Being Seen: Celebrating Pride in the SouthCoast

Name: Being Seen: Celebrating Pride in the SouthCoast
Start: 2026-02-28T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-02-28T14:00:00-05:00
Location: 80 Pleasant Street, Marion, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02738

Schedule

Sat Feb 28 2026 at 10:00 am to 02:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

80 Pleasant Street, Marion, MA, United States, Massachusetts 02738 | Marion, MA

A community-driven public art statement expressing unity throughout the region
Outdoor Public Art: On display beginning January 12
Gallery Show Dates: February 13-March 13, 2026
Opening Celebration: Saturday, February 14, 3:00-5:00pm
FREE and Open to the Public
DATMA presents “Being Seen: Celebrating SouthCoast Pride,” a temporary public art installation, exhibition, and educational initiative honoring the LGBTQ+ community. First debuting to the public on June 12, 2025, as part of New Bedford’s Pride Block Party, this project will tour 4 SouthCoast MA municipalities by its close in November 2026.
Using upcycled textiles, the design was produced under the direction and mentoring of NY-based textile artist / LGBTQ+ activist Liz Collins who served the project as the Visiting Creative Director. This collectively-created, public art installation includes collaboration with the SouthCoast MA LGBTQ+ Network, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA), and about 100 SouthCoast residents and organizations who have either donated materials or created a panel for the public art installation.
An accompanying indoor gallery exhibition provides deeper significance to the public art component while also connecting our region with this important movement. The exhibit includes a community salon-style art installation of LGBTQ+ artists from a Call-For-Art organized by SouthCoast artist Kate Frazer Rego, accompanied by a history of the Pride Movement with a focus on the legacy of local figures such as David B. Boyce (1949-2014). Boyce was not only a long-time resident of New Bedford but also portrayed in an important, renowned sculpture by artist George Segal, “The Gay Liberation Monument.” Additional local figures will include local residents directly involved with advocating for Massachusetts’s Marriage Equality Act that paved the way for rest of the nation.