Do you live in Rockport? Are you interested in helping to shape a future vision for the Rockport commuter rail station area?

Join the Town of Rockport and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) for a public forum on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 starting a 7 p.m. at Rockport Library, 17 School Street, to learn more about an upcoming project focused on “equitable transit-oriented development,” or eTOD.

Learn more about the visioning process so far and eTOD here.

Open House-style community event at Castle Island Brewing in Norwood!

Some issues are bigger than one neighborhood, city, or town: transportation, housing, climate, jobs, equity, and more.

Your community is working with the region to plan a better future – together. We need you to tell us what you want the region to be like, long term.

The brewery is dog- and kid-friendly, so bring your furry friends along with the rest of the family! The listening session is Open House-style, so drop in any time between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.! Light refreshments will be served.

RSVPs are encouraged so we have a rough head count. RSVP here: https://mapc.ma/CommListeningSession2

Can’t make it to this listening session? Watch the MetroCommon 2050 event page to learn about more: https://metrocommon.mapc.org/events/

On Tuesday, April 9, from 12:30 – 1:30 pm MAPC will host a pre-season planning webinar for our Peak Demand Management Program. This summer will be MAPC’s fifth year helping cities and towns reduce demand and capacity charges, and we are excited to work with returning veterans and new participants alike.

Tune into our Program Kick-Off Webinar to learn more about:

• • National Grid and Eversource’s new demand management offerings and incentives that were formalized in the state’s new 2019-2021 Energy Efficiency Plan.
  • MAPC’s Peak Demand Management Program – we will provide data about the scope and impact of last year’s participants, and cover the basics of capacity charges.
  • Current participants – we will from several municipal staff on their experiences and best practices with demand reduction, with a highlight of one community’s plans to integrate battery storage.

MAPC’s daily notifications won’t start until June 2019, but now is the time to start planning for process improvements and potential hardware upgrades to maximize your demand reduction potential this summer. We hope you can join us on April 9!

Register for this upcoming webinar at this link.

We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

How might creative acts of remembering and imagining in public help us reframe the past and present–and see more inclusive futures?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for a conversation that explores the power of public art to catalyze critical dialogue around public memory, representation, and belonging, and to transform public life. You’ll hear from artists, curators, and organizers who use creative strategies to reframe public memory and imagine future possibilities for more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities.

Guest Speakers:

Paul Farber – Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (keynote speaker and moderator)
Erin Genia (Dakota/ Odawa) – Multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Indigenous arts and culture
Kate Gilbert – Executive Director of Now + There
Stephen Hamilton – Artist and educator, based in Boston

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.

We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!

What can municipal staff working in the areas of planning, open space and recreation, and public arts do to address untold histories, engage with controversy, and leverage the power of public art and public memory in these discussions?

Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and New England Foundation for the Arts for a professional development workshop designed for municipal staff on new approaches to public memory and public art in Greater Boston.

In this workshop, you’ll learn about best practices for facilitating dialogue about controversial monuments and memorials in your community, and about inspiring examples of public art and public history projects that are transforming public memories of places around the country. You will also engage in small group discussions where you’ll have an opportunity to learn about lesser-known historic and cultural stories in our region and how those stories and experiences can be actively engaged in place-based planning and programming related to public art, creative placemaking/placekeeping initiatives, and more.

Facilitators and Speakers: To be announced

This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.