Harwich Cultural Center

204 Sisson Road, Harwich, MA 02645

May News

A monthly newsletter filled with stories that inspire and inform

The center is a cooperative effort between the Town and our greatest resource - the creative, local individuals that help to make our town a destination for visitors from around the world. The building provides valuable “launch space” where individuals can actualize their creative gifts and contribute to the local economy.

Whether engaged in the visual and performing arts, the health and wellness of others, or in the generation of ideas for the town’s future, the building’s occupants, event hosts, and visitors strive to impact town culture in ways that #InspiresHarwich with the #PowerOfCulture.

Interested in sharing a story? Connect at culturalcenter@townofharwich.us

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Find the most up-to-date list of events on our Town of Harwich Department Calendar

MISSION

A space for groups and individuals to engage in recreational, social, educational, cultural, community service, civic and governmental activities

Bernadette Waystack inspiring resilience in Harwich Port

ArtWeek At Home

#ArtWeekAtHome is the reimagined format replacing the original ArtWeek that would have featured almost 800 creative events in over 170 communities across the state, including many free events for families, children, residents, and visitors. On May 1st, originally slated for the canceled ArtWeek 2020 festival kick-off day, ArtWeek event hosts and partners will post links on social media to their online content including tours, concerts, at-home activities, or other creative programs while tagging #ArtWeekAtHome and @ArtWeekMA.

As part of the kick-off, a ten-day ArtWeek Bingo game will also launch to keep creative juices flowing throughout the week with daily artistic prompts and themed challenges celebrating different genres. The week-long schedule includes nods to music, museums, dance, crafts, theater, literature, the outdoors/public art, film, history, and the culinary arts. Read the full press release HERE.

CDP Business Assistance Continues Remotely

Community Development Partnership continues to create opportunities for people to live, work, and thrive on the Lower Cape. Director of Business & Credit Programs Pam Andersen is available remotely during the COVID-19 Crisis via telephone, email, Zoom, Skype, GoToMeeting, and more to answer your questions.

The CDP thanks those of you who filled out the survey with MGCC a couple of weeks ago. The survey provided MGCC/MACDC and other Small Business Assistance Providers across the state with some good information to help advocate for small businesses on the state level. Results noted:

43% of small business owners said they have been using personal savings to help them through the impacts of COVID-19
Only 11% planned on applying for an SBA EIDL loan
60% were planning to apply for a PPP loan
65% of the businesses have annual sales of under $400,000
Other than financing, the top areas where businesses are seeking support include Marketing, Operational Procedures, Adjustments to their business plan, and business continuity.

The CDP strives to provide local businesses with the support they want and need. With this in mind, a short Small Business Survey was created to help develop expertise in new areas, create workshops, and to identify resources for our local Cape community to assist in this unprecedented time. Find the Small Business Survey HERE.

To sign up for the CDP Business Tools Newsletter or schedule a remote office meeting, email Pam Andersen at pam@capecdp.org.

Town of Harwich Notifications

Sign Up for Emergency and Routine Notifications

We want to make sure our citizens are safe and informed. The CivicReady mass notification solution is a communication service available to our citizens to receive emergency and routine notifications. You have the ability to customize your notification preferences by signing up below. Communication can be received through email, text and/or phone call according to your selections and based on address locations that you specify. The information you provide is confidential and will not be shared.

The Town of Harwich will contact you through CivicReady in the event of an emergency or other routine events based on your subscription preferences. Sign up by clicking HERE.

Melissa and Brielle in their pleated masks. Brielle is one of our amazing health care workers!

We Are In This Together

Stitchology Kids Provides Cloth Mask Making Tutorial

COVID-19 has disrupted our daily lives. As we all work together to slow the spread of this illness, our health care workers have a need to augment their mask supplies. In true Rosie the Riveter style, sewers across the country are coming together to meet the need. We are dipping into our fabric stashes and booting up our sewing machines to make fabric face masks. Homemade masks are no substitute for the N95 masks, but they offer at least some protection. They also free up the surgical masks for the people who are the highest risk. These masks can be distributed to health workers, clinics and nursing homes to provide another layer of protection.

CDC on Homemade Cloth Face Coverings
CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others. Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure. Find more CDC information HERE.

