The New Bedford Light is a free, nonprofit digital news outlet dedicated to community-based coverage of important local issues. In addition to in-depth and fact-based journalism, their mission is to provide a broad platform for diverse community voices. Their coverage also highlights the region’s rich creative and cultural landscape.  They launched in June 2021 and look forward to celebrating their 1st birthday on Saturday, June 11 during the city’s 20mi2 celebration. 

From 3:30-5:00pm, The New Bedford Light will host their first in-person Fine Arts Club meeting at Dough Company in the Kilburn Mill.  The Fine Arts Club is a marketplace for art buyers, enthusiasts, and artists to meet. 

Immediately following the Fine Arts Club, join The New Bedford Light cohort for birthday cake and a Q&A session with their editor, Barbara Roessner, at their 2nd floor Kilburn office from 5:00-6:00pm. 

Grab your knitting supplies and join fellow knitters for a fun day at The Wilks Branch of the New Bedford Free Public Library. Don't know how to knit? No problem! Staff will be able to teach you the basics of knitting, and you will not leave empty-handed!

The Howland-Green branch of the New Bedford Free Public Library will host an all-day (9am-5pm) outdoor book sale.

From 1:00-3:00pm, the New Bedford Arts & Cultural Emporium (NBACE) will be there offering a Free Bookmark Making Workshop using dried flowers, quotes, fancy papers, and tassels.

From 3:30-5:00pm, as a wrap-up celebration for 20mi2, they’ll have cake and other snacks.

Stop by the MakerSpace at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park between 12-4 to learn what their current Artist in Residence Kate Sheridan is working on!

Hatch Street Studios artists of 88-90 Hatch Street cordially invite you into their creative work-spaces for Studio Saturday. Stop by and experience the delight of wandering from studio to studio, discovering the arts in all mediums, live music, art demos, and workshops.

Hatch Street Studios is the vibrant creative hub of more than 65 visual and performing artists. Located at 88 & 90 Hatch Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts (in the city’s north end) the two grand brick and stone buildings are right in the heart of the historic Nashawena Mill district. Learn more at: hatchstreetstudios.com

Artist Ryan Santos, located in Studio #214 at Hatch Street Studios will host classical oil painting demonstrations / instruction and more on Saturday, June 11, 10am-5pm.

Discover the magic inherent in creating a work of art using the time tested methods of the masters. View the wide range of works created by Ryan Santos in his Hatch Street Studio. Browse the local landscapes and pop culture illustrations that line the studio walls and consider taking a painting class yourself.

Ryan is a New Bedford born illustrator, painter and portrait artist that studied in New York City at the School of Visual Arts.

Free Wall PopUp and dance jam with 3rd EyE Youth Empowerment.

Open to youth from the Dennison community, participants will be led step-by-step as they paint a 16” x 20” colorful landscape with professional artist Fitzcarmel LaMarre, a 20mi2 sponsored event.

Fitzcarmel is a creative educational developer and program director, a home school workshop educator, muralist, portrait artist, graphic designer, and a former public school art teacher. He is currently working on his graphic novel NEW DEADFORD, an inclusive community project including creative workshops for at-risk, underserved youth at the New Bedford Housing Authority’s Blue Meadow Property and Our Sisters’ School.

PAACA will host a popup food market, community resources, Agile Health & Fitness, and other activities geared toward adults.

This is also the site of for the Cycle 20mi2 group ride kickoff in the North End. Gather here between 3-4 to get organized, take in some tunes and make some new friends from the community. The ride kicks off promptly at 4:00PM.

Enjoy an evening of Art and Music at the Alison Wells Fine Art Studio & Gallery.

Inside, enjoy original paintings, new Giclee prints and note cards, as well as guest artists. Check out the AHA! Rainbow Craft Table in honor of Pride.

Out on the street, saxophonist “Manny” Escobar will be performing his blend of jazz, soul, and contemporary classics.

What does LGBTQIA+ representation in comic books look like? Join the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and their Artist in Residence, Kate Sheridan, to explore this topic and find out more about censorship in comic books.  

Kate Sheridan, in residence April through June, is an illustrator and writer based in Louisville, KY. During their residency, they will create Whalebones, a comic anthology of interconnected stories set in the New Bedford area and areas abroad related to its history (the Pacific and the Arctic) that combines elements of history, folklore, and horror. It examines love, pain, and grief during the whaling era. 

Visit the Co-Creative Center during AHA! Night for the opening reception of “Beasts, Trees, Wind and Stone,” new work by local artist Chelsea Arruda, aka Rad Future.

The New Bedford Art Museum (NBMA) will host Clay-On-Wheels an offsite popup and FREE clay experience with NBAM Instructor and Owner of New Bedford Pottery Works, Stephanie Sherman. Stephanie will be teaching participants about the basics of wheel-throwing through live demonstrations. Youth and adults are welcome! Try your hand at using a pottery wheel and take home a free handbuilding artkit!

Funding for the Clay-on-Wheels program is provided by the Wicked Cool Places Grant of New Bedford Creative and presented in partnership with the Co-Creative Center and City of New Bedford Parks, Recreation, and Beaches.

This project received a Wicked Cool Places grant, facilitated by New Bedford Creative at the NBEDC, and funded by the City of New Bedford’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Fund, with additional support from Bristol County Savings Bank, Barr Foundation, Mass Cultural Council, and MassDevelopment’s TDI Creative Cities Initiative.

In the Jacobs Family Gallery at the New Bedford Whaling Museum: record your voice in the Museum’s story-telling booth or create and design your own postcard to lend your voice to the Museum’s upcoming exhibition “Common Ground: A Community Mosaic” that shares the lived experiences of our dynamic communities.

Visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s newest exhibition “The Azorean Spirit: The art of Domingos Rebelo,” in the Wattles Gallery at the and test your observation skills as you try to spot the differences between two nearly identical images. Free Museum admission!

The Art Curator will offer tours of the library's historic Art Collection which includes paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings all on view in the downtown library. This guided tour will include perennial favorites by Albert Bierstadt and John James Audubon, as well as highlighting some gems by Walton Ricketson, Clifford Ashley, Francis Davis Millet, and Clement Nye Swift.

Tours will be held at 1PM, 2PM, 3PM, 4PM, 6PM, and 7PM. Tours will begin in the Art Room and will last 20-30 minutes. Adults and families are welcome.