We're nearly two years into a global pandemic and while some of gather here has changed a lot (we don't teach quite as many workshops as we used to) we are still open 7 days a week and want to make sure everyone who visits us has our attention. And everyone who shops online gets their order packed and shipped in a timely manner, too. We're feeling spread thin since in-store shopping resumed last summer and are hoping to fill a couple positions in the coming months. Perhaps that's where YOU come in? But before you email us a copy...

We recently discovered that our friend, Trish Fontanilla, is on the board of Food for Free. You all may know Trish as the founder of the BOSFilipinos, she interviewed gather here founder, Virginia back in 2018 for their "Filipinos in Boston" series. Cambridge's Vice Mayor Alanna Mallon founded the Cambridge Weekend Backpack Program and joined Food for Free in January of 2016. We are big fans of Vice Mayor Mallon. Food for Free was the first organization we donated to when we began the We Care Wednesday initiative in 2017. We have written about food insecurity and the pandemic over...

One of the many reasons we organize arts and crafts markets in Inman Square is to activate our neighborhood. Studies show that "placemaking" or "activation" benefits the entire community. In 2019 we began conversations with the company renovating 1385 Cambridge Street about the micro-storefront they had created as part of the renovation. Behind the storefront is Commonwealth Alternative Care, a yet to open retail cannabis location. “With so much conversation happening around ‘placemaking’, we tend to use the term ‘activation’ now. Activation, or doing things that bring people to a given space, is the thing that really resonates with communities...

Perhaps you read the Washington Post article, "This tribe helped the Pilgrims survive for their first Thanksgiving. They still regret it 400 years later." published on November 11, 2021. If you haven't, we encourage you to. You'll learn that the Mashpee Wampanoag Museum draws about 800 visitors a year. Compared to the 1.5 million tourists that visit Plymouth's museums and gift shops and learn a white-washed version of history. A version of history that mythologizes the violent events that followed European arrival into a story of friendship and mutual sharing. But the reality is that the Wampanoag People’s generosity was met with...

In the summer of 2019 (sooooo long ago, right?) I (Virginia) participated in the ICA Deep Dive conversation on maximalism. At this event she met, Mel Taing, a Cambodian-American photographer who had graduated from MassArt. Mel's photos from that event are some of my favorite photos of myself in my element, talking about creating with color and texture and specifically fiber as well as making something. I've stayed in touch with Mel since then, mostly on Instagram. I noted that in Mel's email signature there was a link to the MassArt JET (Justice, Equity, and Transformation) BIPOC Fund and was...