If you’d like to join the cause in making homemade cloth face coverings, here is a tutorial to get you started provided by Stitchology Kids Instructor Jane Bassette, Harwich Cultural Center studio 109.

Chris and Ed Banks chronicle spring hatchlings on their Harwich property

Harwich Resident Gerie Schumann Shares Spring Musings

How do you spend your time outdoors? Hiking, gardening, painting along the marsh, photographing birds? So many opportunities literally at our doorsteps. I am sure you have witnessed folks walking and even welcoming spring yard work at a more leisurely pace. On the Cape, we are fortunate to have an abundance of uncrowded places to enjoy being outside while maintaining social distancing…a phrase none us will forget soon.

In Harwich, many flock to the beaches, Thompson’s Field, and the Robert Smith Cold Brook Preserve off Bank Street. Lesser known and used trails offer fresh views and multiple opportunities to observe, photograph, and learn more about the flora and fauna. Have you explored Coy Brook or Sand Pond Woodlands or walked around the recently finished loop at Bell’s Neck or Cornelius Pond off Queen Anne Road? Have you parked in the municipal lot and wandered the quaint streets with names like Park Avenue and Central Avenue in the Campground to catch a glimpse of the cottages that existed there not so long ago? In high summer look for the street that claims the most lovely window boxes display.

When not recreational walking, we are programmed to accomplish things at home. Here are 10 ideas for “amusing” yourself in your own yard:

Instead of bagging those leaves, leave an area natural for wildlife habitat and another to establish an easy-to-do compost pile. Composting doesn't have to be a daunting task and requires little time or expensive equipment. Most of all, it doesn’t smell or attract critters. It's recycling at home, saves dump trips, and puts plant material back where it came from.
Take inventory of the plants in your yard. How many are native to our area and require little water or soil amending? How many provide beneficial insects and nectar for our pollinators and birds? An ideal landscape plan would be to grow at least 50% native species on each of our properties
Tired of all that high maintenance ground cover we call grass? Start to whittle away at the edges or create a new area where you can add native shrubs or a wildflower patch. You will dazzle your neighbors and set a good example at the same time.
If you have to cut down a dead tree because it’s about to fall through your roof in the next gale, fine; then to do it. But if your house is out of harm’s way, leave it and save your money. Someone will make a fine home there and thank you.
Like to prune? Most shrubs can be pruned anytime but research whether they bloom on old or new wood. Pruning at the wrong time risks losing a lots of blooms. And remember, varieties of hydrangeas will grow to the size they are meant to be whether you cut them down to the ground or not! Do your homework, the kids have to!
Have the kids collect hollow sticks, pine cones, leaves and pods which can be layered in an open-sided crate for nesting for some bee species. Most of our native bees are actually ground nesters and require some bare ground to thrive, so don’t mulch every speck of earth in your yard!
Clean your birdbaths regularly and provide fresh water often.
For the more ambitious: Have you started your Victory Garden yet? If that is a bit much, start with a few things in separate containers, maybe the kids could stage a contest for the longest bean or largest tomato?
On the Garden Club of Harwich website learn how you can join other National Wildlife Federation (NWF) certified habitats in Harwich. The applications is easy, you may already meet all or most of their requirements.
Also, be sure to read Kristin Andres’s bi-weekly column in The Cape Cod Chronicle. Her knowledge of Cape flora and fauna and its relevance to our environment is well worth the read.

Enjoy your time outside this spring. It may not be warm, but there is lots happening out there!

Recent work in progress by Harwich Cultural Center Artist Robin Litwin

Connect with Fellow Artists

“A commitment to community is a powerful impetus and it would be great to see how people are finding ways to spur their creativity,” shares CCCC Adjunct Instructor and Harwich Cultural Center Artist Anne Flash.

Interested in connecting over Zoom conference with local artists to share creative ideas and conversation? Email Anne for more details: aflash@capecod.edu. Many thanks to Anne Flash for coordinating this community connection during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Teen Artists Coalition of Cape Cod presents “QuaranTEEN Art”

Harwich Cultural Center Artist Nettie Berkeley received several grants for The Teen Artists Coalition of Cape Cod (TAC) for programming this year. “I've been working on getting the ‘QuaranTEEN Community Outreach Art Event’ project approved by each of the Cultural Councils who grant funding; yesterday I received full approval,” Berkeley was excited to share.

