In Episode Eight, our Gallery X Documentation Project podcast host Sean FitzGerald speaks with Mary S. Rapoza, who has been the Director of the New Bedford Parks, Recreation & Beaches Department since 2013. Mary has a great love of public spaces and engaging children and adults in the great outdoors for health, recreation, and community connection.

Her commitment to improving the quality of life for all New Bedford residents through the development of city-wide recreational opportunities and beautiful, safe, and resilient open spaces is reflected in the new park construction and park rehabilitations that have occurred during her tenure as the Director of the Parks Department. Mary's experience as a Landscape Designer and environmental educator brings a rich background to her position as Director.

She received a Graduate Certificate in Landscape Design from the Landscape Institute at Harvard University. As a professional. Mary also worked as an environmental educator at the Children's Museum in Dartmouth and the Buzzards Bay Coalition. Mary has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Mary S. Rapoza is the sister of John and Joe Rapoza (The Dancing Dogs) and Liz Rapoza, who joined her in the podcast. The Rapoza family, a dynasty of sorts, was and continues to be an important part of the evolution of Gallery X. Listen in to hear why!

About Gallery X

The gallery was founded in 1990 and is a contemporary, cooperative art gallery of visual, performing, and literary artist members and volunteers. Gallery X has served as an incubator for emerging artists and is a venue for established artists. It is a platform for local artists, performers, and creatives of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds to showcase their talents as an integral part of the South Coast's community.

This eight-episode podcast series supports and documents the overall project and provides historical and background information about the gallery and the progress made to date. The Gallery X Documentation Project will reach out to listeners and anyone seeking information about historical or contemporary artists from the South Coast's creative community.

The Artists Index offers listeners up-close and personal conversations with the artists, supporters, and cultural impresarios of South Coast's creative community. Listen to the artists talk about their work, backgrounds, passions, dreams, and accomplishments. Also featured are those who work in or manage the creative community's economy, promotion, and cultural agenda.

Please consider donating to, sponsoring, or underwriting our podcasts and programs. This and other podcasts are available on The Artists Index and your favorite media app, including Amazon Music / iHeart Radio / Libsyn / Podcast Page / Spotify / WebPlayer / APPLE PODCASTS

About Gallery X

The gallery was founded in 1990 and is a contemporary, cooperative art gallery of visual, performing, and literary artist members and volunteers. Gallery X has served as an incubator for emerging artists and is a venue for established artists. It is a platform for local artists, performers, and creatives of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds to showcase their talents as an integral part of the South Coast's community.

This eight-episode podcast series supports and documents the overall project and provides historical and background information about the gallery and the progress made to date. The Gallery X Documentation Project will reach out to listeners and anyone seeking information about historical or contemporary artists from the South Coast's creative community.

The Artists Index offers listeners up-close and personal conversations with the artists, supporters, and cultural impresarios of South Coast's creative community. Listen to the artists talk about their work, backgrounds, passions, dreams, and accomplishments. Also featured are those who work in or manage the creative community's economy, promotion, and cultural agenda.

Please consider donating to, sponsoring, or underwriting our podcasts and programs. This and other podcasts are available on The Artists Index and your favorite media app, including Amazon Music / iHeart Radio / Libsyn / Podcast Page / Spotify / WebPlayer / APPLE PODCASTS

Welcome, Midori Evans, founder of Midori Creativity. She understands how creatives think. Through workshops, coaching, and community projects, Midori follows an inner vision to make spaces for exploring creativity, connection, and meaningful life choices.

Midori Evans is a powerful public speaker and certified creativity coach. She offers workshops on the creative process and the internal thinking that can create creative blocks. She is also the founder of Write with Community, Inc., which cultivates and promotes the literary arts of the SouthCoast (MA and RI). Midori has coordinated, contributed to, and published two local anthologies, The Landscape About Us and Waterscapes, featuring thirty South Coast MA photographers and writers.

In addition to the anthologies, she has articles in The Creativity Workbook for Coaches and Creatives; Transformational Journaling for Coaches, Therapists, and Clients; The Great Book of Journaling, and The Coach's Guide to Completing Creative Work.

View her photography at cedarlightimages.com.

Midori spoke with The Artists Index co-founder, documentarian, and podcast host, Ron Fortier. They discussed her love of the arts, writing, heritage, and life. This episode was recorded with Zoom. We also record our podcasts at our studio at Spectrum Marketing Group at Howland Place in New Bedford.

Midori Evans

Westport, Massachusetts 02790

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Other |

PODCASTS ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome, Cedric Earle Douglas, also known as Vise1. He is a street artist among his many other credentials. Cedric was born in Boston. He received his BFA in Graphic Design from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design Mass Art.

