Image
The intersection of agriculture, arts and culture in this region cannot be overstated (i.e. “agri-culture"). The complex work of farmers is not always easily seen and needs to be understood and appreciated by a much broader audience. The Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) will shed light on the intersectionality of art and agriculture through the project, agriCultural.
AgriCultural is a multi-pronged approach in telling the rich and compelling stories of the agricultural landscape in SE Massachusetts. We use the visual arts and humanities to uncover the unseen, unspoken and complex stories that only the arts can tell.
agriCultural: The Artist/Farmer Residency Project
agriCultural: The Artist/Farmer Residency Project will be teaming up artists with farmers to help tell a more nuanced story of agriculture in our communities. For this inaugural project, we have two cohorts of artists and farmers working together. We have an artist based in New Bedford working with a farm in Seekonk, MA and the other artist, who is based in Dartmouth is working with a farm in Raynham, MA. With these collaborative partnerships in place, the artists will be creating a body of work based on the land, farmer, practices or stories inspired by the farm. They will be working together over the Winter and Spring months of 2026 with these collaborations resulting in an exhibition in June of 2026. It is envisioned that this partnership is not just the artist coming to the farm, observing and then leaving to create their work. This combination looks to build a symbiotic relationship, where ideas flow both ways, and the farmer is informing the artist’s creative process as much as the artist is having a similar effect on the farmer. The resulting exhibition of this residency will take place at the Longbarn Gallery, in Westport with an opening reception on June 4, 2026. The Longbarn Gallery is a new gallery space and studio located on a farm in Westport.
Image
agriCultural: The Biennial Exhibition
The Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership (SEMAP) in partnership with The New Bedford Art Museum presents agriCultural: A Biennial Exhibition, a juried exhibition of works investigating the complex and undertold stories of agriculture, farming and the contemporary stories held in the land. agriCultural looks for work from artists who are farmers, farmers who are artists, or artists that take deep and meaningful inspiration from the world of agriculture to create their work.
Image
agriCultural: An Evening of Storytelling with Eva
This fall, we will be hosting our first agriCultural: Storytelling event, featuring stories inspired by Eva Sommaripa. Eva’s Garden and its owner, farmer and namesake, Eva Sommaripa has had an immeasurable impact on the local community, agricultural landscape and lives of countless people that have worked at, with, or collaborated with Eva. If you say the name “Eva” in a 50 mile radius, most folks know exactly who you are talking about. In one’s travels around the farms of SE Massachusetts, many of the new generation of farmers got their starts or honed their chops working at Eva’s. Likewise, the chefs of some of the best restaurants in the region had their palettes and menus shaped by the greens and herbs grown and foraged by Eva.
In celebration of Eva turning 85 this June, SEMAP will be hosting a storytelling evening featuring the farmers, chefs, authors and humans whom Eva has changed their lives. Featuring a myriad of storytellers, local food and drinks, this will be an evening for old and new friends, telling Eva stories. We will be revelling in this person’s uniqueness, generosity of spirit and land, and acknowledge the effect she has had on so many lives, the farms we see and the food we eat.
Image
