marion, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils. This even takes place on May’s AHA! Night and is free and open to the public.
![POSTPONED- Virtual Dock-u-mentaries Discussion: A Fish Story @ ZOOM](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-21-at-11.28.48-AM-300x199.png)
Join us for a virtual discussion with Shareen Davis and Angela Sanfillipo, the women profiled in the film, A Fish Story. Learn about the history of women as fishing industry advocates and what has changed in the 20 years since the film was made.
We will not be screening the film during the Zoom meeting. You can watch the film ahead of time on Youtube by using this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5K4xMjFWK8
About the film: A Fish Story is the tale of two women who lead their communities in a battle for control of the ocean. Angela Sanfilippo of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Shareen Davis of Chatham, Massachusetts were born into fishing families and married men who continue to make a living from the sea. Fishing defines who they are and has sustained their communities for generations. But their way of life is threatened when a powerful coalition of national environmental groups file a lawsuit that could put hundreds of fishermen out of business. Three hundred years of fishing tradition and the health of the ocean hangs in the balance.
In the 1970s, enormous international fishing fleets decimated the waters off New England leaving local fishermen struggling to survive in the wake of this environmental disaster. Decades later, New England fishermen and environmentalist remain locked in an intense battle over the current health and future management of the ocean. And with the success of a broad sweeping lawsuit filed in 2000, environmentalists are demanding radical new conservation measures that could spell disaster for New England fishermen and their communities. Angela and Shareen find themselves at the center of this political storm as they struggle to save both fish and fishermen. Delving into the behind-the-scenes world of politicians, environmentalists, journalists, and fishermen, A Fish Story confronts the hard choices faced when human needs and those of the environment collide.
Please contact Hannah at programs@fishingheritagecenter.org with any questions.
Dock-u-mentaries are presented by New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. This event is supported by a Bridge Street Scholarship from Mass Humanities. Virtual Dock-u-mentaries Discussion: A Fish Story is part of Women’s Work, the Center’s series about women’s roles in commercial fishing which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, Marion, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils.
![June AHA! Night @ New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DSC0606-300x200.jpg)
Stop by in-person to see our new exhibit, More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Fishing Community. This exhibit features lots of hands-on and kid-friendly interactive, so bring the whole family! Free and open to the public for AHA! Night.
![5th Anniversary Celebration! @ New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/nbfhc_1920x1080-300x169.jpg)
Save the date! This summer, we are celebrating the Center’s five-year anniversary and the official grand opening of More than a Job with an event on June 26th! Watch demonstrations of model boat making and other industry skills. Enjoy live music featuring the Rum Soaked Crooks. Plus make and take activities for the kids. The celebration is free and open to the public. A speaking program at noon will feature remarks by elected officials including Congressman Bill Keating, Representative Antonio Cabral, and a keynote address by Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities. Click here for a full schedule of events.
This event will also feature a free vaccine clinic for the COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with Fishing Partnership and Greater New Bedford Community Health Center. Vaccine offered: Johnson & Johnson for adults; Pfizer for kids 12-17. Free $20 Dunkin Donuts cards to first time vaccinators both for child AND adult!
Funding for More than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Fishing Industry is provided by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and significant support from Bristol County Savings Bank. Major in-kind support for this exhibit was provided by Fairhaven Shipyard and Blue Fleet Welding.
We Came to Fish, We Came to Work: Stories of Immigration is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Creative Commonwealth Initiative, and the Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, and New Bedford Cultural Councils.
![Chanteys and Maritime Songs - Bring Your Voices and Bring Your Friends @ New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center](https://fishingheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/9871238_orig-222x300.jpg)
Join us Wednesday, July 7th from 6:00pm-8:00pm for “Chanteys and Maritime Songs – Bring Your Voices and Bring Your Friends,” a chantey workshop and singalong lead by The Johnson Girls at the Fishing Heritage Center. Open to the public with a “pass-the-hat” voluntary contribution.
Formed in 1997, The Johnson Girls are the leading all-woman maritime song group in the world. Sea chanteys and songs, as the first real “world music”, captured their imagination. Just as sailors who were heavily influenced by the songs they heard while traveling the world over, each of the Johnson Girls brings a special style to the ensemble. Their extensive repertoire of both traditional and contemporary material includes sea chanteys and work songs of other traditions, African-American, Canadian, Caribbean, Irish, French, Italian as well as songs from the inland waterways and fisheries. Widely acclaimed for their powerhouse performances of rousing work songs, sensitive renderings of haunting ballads and laments, and hair-raising harmonies, The Johnson Girls dazzle audiences wherever they perform. Learn more at thejohnsongirls.com
This program is part of “Women’s Work” programming which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Women’s Fisheries Network, Mass Cultural Council, and the New Bedford, Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, Marion, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils.