Cultural Council Seeks To Build Connections

BREWSTER – Whether or not a Brewster Cultural District is someday in the cards, the town’s cultural council is looking to strengthen collaboration between artists and other related groups and activities to deepen the town’s already-rich cultural scene. 

Giving a report to the select board last month, Brewster Cultural Council Chair Clare O’Connor-Rice said her group has a number of goals related to community collaboration.

“That sort of leads to an issue that we’re touching on, which is, do we ever want to become a cultural district?” she said. “But more importantly, whatever that takes, no matter what we do or what we end up being or not being, it is about the community and about collaborating with other people.” 

Using state and local funds, the council issues grants to artists, writers, musicians each year to enrich the town’s cultural offerings, and more money is available this year than last year, when it issued 18 grants averaging around $250 each, O’Connor-Rice said. With an Oct. 16 deadline looming for this year’s applications, “we’re really trying to reach out to people that are artists of all types — culture is very broadly defined — that are in Brewster or in the surrounding communities,” she said. The cultural council is hosting the third of three grant-writing workshops on Oct. 8 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Brewster Ladies’ Library, and is encouraging any potential applicants to stop by.

The council issued a survey asking citizens what sorts of projects they would like it to help fund. “We never asked the question of, what do you think culture in a community is?” O’Connor-Rice said. “We want to begin to have some small conversations around that.” Working in small groups, the council will be reaching out to various civic groups and organizations “to talk about what the culture of the town is, what it means historically to them, what the community character is,” she said. 

For instance, the Brewster Conservation Trust collaborates with area writers, providing them access to the John Hay studio as a creative workspace, and there is the potential for poetry readings on conservation land. Collaboration involves looking beyond traditional artists to include what the state defines as cultural assets, “which will be important to gather if we want to be a cultural district, but it’s just as important for people to understand, well, what does Brewster have? And if you start to drive down 6A, you see we have quite a bit,” O’Connor-Rice said. 

The cultural council has opened conversations with the volunteers who run the Stony Brook gristmill and with the council on aging. They’ve also reached out to the schools to explain the simple grant application process.

“We’re trying to get people excited about working together on this, whether it’s — dare I say it — putting a mural on the department of natural resources’ wall, which we know is public art and will have to go through a lot of process, no question, or doing poetry readings,” she said. The council is considering working on a “Friendsgiving” celebration at the arts center or former dining hall at the Sea Camps Bay Property, for instance.

“Culinary arts was a big thing that people wanted, and we know we have some really great chefs in town,” O’Connor-Rice said. Often, finding appropriate venues for activities like these is the biggest challenge. The council was interested in hosting a “porch fest” musical event like those in other towns, but struggled with a location. 

“We’re thinking of having something that we’re calling ‘small hall concerts,’” she said, utilizing smaller public spaces but also venues in businesses or churches. “As a group, we’re pretty excited,” she said. 

So far, there’s no movement from the state to create a cultural district in Brewster, O’Connor-Rice said. While the cultural council is about enriching the town’s cultural life, “the cultural district’s goal is more around attracting artists and cultural enterprises, encouraging business and job development. It’s got more of an economic focus, which we might be interested in at some point,” O’Connor-Rice said. “But right now I think what we really want to do is enrich the cultural life of the town in a way that involves more people [and] uses more different spaces.”

Select board member Amanda Bebrin said it’s wise to create a database of those cultural assets, if not to pave the way for a district, then to produce a directory for residents and visitors.

“We have the chamber of commerce to talk about what’s great for business in Brewster, but I think this is a totally natural foil for the culture side,” she said. O’Connor-Rice agreed, saying such a listing “could translate into a map of where the artists are, pretty easily.” 

The cultural council will continue the discussion in its next meeting, Oct. 14 at 5 p.m. at town hall.