His first experience with public art was writing his name creatively on abandoned spaces. Cedric is also the founder and Creative Director of The Up Truck, a creative art lab that is designed to engage underserved Boston communities.

Cedric Douglas is widely recognized for his large-scale murals and portraits and is highly regarded by a broad range of audiences. His public art project, Street Memorials, takes a hard look at racial injustice and its deadly impact on the black community. The People's Memorial project requires viewers to "rethink the future of memorials and monuments."

Cedric Douglas spoke with The Artists Index's cofounder, documentarian, and now occasional podcast host, Ron Fortier, recently about his passion, his practice, and his journey as an artist. This episode was recorded at our recording studio at Spectrum Marketing Group at Howland Place in New Bedford.

Cedric Douglas

New Bedford, Massachusetts 02780

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Other

Please consider donating whatever you can to help and support us in our mission to continue documenting the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome, musician Tyler Kingsland, a multi-instrumentalist and music instructor from Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Currently, he teaches public school in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and occasionally he also teaches privately.

Tyler's priority is to enjoy both his family and his teaching job. He continues to do so while happily playing professionally when life allows.

Scott Bishop spoke with Tyler, who shared his story as a musician and so much more.

• • • Vessel - Rum Ham (Guitar/Vocal, Composition, Engineering)
    • The Writing is on the Wall - Rum Ham (Guitar, Composition)
    • You Can't Stay Here - Jive Slippers (tenor sax, Composition) Live at Umass Lowell rm #114
    • How to Feel Ticklebomb Orchestra (Bass Guitar) live at Ralph's Diner
    • Blue Rondo a la Turk - (Bass) by Dave Brubeck
    • A Moment - Pathos (All instruments and Vocals, composition)
    • Dreams (Pandemic-soundalike project) - (Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Keys, background vocal, engineering [dayna kingsland lead vocal])
    • Don't Cry - Pathos (Guitar, Vocal, Composition)

Tyler Kingsland

Somerset, Massachusetts 02726

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Hive Smasher | Band Camp

PODCASTS ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome, musician Myles Goulart, AKA Myles Goulart-Romano, who started playing the violin at 5 years old. Throughout the years, Myles started taking lessons on other instruments: piano, flute, and voice.

He joined the New Bedford Symphony Youth Orchestra, and during one holiday concert, playing side-by-side with the adult full-size orchestra, he was seated next to the harpist. Myles spoke with the harpist as she was packing away her harp in the parking garage, and signed up for lessons with her.

Myles Goulart grew from a 22-string Celtic harp to his current 40-string petite pedal harp. He continued the classical training for years and started playing the harp in the youth orchestra. Through college, working as an RN, and opening his vintage shop, Hewn, Myles filled his spare time writing and recording music.

His album Divine Automaton was released in the summer of 2024 and was "a project in which I found myself developing a new set of skills on the harp. I haven't been able to stop writing lately, and I'm very excited to see where this next project goes."

Scott Bishop spoke with Myles, who shared his story as a harpist and so much more.

Myles Goulart

Fairhaven Massachusetts 02719

508-965-5470

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify

PODCASTS ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

In Episode Eight, Jazz Podcast Host Dave Reis speaks with guitarist Russ Campoli, about his talent, passion, and dedication. Russ is a prominent jazz educator and musician. He has been widely recognized for his long-tenured career as the Jazz Band Director at New Bedford High School in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he served in the music department for 34 years. He retired in 2011.

Under his direction, the NBHS Jazz Band became a highly competitive ensemble, frequently participating in prestigious events like the Berklee Jazz Festival and the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) festivals. His retirement was famously compared by students to the film Mr. Holland's Opus, highlighting his profound impact on generations of musicians, some of whom went on to professional music careers.

The Artist Index's jazz documentarian and Jazz Podcast Series host, Dave Reis, spent nearly 26 years as a Jazz radio show host, among his many other accomplishments. He was one of the original longtime DJs who worked at the former WUSM, which became radio station WUMD, 89.3 FM, on the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus.

Dave Reis, AKA David Domingo Reis, began as our guest on In-Focus Podcast 154 and In-Focus Podcast 181. He returns once again as the host of our first-ever ten-part jazz podcast series underwritten by the Fiber Optic Center.

There is no better host for this series than Dave Reis, a walking, talking jazz encyclopedia and local legend himself. Dave grew up surrounded by and hanging around with many of the jazz greats he will be presenting his ten-part Jazz Podcast Series underwritten by the Fiber Optic Center.

Please consider donating whatever you can to help and assure us in our mission to continue documenting the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome to our first post-holiday post since mid-December. Here is our first-ever, back-to-back twin episode post featuring The Artists Index podcast host Scott Bishop's conversations with Maggi Kerr Peirce, the author of A Belfast Girl.

