The W.H.A.L.E. George C. Perkins President’s Award !

WHAT CAN WE SAY EXCEPT – THANK YOU!

There’s a lot of thanks to go around. I’m thankful for the totally impromptu meeting that I was asked to join over 15 years ago, where I met Jeff Wotton for the very first time. He was a young man focused on starting what would become the Spectrum Marketing Group. Somehow, in conversation, he mentioned something that reminded me that I had clipped out and filed a newspaper ad by Mary Jean Blasdale, who was, at that time in 1989, researching information for what would become her seminal volume on New Bedford artists.

It would be titled Artists of New Bedford: A Biographical Dictionary and it was published the following year. To this day, I only remember being intrigued by her project and efforts. And there we were, in 2010, suddenly brought together and discussing what a great website project it would be for Jeff to launch his career on. We were still in the throes of the Great Recession, and I, along with many of my colleagues at UMass Dartmouth, was being laid off. 

Jeff and I had a lot of time and nothing to lose. We called our venture The Artists Profiles. As soon as the economy started to recover, Jeff and I found less time for the project. Jeff’s fledgling business, Spectrum Marketing Group, began acquiring clients, and I was providing support. And to put it proverbially, to make the long story short, Jeff not only became a friend, an employer, and a cofounder, but also family.

The website project slowly evolved from the artist profile articles. Then, one day in April of 2019, Jeff said we were going to do podcasts. I asked who would be doing the podcasts and was told it was me. So here we are. We reached our 200th podcast in March of 2025, and now we’re fast approaching our 300th podcast.

We couldn’t have gotten to this point alone. We hired podcasters using Local Cultural Council grants through the Mass Cultural Council, which allowed us to hire  Scott Bishop, who became our first contracted podcast host and immediate go-to guy!  Right behind Scott was Jeff Angeley, who, along with Chris Camaro, co-founded the New Bedford Roots & Branches Festival. They’ve been busily successful with that ever since.

I found David Reis while attending Anthony Barboza’s book signing. Dave had been on my wish list to launch a jazz podcast series for quite some time. I introduced myself, told him I wanted him to do a podcast series, and it was graciously underwritten by local businessman Neal Weiss, a jazz aficionado, entrepreneur, and the founder of the Fiber Optic Center.

Then, Sean FitzGerald and his wife, Christina Maiato FitzGerald, were hired to help us with the Gallery X Documentation Project, the first phase of a larger agenda to scan Gallery X’s entire collection of documents, including news clippings, posters, flyers, photographs, and more. Christina had already helped out with a podcast transcription project!

The project was supported, in part, by an ARTnet/Wicked Cool Places grant funded by the City of New Bedford through the American Rescue Plan Awards and its Arts, Culture & Tourism Fund, facilitated by New Bedford Creative at the NBEDC. Sean was our project podcast host, and Christina was the project’s master scanner of thirty years of archival materials.  

But wait, there’s more! One of our first and oldest sponsors is Heavenly Spirits. Its cofounder, Dan Cooney, introduced us to his friend, Max Wickemeyer. Max became our volunteer Development Director and is now our newest podcast host. We also brought Autumn Liv Cyr on board to find, document, and preserve the Lost Artists of Fairhaven Podcast Series. Her task and agenda are almost as daunting as Christina Maiato FitzGerald’s scanning project, and she has only begun.

So, as you can see, they’ve all kept our podcast editor, Ryan Nunes, on loan from the Spectrum Marketing Group, rather busy. So busy in fact that we’re still trying to launch his South Coast film and filmmaker podcast series. Jeff Wotton takes care of the website and many of the technical aspects and prefers to remain in the background. But he pushed me, Ron Fortier, into the foreground as the first podcast host.

I soon found out that he also gave me the honor and privilege of speaking with and documenting so many amazing artists from the South Coast’s creative community. That reality hit me each time one of my podcast guests passed away.

All of this led Lee Blake (New Bedford Historical Society) to nominate The Artists Index/Southcoast Artists Index for the 2026 George C. Perkins President’s Award in recognition of our work to preserve and promote the cultural sustainability of the South Coast’s creative community. George C. Perkins was one of the founders of the Waterfront Area Historic League (W.H.A.L.E.) and served as the first president. His mission continues to sustain the organization.

We received our award on June 23 at the Waterfront Area Historic League’s Annual Meeting at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. It was a gathering celebrating the people, organizations, and community leaders who have and continue to shape the future of Greater New Bedford through preservation, culture, advocacy, and civic engagement. For me (Jeff’s daughter’s graduation was the same night), it was also an opportunity to connect with neighbors, artists, historians, business leaders, and community stakeholders who share a commitment to strengthening our region.

Whether you’ve participated as a podcast guest, contributed to the Gallery X Documentation Project, appeared in a Dandelion Magazine article, volunteered, partnered with us, sponsored us, donated, bought a 200th Episode commemorative t-shirt, or followed our work from afar, we thank you for getting us to this point of recognition for our efforts to document and preserve the lives and legacies of the South Coast’s historical and contemporary visual, performing, and literary artists. 

As we continue our mission to document, celebrate, and preserve the stories of our region’s artists, creatives, and cultural organizations, the achievements of artists from the past to the present remind us that our cultural and creative community is at the heart of everything we do.

If you’ve never heard of us before, please listen to the Southcoast Artists Index Podcasts on your favorite platform. We offer 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.

We’re not asking for you to finance a nonprofit. Instead, we are asking for your support to fund a legacy.

Our mission is to preserve and document the lives and legacies of all South Coast Artists.

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

Our podcasts are available on The Artists Index and your favorite media app, including Amazon Music / iHeart Radio / Libsyn / Podcast Page / Spotify / WebPlayer / APPLE PODCASTS