ABOUT
In 2005, I developed the project that would become GNAF with the Outreach Committee of the Sawyer Public Library in Gloucester. The Library was looking to develop new cultural audiences in Gloucester, a goal which excited me especially as a recent artist transplant to the small city. Gloucester seemed to me ripe for opportunity: it had remarkable spaces that seemed to beg for performances and installations -- spaces of great natural beauty, a waning working waterfront that had social commentary laced through its quiet industrial lots, historic houses, and a cultural community that seemed ready for the challenge and stimulation of new arts. Perhaps I was naive. At the eleventh hour, the Library dropped its affiliation with my project following a brouhaha within its own walls over concerns about an outside curator. The Festival was already planned, however, and had its own momentum, so it went on anyway. Thus began GNAF, a continual romance and confrontation with Gloucester. She is a place like no other in which I have worked or produced, a place determined to set her mark on whatever goes on within her boundaries. The GNAF strove to make work in and for this community, but which was more compelling in the end -- the art of the festival's participants or the process of it coming into being on the island of Cape Ann? The festival was supported by Gloucester's major historical and cultural institutions and received Massachusetts Cultural Council funding for four years from sponsor SeARTS (the Society for the Encouragement for the Arts). It was an intriguing experiment for contemporary art and performance in a small city on an island in Massachusetts. I want to thank all of the artists who participated over the five years of the festival for enriching my experience in this town. For me, there are echoes in this landscape of the work you created here: you also have made a mark.
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