A fun activity for the whole family, for your friends, and for neighbors throughout Cape Cod

“This is a giant Community Outreach Project! Got Tubes? I'm SURE you have toilet paper tubes with all of this staying-in-the-house routine; why not recycle them and express yourself as well in this collaboration? It doesn't take much time, it's easy, it’s good therapy and helps reduce waste by recycling! Save your toilet paper rolls, turn them into art and help TAC create an amazing three dimensional work of art that reflects upon this time of quarantine due to COVID-19. I will organize a way to get the decorated tubes from you, our community members. After social-distancing, shuttered businesses and self-quarantining have passed, our Cape Cod teens will meet, plan & install this Cape-wide community work of art in a public place for all to view,” explained Berkeley.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Harwich and Chatham Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. For further participation details, contact Nettie Berkeley at nettie007@comcast.net.

Finger Labyrinth

Detours & Interruptions

Labyrinth Quests’ Meditative Walk on May 8 has been cancelled.

Detours and interruptions significantly alter the rhythm and flow of our lives and routine. Even though the changes are temporary, Detours take us on an indirect route from our usual course. Proceeding in different directions instead of the planned route, creates an uneasy feeling of being lost. It also forces us to make unwelcomed time adjustments to our schedules, as the route often changes without warning. In addition to detours, our replacement route is interrupted with stops, delays, and obstacles.We come to rely on guidance along the way; to interpreting signs and signals indicating how and when to continue our journey.

Both detours and interruptions force decisions along the way to be made, require more of our allotted time than anticipated, and lead us off the beaten path. However, in the midst of this temporary route experience, we have unexpected opportunities to discover something new; consider other approaches.

When we make the decision to walk the labyrinth, we begin to understand the importance of being proactive in choosing to interrupt our ordinary life for mental, spiritual, and physical refreshment, course direction and wellness. We come to the realization that we are making changes in our pace, speed, rhythm shifts, leading and following. We learn that time spent in meditation provides insight to and appreciation of ourselves.

While it may seem that we’re walking in circles and going nowhere, our walking experience includes: all the cardinal directions (NSEW), all the seasons, all the moon cycles indicating day and night, “navigating” geometric angles clockwise and counterclockwise, in addition to approximately 865 steps forward and return in the space of 30 minutes.

Our path in life is a series of twists and turns, detours, roadblocks, intersections, and interruptions. Walking the labyrinth or using the finger labyrinth as a meditative tool, helps us “calm down” and find inner peace. It helps us be more receptive to “seeing” the challenges and opportunities before us in a different light; forging ahead, embracing hope and resilience. Especially at this time.

Seek an alternate route; walk the labyrinth!

Volunteers continue to answer the call to 3D print much needed PPE

Cape Cod Makers Need Your Help

As of April 24, Cape Cod Makers have been contacted by sixteen nursing homes and long-term care facilities in dire need of face shields. As you might have seen in the news, the majority of infections and fatalities are occurring in these types of facilities and these facilities are running low on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Cape Cod Makers are passing out 1000 visors currently on hand and estimate another 2000 visors will be needed to meet demand.

At this time, the Cape Cod Makers asks everyone who can print a full visor to start printing again.

“We need everyone with a 3D printer to help print the visor component of the face-shield. We have created STL files to print the visor as a single piece for large printers. The design takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to print and we are recommending people use PLA plastic (any color). Please do not modify the design. Once you have printed 20 or more visor components complete the form linked below and we will pick up the visors, complete the assembly, and bring them to the nursing homes.”

If you have any questions please contact the Cape Cod Makers at info@capecodmakers.org or https://capecodmakers.org/blog/2020-04-24-call-to-action-visors-for-nursing-homes

Click for more information about studio or commercial kitchen space.

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Copyright © 2020, All rights reserved.

Harwich Cultural Center
204 Sisson Road, Harwich, MA 02645
(774) 212-3482
culturalcenter@townofharwich.us
https://www.harwich-ma.gov/harwich-cultural-center

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Please send all mail to the Harwich Community Center, 100 Oak Street, Harwich, MA 02645

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Harwich Cultural Center · 204 Sisson Road · Harwich, Massachusetts 02645 · USA