HERE IS PART TWO: According to the Parkhurst Brothers Publishing website, she "...sang her native Irish ballads from the Newport Folk Festival to Puget Sound during the 1970s. She performed on many of the same stages as Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul, and Mary." She graced storytelling festivals from coast-to-coast with her Irish stories.

The revered storyteller, a founder of the Tryworks Coffeehouse, a legendary and long-running (1967-2002) folk music and arts venue in New Bedford, Massachusetts, held at the First Unitarian Church. It was a vibrant community hub for the musicians, poets, and young people of the South Coast. Maggi has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival and received the National Storytelling Network (USA) Oracle Award for lifetime achievement.

Scott Bishop spoke with her at her home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Maggi Peirce was 93 at the time of her passing in December 2024. She shared just some of her many memories, as well as her love of the Tryworks Coffeehouse, the South Coast, and so much more.

Maggi Kerr Peirce

Fairhaven Massachusetts 02719

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

PODCASTS ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome to our first post-holiday post since mid-December. Here is our first-ever, back-to-back twin episode post featuring The Artists Index podcast host Scott Bishop's conversations with Maggi Kerr Peirce, the author of A Belfast Girl.

HERE IS PART ONE: According to the Parkhurst Brothers Publishing website, she "...sang her native Irish ballads from the Newport Folk Festival to Puget Sound during the 1970s. She performed on many of the same stages as Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul, and Mary." She graced storytelling festivals from coast-to-coast with her Irish stories.

The revered storyteller, a founder of the Tryworks Coffeehouse, a legendary and long-running (1967-2002) folk music and arts venue in New Bedford, Massachusetts, held at the First Unitarian Church. It was a vibrant community hub for the musicians, poets, and young people of the South Coast. Maggi has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival and received the National Storytelling Network (USA) Oracle Award for lifetime achievement.

Scott Bishop spoke with her at her home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Maggi Peirce was 93 at the time of her passing in December 2024. She shared just some of her many memories, as well as her love of the Tryworks Coffeehouse, the South Coast, and so much more.

Maggi Kerr Peirce

Fairhaven Massachusetts 02719

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

PODCASTS ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome, Colin Williams, whose fascination with the use of language began with a grandfather from down Downeast Maine, at a university way down south, and with work in international commerce. It all inspired a poetic and lyrical volume of work.

After several years of sea duty in the Navy during the Vietnam War, his matriculation at SMU (Southeastern Massachusetts University) was a welcome home flavored by the delight of the University's Paul Rudolph architecture. His tenure there included the co-chairmanship of the SMU Concert Series, which included finding art majors to design handbills, posters, tickets, and backstage passes.

He directed concerts in the auditorium, the big parties in the campus center, and the 3000-seat gymnasium. These events were a 4-year experience. Colin said, "Having lived at several coastal addresses near the South Coast, the change to our urban environment was in part inspired by knowing that the Swain School of Design flavoured the neighbourhood." It was all a part, he believes, of the intersections of SMTI, SMU, and the Swain School of Design.

After moving to New Bedford, the city became a village for him. Along with historic and maritime presence, a culture of musicians and artists, where "the embracing behaviour of many talents continued to be characterized by expressive and collaborative instincts."

Colin Williams spoke with The Artists Index Cofounder & Podcaster Ron Fortier shared his memories of the halcyon days of SMU, as well as his love of the South Coast, and so much more.

Colin F. Williams

Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02748

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

NOTE: A selection of Colin's poems is in the image gallery. Colin will also introduce Scott Bishop's two podcast conversations with folk music legend, Maggi Peirce, in our next two post-holiday episodes.

ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

WHILE YOU'RE HERE: Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

Welcome, Marcus Coward, who says, "I've been performing my whole life." It started with dance recitals in elementary school. Marcus continued performing through middle and high school. He participated in many theater productions and founded his high school's first improv club.

He has evolved into podcasting and started his own podcast show, where he interviews a variety of people on Cable Access television with a show called Wake Up New Bedford on YouTube. He is also the co-host of the New Bedford Podcast, which is a part of the New Bedford Guide.

As he related, "Having been in the army for a brief period, I have become comfortable with being uncomfortable, and have thrown myself into the local political scene." Marcus ran for a seat on the New Bedford School Committee of Public Schools in New Bedford. His dream is to continue to serve his community while inspiring others to pursue their passions in life.

Marcus Coward spoke with The Artists Index Cofounder & Podcaster Ron Fortier and discussed his love of the South Coast, and so much more.

Mboya Marcus Coward

New Bedford, MA 02740

Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube

Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists.

If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!

This podcast is funded in part with a grant from the Fairhaven Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency