New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center Awarded Major Grant

New Bedford, MA—New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center has been awarded a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to redevelop the Center’s permanent exhibit.

More Than a Job: Work and Community in New Bedford’s Commercial Fishing Industry will build on the Center’s inaugural exhibit, From Boat to Table, which introduced visitors to all aspects of the fishing industry. The new exhibit will continue to provide the visitor with an introduction to the workings of the fishing industry while also exploring themes of labor history, immigration, and the changing nature of work and community.

The $200,000 grant from NEH provides much of the funding needed to carry out the project. The Center is working to raise approximately $65,000 in additional funding in order to complete this project. The National Endowment for the Humanities has pledged to match the first $15,000 raised from an outside source. For information on corporate sponsorship or individual donor opportunities, contact Laura Orleans at director@fishingheritagecenter.org, 508-993-8894.

“We are thrilled and honored to be receiving this grant, which will enable us to produce an exhibit worthy of the fishing industry story,” said Executive Director Laura Orleans. “The exhibit plans are the result of more than one hundred interviews with members of the fishing community as well as input from a team of humanities scholars.”

With the current national conversation about organized labor and immigration, an exhibit that considers the intersection of these issues as well as the changing nature of work and community in New Bedford’s fishing industry seems particularly timely.

New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center is dedicated to telling the story of the fishing industry past, present and future through exhibits, programs, and archives. The Center is open Thursday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Located at 38 Bethel Street in the heart of the National Park. For more information, contact the Center at 508-993-8894 or info@fishingheritagecenter.org

An independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded more than $5.6 billion for humanities projects through more than 64,000 grants since its creation in 1965.

Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers.